CHAPTER IX. 



SKINNING AND MOUNTING SMALL MAMMALS AND THOSE OF THE 



LARGER SPECIMENS IN WHICH IT IS UNNECESSARY TO 



EMPLOY THE DERMOPLASTIC METHOD ; MAKING 



UP DRY SKINS AND RELAXING THEM. 



The drawings in our Plates XLIV, XLV, XLVI, XLVII and 

 XLVIII were made from specimens of fine, large fox squirrels in actual 

 course of preparation ; we shall, therefore, try for our first effort in the 

 skinning and mounting of small mammals, the same kind of a subject. 

 In describing the various procedures I shall follow the arrangement 

 which has been carried out in Chapter IV — Skittning and Moimting 

 Birds — all the variations and exceptions to the general rule will be 

 found in foot-notes. 



The list of mammals which can be skinned and mounted under 

 these directions is a very large one, embracing as it does mice, moles, 

 shrews, squirrels, bats, weasels, minks, otters, beavers, opossums, rab- 

 bits, muskrats, skunks, ground-hogs, raccoons, martins, badgers, cats, 

 foxes, wolves, and dogs with heavy coats of hair, and monkeys. 



While the specimens under consideration require far less delicacy 

 of touch than do birds in their preparation, the skill necessary for the 

 skinning and mounting of mammals is, from the nature of their struc- 

 tures, of a diSerent character, and, as a rule, the methods employed 

 must be modified according to the peculiarities of the subject in hand. 



Before we begin to skin a quadruped full and accurate measure- 

 ments should be taken ; ' the color of the eyes should be carefully noted, 

 and likewise the bare portions of skin or fleshy appendages. 



1. Measurements of Small Mammals. — The following are the most valuable measurements : 



The TOTAL LENGTH is the distance between the tip of the nose and the end of the tail vertebrae. It is 

 taken by laying the animal on a board, with its nose against a pin or upright post, and by straightening the back 

 and tail by extending the hind legs with one hand while holding the head with the other; a pin is then driven 

 into the board at the end of the vertebra. 



The LENGTH OF TAIL is the length of the caudal vertebrae. It is taken by erecting the tail at a right angle 

 to the back, and placing one point of the dividers on the backbone at the very root of the tail, the other at the 

 tip end of the vertebrae. 



The HIND FOOT is measured by placing one point of the dividers against the end of the heel [calcaneum], the 

 other at the tip of the longest claw, the foot being flattened for this purpose. 

 ( ,82 ) 



