128 Practical Zoology. 



What are the qualities that make some kinds of hair or fur pref- 

 erable to others for making furs, felts, and fabrics ? What are 

 some of the chief articles made of fur after it is separated from 

 the skin ? 



3. Examine the eyes and eyelids. Can you find a third eye- 

 lid ? Is it useful ? 



4. Examine the mouth. What is the use of the " hare-lip " ? 

 What is the shape of the nostrils ? Look closely at the inside 

 of the cheek. How many front teeth are there and how are 

 they arranged ? Are they alike in size and color ? Have any of 

 them any peculiar markings ? Examine the tongue and palate. 



5. Examine the ears. Hold one of them up toward a good 

 light. 



6. Examine the tail. What is its usual position ? Can you 

 make it stay in any other position ? Is its color uniform ? Of 

 what use is it ? 



Use Jordan's Manual of the Vertebrates in finding the names 

 of all the mammals met with in your neighborhood. 



DISSECTION OF THE RABBIT. 



The rabbit should be dissected on a board eighteen inches 

 long by twelve inches wide. This should be covered with 

 heavy manilla or straw paper, fastened down by tacks. The 

 specimen should be a freshly killed, uninjured one, those ob- 

 tained from the markets being usually so mutilated as to be 

 unfit for this work. 



i . Lay the rabbit on its back, stretch out the front and hind 

 limbs and tack firmly through the feet. Slit the skin in the 

 middle line from the base of the neck to the pelvis and strip it 

 well back along the sides. Compare the walls of the thorax 

 and abdomen. With forceps pinch up a fold of the wall of the 

 abdomen, and with scissors cut through the wall in the middle line. 

 In all this work be careful that the lower point of the scissors 

 does not injure anything within. Cut forward in the middle line 

 to the breastbone. 



