TAXIDERMY 103 



The skull label must therefore give details of 

 initials of collector, number, and sex. 



The usual signs for the two sexes are : Male, <? ; 

 female, ? . 



All this is but a simple system, and when once 

 acquired is as easy to do rightly as wrongly and 

 much more satisfactory in every way. 



Tools. — Only a few simple tools are required to 

 do all the collecting, and it is by no means neces- 

 sary to go to great expense and purchase the com- 

 plete outfits that are often advertised. All that is 

 required is a knife, pair of scissors, forceps, some 

 sticks, cotton-wool, labels, and paper for the birds ; 

 a pair of dividers, millimetre rule, steel tape, some 

 wire for the tails, and a needle and cotton and 

 pins extra to the above for mammals. 



Preservative. — A good all-round, useful preser- 

 vative is a mixture of burnt alum and arsenic powder 

 in a proportion of about \- lb. of arsenic to i lb. 

 of alum. These few things take up very little extra 

 room, and of course the quantity of preservative and 

 cotton-wool will be arranged according to the length 

 of the trip and how many specimens are expected to 

 be preserved. 



Packing and Transporting. — It must also be 

 borne in mind that provision must be made for the 

 packing and transporting of the specimens, and it 

 will be found that the chop-boxes when empty will 

 come in very handy for this purpose. 



