Guide to Taxidermy 



157 



what little brains a fish has. Most of it, however, 

 will come out in very small pieces; keep at it until 

 you have the upper part or the head fairly clean. 

 You can leave the lower jaw in, but cut out the 

 tongue and scrape away as much flesh as possible. 

 In cleaning the head, look out for the teeth with 

 which most fish are armed ; they make severe and 

 painful scratches if you are careless. 



Wash out the cloth on which you have been skin- 

 ning and lay it as smoothly as you can on your 

 bench. Spread the fish skin, skin side up, on it 

 just as smoothly as possible. Hold the skin firmly 

 down with the left hand to prevent slipping and, 

 with the blade of the scalpel, carefully scrape the 

 skin, getting off all particles of flesh or fibre that 

 cling to it. Trim the fin bones off" flush with the 

 skin inside. You will find that they can be dislo- §Vs.\vn. t\c(\waA i 

 cated on the wooden form; if this is not going to be ^ 3**^ >o«c\^. 



done at once, put the skin in a jar of water. 



Making the Form 



If you liave a fresh, unskinned fish at your work- 

 room, you should always make the wooden form for 



