4 NATURALISTS’ ASSISTANT. 
tebrates should be cut open, care being taken not to injure 
the viscera. This allows the alcohol to readily penetrate the 
interior. It is also well to remove a portion of the skull, so 
that the preservative fluid can have access to the brain. Al- 
coholic specimens of foreign vertebrates thus prepared are 
a great desideratum in all museums, and especially in those 
where it is realized that science is more than skin deep, and 
consists of more than a lot of scientific names. 
The art of skinning mammals and birds may be more 
readily learned by seeing another perform the operation than 
from pages of description. Jor those who do not have an 
opportunity of learning the methods employed by observation, 
the following directions which are modified from those given 
in Davies’ “ Naturalist’s Guide” (by the way a very valuable 
little work) may prove of use. 
MAMMALS. 
The cotton wool is first removed from the nostrils, mouth, 
anus and wounds and replaced by fresh plugs. ‘The animal 
is then laid on its back, its legs pressed out and the fur 
parted on the median line of the ventral surface. An incision 
is then made through the skin, at the posterior portion of the 
abdomen, care being taken to cut the skin only and not the 
underlying muscles, this incision to be continued forward to 
near the neck. With the left hand the skin is then raised 
first on one side and then onthe other, and at the same time 
separated from the adjacent muscles with the Aazdle of the 
scalpel, an ivory paper knife or other blunt instrument held in 
