402 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



personal experience of such work is extremely limited, I prefer to quote 

 the instructions that are issued by the British Museum authorities on 

 the subject. " Scaly fishes are skinned thus : — With a strong pair of 

 " scissors an incision is made along the median line of the abdomen 

 " from the foremost part of the throat, passing on one side of the base 

 " of the ventral and anal fins, to the root of the caudal fin, the cut 

 " being continued upwards to the back of the tail close to the base of 

 " the caudal. The skin of one side of the fish is then severed with a 

 " scalpel from the underlying muscles to the median line of the back ; 

 l ' the bones which support the dorsal and caudal fins are cut through 

 " so that these parts remain attached to the skin. The removal of the 

 " skin of the opposite side is easy enough. More difficult is the prepara- 

 " tion of the head and scapulary region ; the two halves of the scapul- 

 " ary arch, which have been severed from each other by the first 

 " incision, are pressed towards the right and left, and the spine is 

 u severed behrad the head, so that now only the head and shoulder 

 " bones remain attached to the skin. These parts have to be cleaned 

 " from inside, all soft part, the branchial and hyoid apparatus, and all 

 " smaller bones being out away with the scissors or scraped off with 

 " the knife. In many fishes which are provided with a characteristic 

 " dental apparatus in the pharynx (Labroids, Cyprinoids), the pharyn- 

 " gial bones ought to be preserved and tied with a thread to the speci- 

 u men. The skin being now prepared so far, its entire inner surface, as 

 " well as the inside of the head, is rubbed with arsenical soap ; cotton- 

 " wool or some other soft material is inserted into any cavities or 

 " hollows ; and finally, a thin layer of the same material is placed be- 

 tween the two flaps of the skin. The specimen is then dried under a 

 (t slight weight to keep it from shrinking. " 



Laro-e scaleless fishes are skinned in the same manner, but as there 

 are no scales to be protected from being rubbed off, the skin can be 

 rolled up and packed -in spirit or formalin solution to save the trouble 

 of cleaning the head. 



It is possible in dry climates to preserve even moderate sized 

 specimens entire by simply drying them, but as they only admit of 

 superficial and incomplete examination they are of little scientific value 

 and the method is not to be recommended. 



I trust the foregoing notes may prove of assistance to some of our 

 younger or less experienced members and encourage them to make 

 collections as they get the opportunity. 



(To be continued,) 



