22 6 PRESERVATION OF SKINS, HEADS, AND HORNS. 



the skin away from the bone all round, and remove all cartilage and sinew both from the 

 foot and shank. 



The skin is now best left to dry inside out, being plentifully dusted with alum, and the 

 extremities liberally dosed with arsenical soap and carbolic acid. It should be hung up or 

 propped up with sticks, not laid on the ground. 



The skull should be thoroughly cleansed of all flesh, and, if there is time, soaked in 

 cold water ; but it should on no account be boiled. 



The lower jaw should be preserved, and should be ticketed with a distinctive mark corres- 

 ponding to similar marks attached to the skin and skull. 



STUFFED HEADS. 



Stuffed heads are difficult to keep in good preservation, especially in India, as they are 

 liable to destruction by many sorts of insects. 



They are, moreover, unsatisfactory, unless really artistically mounted, and such mounting 

 is expensive. 



For my own part I am quite satisfied to have one good specimen of each species 

 mounted, and prefer merely to keep the skulls and horns of the others. 



Stuffed heads are best protected from the ravages of insects by being occasionally 

 sponged or brushed over with a solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol. Nothing will 

 preserve them, however, if they are not properly prepared in the first instance, and the 

 treatment which I recommend should be strictly carried out. 



- I may begin by stating that the throat of an animal, whose head or entire skin it is 

 proposed to mount, should never be cut, as a blemish is thereby caused which the cleverest 

 taxidermist will be unable entirely to conceal. 



.Choosing an old Markhoor as a good subject to experiment upon, the procedure should 

 be as follows : 



Sever the neck from the body where it enters the shoulders, so as to retain the whole of 

 the long mane which adds so much to the appearance of the animal. 



Skin the neck until it can be severed from the skull ; cut an opening in the back of the 

 neck, .cut away the skin from- the base of the horns, and proceed with the skinning of the 

 head in exactly the same way as was done in the case of the Bara Sing. 



The skin of the head must in the same manner be thoroughly cleaned, dressed with 

 alum and arsenical soap, allowed to dry inside out, and marked with a corresponding number 

 to that hereafter to be attached to the skull. 



Arsenical soap and other preservatives should be liberally used. As long as a skin does 

 not decay nor become infested by insects, it does not signify how dry and shrivelled it may 

 become. 



In the case of the Bara Sing, the skull had merely to be fairly cleaned, and no farther 

 preparation was necessary. The Markhoor, however, being a hollow or sheath-horned animal, 

 further precautions are required. Between the bony cores or standards, and the horns which 

 they support, are a mass of blood vessels and tissues, which would rapidly decay and form a 



