PRESERVATION OF SKINS, HEADS, AND HORNS. 227 



nidus for insects, whose larvae would soon pierce and destroy the horns, eventually reducing 

 them to mere dust. 



To prevent this the horns mu s t be removed from their cores, and the sooner this is 

 effected the better. If the skulls are placed in water, or even exposed to damp heat, when 

 quite fresh, the horns will generally come off in two or three days ; but if the cartilages 

 have been allowed to dry and harden, they will sometimes require soaking for a considerable 

 time. 



When they become detached, they should be thoroughly cleaned and then repeatedly 

 washed out with diluted carbolic acid. 



The skulls should be allowed to soak until all flesh and cartilage rots off, although if the 

 head is to be stuffed, it is not essential that the bones should bleach until they attain a snowy 

 whiteness. As soon as the skulls are dry, the tops of the standards should be sawn off, leaving 

 only about half their length to support the horns. Both core and horn should be thoroughly 

 poisoned with arsenic and corrosive sublimate, and heads thus treated will last for many 

 years. 



SKULLS AND HORNS. 



I have already described how skulls and horns should be preserved when heads are to be 

 stuffed. When the bare skulls only are required, exactly the same process must be gone through, 

 but more care should be taken to bleach the skulls and to insure their being absolutely 

 perfect. 



If heads are set to macerate when perfectly fresh, they will make more satisfactory 

 skulls than if they had been previously half cleaned and dried, and then placed to 

 soak. 



They will moreover become clean more rapidly, and they will not be so liable to fall to 

 pieces as skulls, which have had to be soaked for several weeks. 



When skulls are macerated, the water should be frequently changed, and all teeth that 

 drop out during the process should be carefully collected. 



Teeth of Tigers, Bears, &c, may be fixed with beeswax, and if coated with that 

 substance they will not split, as they are otherwise apt to do in hot dry weather. 



To make Arsenical Soap. 



Arsenic in fine powder ... 2 lbs. 



White Soap ... 2 lbs. 



Spirits of Turpentine ... quant, suff. 



The white soap should be cut into fine shreds ; a small quantity should then be placed 

 in a mortar and the arsenic gradually added, the whole being most carefully incorporated 

 with a pestle. Spirits of turpentine should be added from time to time to prevent the 

 arsenic dust from getting into the mouth or nostrils of the person who is mixing the 

 ingredients. 



