I lo TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



adjustment can be easily managed by a pulley. The knife now- 

 being taken in one hand will, assisted by the fingers of the 

 other hand, soon clear the skin all the way down the back, 

 when, by careful handling, the humeri of the fore limbs will 

 show. Take notice, however, that the skin will stick somewhat 

 in front, and must be gently trimmed away with the broader 

 knife, by this means getting the fat back upon the skin. The 

 shoulders, i.e. the scapulae, being now free, the whole of the fore 

 limbs appear and may be skinned down, and, when done, each 

 one should be separated at the junction of the humerus with 

 the scapula. When these are free, nothing but the head 

 will remain within the skin, which, being thin at that part, 

 must be very gently freed around until the attachments of the 

 ears show as a whitish cartilage lying very far back. Pinch 

 them up with the fingers of the left hand, slip the knife under- 

 neath, and cut towards the body and close to the skull. If 

 properly done, the ear will be left nicely within the skin, with 

 only a small hole, at its lower extremity, exposed. Both ears 

 being freed in like manner, the delicate membrane which covers 

 the eye is exposed. Needless to say that at this point the 

 greatest care must be exercised, and the cutting must be all 

 towards the bone, until, by pulling gently with the fingers of the 

 left hand, the eyeball starts a little from the orbit, and there 

 is to be seen the delicate membrane which apparently attaches 

 the eyeball to the skin. Slip the knife in and sever this 

 membrane. The skin now holds very firmly at the outer angle 

 of the eye, and must be, with the greatest care, freed from the 

 bone ; when this is done on both sides, the nose and under 

 jaw begin to show, together with the inside of the mucous 

 membrane of the lips ; this part should be left attached to the 

 upper and lower jaws, but the nose must be carefully skinned 

 over until the nostrils appear, when the knife must be slipped 

 in and the cartilage cut through. Probably this will leave a 



