THE SKINNING OF FISHES 217 



can be removed by judicious use of the knife and scissors, or 

 by the tools Nos. 27, 34, 35, and 38, and all the flesh from 

 between the skin and the bones of the face, and all flesh 

 adhering to their inner sides, must be laboriously pulled, cut, 

 torn, and coaxed out from the various cavities, etc., in which 

 it rests. Some of the edges of these bones being very sharp, 

 care must be exercised not to cut the fingers, nor to lacerate 

 them with the teeth, which, in the case of such a fish as a pike, 

 are formidable, and are situated in unexpected positions. 



From the pectoral fins, a fleshy process with a silvery outer 

 skin extends until it touches the inner angle of the lower jaw ; 

 being partly overlapped on each side by the folding membrane 

 which covers the branchiostegal rays, this rapidly narrowing 

 wedge of flesh is by no means easily extracted from the fine 

 silvery skin which envelops it, so that some patience must be 

 exercised to do this without tearing the membrane. At its 

 junction with the distal ends of the large bones of the hyoid, 

 i.e. the cerato-hyals, it is also attached to a thin bone (the 

 basi-branchiostegal, = uro-hyal of Owen and Giinther), which 

 must not be detached, but must be cleared around, and left 

 within the cleared skin. 



What flesh there is underlying the teeth, especially along 

 the lower jaw, must be cut away, and this is managed by 

 making an incision from the back of the head below the eye, 

 and removing the flesh piecemeal through this by the aid of 

 the tools previously mentioned, or a special curved tool may be 

 made. Consider how extremely thin this membrane is, and 

 that the slightest carelessness will rip it away from the bone 

 or cut holes in it, and be patient accordingly. Some operators 

 cut this entirely away and replace it with various modelling- 

 materials, but, if the fish's mouth is to be left open, this plan 

 will not do ; otherwise it does not matter. 



If the mouth is to be left open — which gives a by no 



