APPENDIX 11 179 



In the case of hornless animals, such as a lion or tiger, preparatory to 

 commencing operations, the carcase about to be skinned should be turned 

 on its back, and the fore and hind limbs held outwards by assistants, as far 

 as they can be easily stretched. The operator should then make a straight 

 incision with the knife from the chin along the middle line of the under 

 surface of the body to the tip of the tail. In making this and the 

 other incisions great care should be taken to avoid cutting more than 

 possible into the flesh, and, above all, not to lay open the cavity of the 

 abdomen. The next procedure is to make cuts diverging from the main 

 incision, in order to enable the limbs to be stripped. In the case of the 

 fore legs the lateral cuts should be carried from the middle line through the 

 armpits down the inner side of each limb, the knife being held pointing 

 ^somewhat outwardly, in order that the seams made in sewing up the cuts 

 should be as inconspicuous as possible in the mounted specimens. In the 

 hind limbs the incisions should be carried through the groin, and so down- 

 wards in the same manner as in the fore limbs. 



In the case of horned animals (exclusive of rhinoceroses, in which the 

 horns are removed with the skin) it will be necessary, when the carcase is 

 again turned, to make an incision from the crown of the head down the 

 middle line of the neck to such a distance as will admit of the horns 

 or antlers being passed through the slit thus made when the skin is re- 

 moved from the head. In no case should the head-skin be severed from 

 that of the body. 



When all the above-mentioned cuts have been made, the skin of the 

 chest will be left in the form of lappets. Commencing by the application 

 of the knife to the point of one of these lappets, the skin should be 

 gradually stripped from the body, tail, and limbs, special care and attention 

 being requisite in order to avoid damaging the feet, of which the natural 

 contour should be so far as possible preserved. In the case of the smaller 

 specimens, whether deer, antelopes, carnivora, or monkeys, the terminal 

 toe-bones may be left in the skin ; but their complete removal is desirable 

 in the larger representatives of these groups, as well as in still bigger 

 animals, such as elephants, hippopotami, and rhinoceroses. Special 

 measures have to be taken with the three latter, but in the case of 

 carnivora and monkeys the skin of the toes should be drawn over them by 

 turning it inside-out, and the joints cut with the phers where required. 



The next process is to turn over the carcase and draw the skin forwards 

 over the head, when the separation of the ears and the severance of the 

 closely adherent skin round the eyes will demand somewhat delicate 

 manipulation. The conchs of the, ears should be severed close to the 

 skull, in order to avoid forming apertures of too large size in the skin ; and 

 in the case of the eyelids particular care should be taken in order to avoid 



