Technical Terms. 115 
before skinning it, as this prevents the scales coming off in the opera- 
tion. The paper can easily be washed off afterwards, ‘The eyes in birds 
are very large, and the best way to remove them is by opening the mouth 
and cutting them out with a pair of scissors through the palate. After 
the skin has been cleaned as much as possible of fat and flesh, it should 
be well rubbed on the inside with arsenical soap to poison it. After this 
has been done, the skin can be preserved indefinitely, provided it is 
thoroughly dried. In the case of fishes, the skin shrinks so much in 
drying that it is best to stuff it tightly with cotton wool and then to 
sew up the slit in the side before drying, In the case of birds all that 
is necessary is to stuff the eye-sockets and throat and puta little cotton 
wool into the neck and body to preserve the lie of the feathers. A 
small piece of stick cut a little longer than the combined length of the 
body and neck and inserted, one end into the back of the skull and the 
other into the base of the tail, helps'to keep the skin in a natural position 
in drying. 
The proportions. of the various ingredients for making arsenical soap 
are given in Hume’s Vade Mecum as fullows:— 
One part of camphor. 
One part of spirits of turpentine. 
Eight parts of soap. 
Eight parts of white salient arsenic. 
The soap should be first melted over the fire with a little water to 
prevent burning. The arsenic should be mixed in and well stirred 
while the soap is hot. (N.B.—The arsenic must be handled. carefully, 
as it is very poiscnous.) The camphor and turpentine, which sbou!d 
previously have been mixed together, are to be woked in as soon as the 
soap is cool enough for the hand to rest in it. It is most important 
that the ingredients should be thoroughly mixed together. 
In preparing skeletons or skulls the bones should be picked as clean 
as possible by cutting the flesh and skin off them, cave bein& taken not 
to lose any of the small bones (especially the tongue bones, the knee-cap 
and the small bones of the wrist), The bones should then be dried in 
the sun, and packed up in saw-dust. Bones should never be boiled to 
remove the flesh, but when wanted for setting up, the sun-dried skele- 
ton should be macerated in cold water until the flesh falls off, when the 
skeleton can easily be cleaned. 
EXPLANATIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS. 
Ameboid.— Having movements like the Amcba, 
Annulate,—Marked with rings. 
Antenna.—A jointed appendage attached to the head in Arthropoda. 
