REARING ANIMALS AND MAKING COLLECTIONS 343 



of toes. Do the same with other leg. Skin around base 

 of tail till the skin is free all around so that a grip can be 

 secured on body; then with thumb and forefinger hold the 

 skin tight at base of tail and slowly pull out the tail. In 

 small mammals this can be done readily, but in foxes it 

 is often necessary to split the skin up along the under side 

 and dissect it off the tail-bones. After the tail is free 

 skin down the body, using the fingers (except in large 

 mammals) till the fore legs are reached ; treat the fore legs 

 in the same manner as hind legs, thrusting elbow out of 

 the skin much as a person would do in taking off a coat; 

 cut bone at elbow; clean fore-arm bone. Skin over neck 

 to base of ears. With scalpel cut through ears close to 

 skull. With scalpel dissect off skin over the head (taking 

 care not to injure eyelids) down to tip of nose, severing 

 its cartilage and hence freeing skin from body. Sew 

 mouth by passing needle through under lip and then across 

 through two sides of the upper lip; draw taut and tw 

 thread. Poison skin thoroughly. Turn skin right side 

 out. Next sever the skull carefully from body, just where 

 the last neck-vertebra joins the back of the skull. It is 

 necessary to keep the skull, because characters of bone and 

 teeth are much used in classification. Remove superfluous 

 meat from the skull and take out brain with a little spoon 

 made of a piece of wire with loop at end. Tag the skull 

 with a number corresponding to that on skin, and hang 

 up to dry. A finished specimen skull is made by boiling 

 it a short time and picking the meat off with forceps, 

 further cleaning it with an old tooth-brush, when it is 

 placed in the sun to bleach. Care must be taken always 

 not to injure bones or dislodge teeth. 



Mammals are stuffed with cotton or tow; the latter is 

 used in species from a gray squirrel up. Large mammals 

 stuffed with cotton do not dry readily, and often spoil. 

 Being much thicker-skinned than birds, mammals require 



