MAMMAL SKINS FOR STUDY AND MOUNTING. 



UG6 



It has become an established custom in preparing skins to replace 

 the cleaned skulls in the head, so that they can not possibly be lost. 

 This is in general a good system, but in preparing skins for the Na- 

 tional Museum remove the skull entirely from the skin. In this con- 

 nection it is of the highest .importance : 



(1) That skulls never be allowed to get mixed, so that the collector or 

 the curator is left in doubt as to which skins the 



various skulls belong. 



(2) To prevent confusion by attaching to each skull 

 a label with a number or a marlc corresponding to that 

 which is tied to the shin. 



(3) To tie every small skull to the skin it comes 

 from, and ship all large ones in the boxes which 

 contain their skins. 



In cleaning a skull, do not cut or chop away the 

 back of it. This greatly lessens its scientific value, 



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and in many cases destroys it altogether. Remove 



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the brain, cut off all the flesh you can, and leave i 

 the remainder to dry up. Never put salt or alum • 

 on the skulls, especially if of small size. ► 



In making up the skin, fill out the head, neck, and ® 

 body with cotton or tow, to about the natural size ( 

 of the animal when alive, but no larger. Belter ; 

 leave it too small than Jill it too full. With a needle ; 

 and thread take a stitch in the center of the lips to \ 

 hold them together in drying. Sew up the skin to ; 

 give it a neat appearance, and comb the hair so that p I 

 it will lie naturally on all parts and show the tex- \ 

 ture and color-markings to the best advantage. 



Shaping. — The ends to be sought in laying out a E 

 skin to dry are, to have it take up a limited amount 

 of space in a drawer, to have all breakable points 

 protected, and at the same time to have all parts 

 of the specimen accessible for examination. The 

 shape of a skin, therefore, must depeud on its char- 

 acter and general nature. The accompanying figure 

 represents the best form for the skin of a squirrel 

 and all similar mammals. 



To protect the tail from being broken, it is nec- 

 essary in making up a skin in this form to put a 

 wire in it for its whole length. For this purpose, 

 use copper or zinc wire, for the reason that iron wire rusts and in time 

 destroys the skin of the tail so that it falls away in small pieces. In 

 making up the skin, cut the wire for the tail long enough to extend 

 into the middle of the body, and wrap around it some fine tow to make 

 it the right size to fit the skin. Some collectors wire all the legs of 



