MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 649 



Snakes. — In skinning snakes, an incision of three 

 or fourinch.es in length should be made on one side 

 of the neck, commencing from behind the jaw ; the 

 skin must be laid back and the head separated from 

 the first cervical vertebra ; if a piece of twine be 

 then made fast to the neck and tied to some fixed 

 object, the skinning may be speedily accomplished, 

 by drawing it back and dissecting with the scalpel a 

 little beyond the vent, when it will be sometimes 

 necessary to make another incision along the side of 

 the tail, towards the tip, in order to skin it. The 

 entire skeleton may be very easily preserved along 

 with the skin, by dissecting the skull out instead of 

 detaching it from the vertebrae. When the skin has 

 been removed and preservative applied, it may be 

 allowed to dry without being distended, and when 

 perfectly dry it can be rolled up and packed away 

 in small compass. 



Amphibians. — Whenever it may be desirable to 

 skin any large toads or frogs, the process can be 

 effected as with other quadrupeds ; the skin, after 

 the application of the preservative, should be filled 

 with sand, or some such material, as it enables the 

 operator to mould the form into the natural shape 

 much better than if any other stuffing was used. 



FISHES. 



Whenever practicable, fish should be preserved in 

 spirits, a quantity of which should be forced into 

 the abdominal cavity of each specimen, before it is 



