438 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



body and work it off, as a glove is removed, being careful not to 

 stretch it. The front legs should be skinned in the same way as the 

 hind ones. The ears should be cut off under the skin close to the 

 head and care is necessary in getting all of the skin off around the 

 eyes and mouth without cutting it; a knife or a pair of small 

 scissors must be employed here to get it free. To prevent blood and 

 grease from soiling the fur, cornmeal may be sprinkled plentifully 

 on the body and the inside of the skin, although no harm is done 

 by washing a skin if it is properly dried and the hairs combed and 

 brushed before the drying process is complete. 



The skin is now completely removed and is wrong side out. 

 Carefully remove all fat and flesh. Next poison the inside by rub- 

 bing over it dry arsenic or a mixture of arsenic and powdered alum ; 

 either will preserve the skin from decay and help to keep insects 

 from eating it. 



Next turn the skin right side out. Cut five pieces of galvanized 

 wire (No. 23 for a mouse, and for larger animals wire in proportion 

 to their size) of the right length to reach from the tip of the tail 

 and the sole of each foot to the middle of the body. Wrap the tail 

 wire tightly with cotton till it is the size of the tail bone and care- 

 fully push it in the skin of the tail to the tip. Put a wire in each 

 of the legs, pushing it down along the bone inside of the skin to the 

 sole of the foot. Wrap the upper part of the leg bone, together with 

 the wire, with cotton till it is the size of the leg before skinning. 

 Next roll together a quantity of cotton the size and shape of the 

 head and body of the animal and with a pair of small forceps, in- 

 sert it into the skin, pushing it down to the nose, and inserting the 

 ends of the tail and leg wires into the middle of it. 



The hair should be smoothed and the body pushed and pinched 

 into symmetry, the mouth closed with a stitch through the lips 

 and the slit in the belly sewed up. When the skin is completed the 

 front legs should be drawn forward parallel to the neck and the 

 hind ones backward parallel to the tail as shown in flgure 1. It is 

 a mistake for any one who has had no instruction in taxidermy to 

 attempt to mount a skin with the feet under the body in a natural 

 standing position. Flat skins are just as good foi- study, require 

 less room, are less easily damaged and usually more artistic than 

 a ''mount" m;i(le by an amateur. In or'der to hold their shnpe they 

 should be piinied on a board and placed to dry where the air cir- 

 culates freely. Two oi* Ihree days are usually re(|uired to thor- 

 oughly dry ;i srn;ill skin nnd a longer time For larger skins. 



