42 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING 
The traveller is urgently recommended to collect the largest 
specimens of a species which he can procure. If they are too large 
for preservation in spirit, they must be prepared as skins. Scaly 
fishes are skinned thus : — -With a strong pair of scissors an incision is 
made along the median line of the abdomen from the foremost part 
of the throat, passing on one side of the base of the ventral and anal 
fins, to the root of the caudal fin, the cut being continued upwards 
to the back of the tail close to the base of the caudal. The skin of 
one side of the fish is then severed with a scalpel from the under- 
lying muscles to the median line of the back ; the bones which 
support the dorsal and caudal fins are cut through, so that these 
parts remain attached to the skin. The removal of the skin of the 
opposite side is easy enough. More difficult is the preparation of the 
head and scapulary region ; the two halves of the scapular arch, 
which have been severed from each other by the first incision, are 
pressed towards the right and left, and the spine is severed behind 
the head, so that now only the head and shoulder-bones remain 
attached to the skin. These parts have to be cleaned from the inside, 
all soft parts, the branchial and hyoid apparatus, and all smaller 
bones being cut away with the scissors or scraped off with the knife. 
In many fishes which are provided with a characteristic dental 
apparatus in the pharynx (Labroids, Cyprinoids), the pharyngeal 
bones ought to be preserved and tied with a thread to the specimen. 
The skin being now prepared so far, its entire inner surface, as well 
as the inner side of the head, is rubbed with arsenical soap ; cotton- 
wool or some other soft material is inserted into any cavities or 
hollows ; and, finally, a thin layer of the same material is placed 
between the two flaps of the skin. The specimen is then dried under 
a slight weight to keep it from shrinking. 
The scales of some fishes — as, for instance, of many kinds of 
Herrings — are so delicate and deciduous that the mere handling 
causes them to rub off easily. Such fishes may be covered with thin 
paper (tissue-paper is the best), which is allowed to dry on them 
before skinning. There is no need for removing the paper before 
the specimen has reached its destination. 
Large scaleless bony fishes, such as the Siluroids and also the 
Sturgeons, are skinned in the same way; but as their scaleless skin 
