38 
INSTRUCTIONS FOB COLLECTING 
of the same individual. To prepare the skin, it must be cut through 
along the middle of the under side from the chin to the end of the 
tail. Care must be taken not to damage the skull, so that this 
part at least may be saved, in case the skin should happen to be 
spoiled. The inside of the skin should be brushed over several times 
with a strong solution of alum, to which a few grains of corrosive 
sublimate have been added. 
It is rather strange that perfect skeletons of large Crocodiles and 
Alligators are somewhat uncommon in collections. The Gavials of 
India and of the larger islands of the Eastern Archipelago (Sumatra 
or Borneo, for example), and also the narrow-snouted Crocodiles of 
North Australia, are particularly valuable to palaeontologists and 
zoologists. The collector should endeavour to procure skulls and 
skeletons of these reptiles of different ages. In preparing such a 
specimen for a skeleton, the bulk of the flesh is cut off the bones, and 
the bones themselves are left in their natural connection. The body 
is then divided into several portions of a convenient size for packing. 
These reptiles possess "abdominal ribs," which are unconnected with 
the rest of the skeleton and inserted in the muscles of the abdomen. 
In order to preserve them in their entirety, the skin of the abdomen, 
with the muscular layer attached to it, is cut away in toto and dried, 
to be macerated at home. 
In the case of the South American Alligators the collector should 
endeavour to preserve the external dorsal and ventral plates of each 
specimen in their natural connection, as the correct determination of 
the species cannot be otherwise secured. 
3. Snakes of a greater length than 10 feet cannot be preserved in 
spirit ; and Pythons and Boas, which have a comparatively large 
girth, are unsuitable for this mode of preservation if they approach 
the size mentioned. They must therefore be skinned, but not in the 
manner frequently adopted, by making a short cut behind the head 
and then skinning the animal like an eel, as thus the scales are too 
much injured. The animal should be split open along the whole 
median line of the belly and tail with a pair of strong scissors, and 
the skin be removed with a knife from the line of the cut towards 
the back. A skin thus prepared does not occupy much space, and, 
