PKEPAKATION OF ROUGH SKFUETONS LUCAS. 
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The pelvic boues are so small aud so deeply imbedded the flesh that 
they are ordy too often thrown away. 
The accompanying cuts show their lo- 
cation and their average size in a speci- 
men 7 or 8 feet long. 
It often happens that the last rib lies 
loose in the flesh, with its upper end 
several inches from the backbone* 
This should always be looked for. 
There are no bones in the sides of the 
tail or flukes nor in the back fin, and 
they can be cut off close to the body 
and thrown away. 
The hyoid is largely developed in 
most cetaceans, and will be found 
firmly attached to the base of the 
skull. 
Fig. 5. — Full-sized pelvic bone of a Por- 
poise (Tursiops). 
BIRDS. 
In i)reparing a bird for a skeleton a little more care must be used 
than is necessary with a quadruped, the bones being lighter and more 
easily cut or broken. 
The wings terminate in very small, pointed bones, and there is a 
similar bone — corresponding to the thumb of mammals — hidden in a 
tuft of feathers on the bend of the wing. 
Fig. 6.— Portion of right wing of Great Horned Owl, seen from below. B, Radius; U, Ulna: I, II, 
III, First, second, and third fingers; s, Radiale; c, Ulnare; osp. Os prominens. 
It is a good plan to leave this tuft untouched, as well as the outer- 
most two or three wing feathers, so as to lessen the risk of removing 
any of these little bones with the skin. 
Other parts requiring special attention are the slender points on the 
under side of the neck vertebrge, those projecting backward from the 
ribs, and the last bone of the tail. 
It frequently occurs in birds that many of the tendons become ossi- 
fied, as they do in the leg of a turkey. Look out for such on the under 
side of the neck, in the legs and wings, and along the sides of the back, 
and do not tear off the muscles as you would if preparing a skin. 
In many, possibly most birds, the neck and back can be left un- 
touched, as the muscles will dry up and a thin coat of arsenical soap 
