86 
SOO. OF AM. TAXIDEEMISTS, ANNUAL EEPOET. 
will be found a great convenience in detaching the neck and legs, 
and are wonderfully handy in skinning large birds and small mam- 
mals. In skinning a sea-turtle saw through the under shell on 
either side, and with a knife continue the cut clear around the 
hinder portion of it. Leave sufficient skin attached to the border 
of the plastron to enable you to readily sew the edges of the cut 
together when the specimen is mounted. Continue the cuts to- 
wards the shoulder far enough to allow the plastron to be turned 
forward, thus exposing the interior of the body. Make a cut 
under each flipper and the last half of the tail. Disjoint and 
skin the legs, removing by the cut on the underside what flesh 
cannot be readily reached from within, and working as far to- 
wards the end of the flipper as is possible. Leave all the leg 
bones attached to the flippers. With bone forceps or an old chisel 
separate the pelvis or hip bone from the upper shell and skin out 
the tail. Sever the neck from the body, skin to base of skull, 
disjoint the neck bones and remove the brain. Scrape away as 
much flesh as possible from the back of the skull. Unlike most 
other animals, the eyes of turtles must always be removed from 
the outside, care being taken not to cut the eyelids. Be sure to 
remove the small muscle from the outer hind portion of the jaw; 
otherwise it shrinks in drying, and creates an unsightly depres- 
sion. Snapping turtles, and others with small under shells are 
skinned in the same manner as sea-turtles. It is woi positively 
necessary to make a cut under the foot of these, but it will be 
found to greatly facilitate turning the legs and the manipulation 
of the clay during the process of mounting. 
Tortoises and other turtles, wiiose legs can be withdrawn un- 
der the plastron, cannot be properly skinned by the method just 
described, owing to the impossibiJity of sewing up a cut along 
the hinder edge of the under shell. True, they often are thus 
skinned and mounted with the edges of the skin simply tucked 
in, but the result is unsightly, and the only gain is in time of 
preparation. Turtles of the last class should be skinned through 
an opening made by removing as large a section of the under 
shell as is practicable, drawing oiU the legs to their full extent to 
lessen the danger of cutting through the skin. The process of 
skinning is a somewhat difficult one, but the absence of unsightly 
seams after the animal is mounted amply repays the trouble. 
