45 
tape and set down at once on the label or in the notebook (preferably in 
both places, as a label often becomes detached in process of drying speci- 
mens). A wooden rule, marked in millimetres, with a small brass or tin 
plate screwed at right angles to one end w’ill be found convenient for 
measuring small mammals. The nose may be shoved against the end of 
the rule, the end of the tail located by thumb or finger nail, and the reading 
taken directly from the ruler without the aid of pins (Figure 7). Very 
often a small mammal will have the back broken by the trap, and the two 
sections of the body hanging limply, connected by the skin. By shoving the 
parts together an approximate length may be measured, but the conditions 
should be noted on the label. 
(2) Length of tail (abbreviated as T.) — the distance from base of 
tail to tip of the last vertebra, exclusive of the hairs. The tail may be 
bent at right angles to the back, and the length taken with a stiff ruler 
or a pair of dividers. A convenient method is to hang the body over the 
edge of a table, with the tail flattened out on the table, and mark the 
distance with a pin. With mammals like the pika (Ochotona ) , on which 
the tail is so short as to be hardly noticeable through the skin, or in cases 
in which the root of the tail is very thick, inflexible, and hard to locate, 
merging imperceptibly into the body, as in the porcupine, the tail measure- 
ment is best taken from the skinned carcass, and the fact noted on the label. 
If the length of the body is desired, it may be obtained by subtracting 
the length of tail from the total length. 
(3) Length of hind foot (abbreviated as H.F.) — the distance from the 
end of heel bone (calcaneum) to the end of claw on the longest toe. This 
is sometimes recorded as '"length of hind foot, cum unguis ”, or “length 
Figure 7. Measuring total length of a small mammal. 
of hind foot, c.u.”, to distinguish it from the usual European measure- 
ment of only to the fleshy tip of the longest toe, i.e., “length of hind 
foot, sine unguis,” or “length of hind foot, s.u.”. The toes should be 
straightened out and this may be done by pressing them flat against the 
ruler, or the foot may be pressed flat on the table and the length measured 
with dividers. 
The length of the hind foot is in many ways the most useful measure- 
ment of all, as this length is subject to less individual variation in specimens 
