70 
breast point, including plenty of brisket skin. In no case make any slit 
on the under side of the throat. The back of the neck is slit up from the 
withers and skinned through the Y-shaped cut. The head-skin, “scalp”, 
or “cape”, is fleshed, and well salted before packing. 
Special Work on the Head 
The nostrils are treated by splitting the median cartilage down to 
the tip of the muzzle, and splitting the small folds at the tip of the 
muzzle from the inside. The ears should always be skinned, as the ear 
cartilage must ultimately be removed in mounting, or the ear will shrivel 
up like a dry autumn leaf. In skinning the ear, cut carefully about the 
base, far enough down that the cut will never be seen from the outside 
of the ear, using the fingers of one hand as a guide from the outside. 
After getting the cartilage started, push the ear in from the outside as the 
skinning proceeds and separate the skin from the cartilage as much as 
possible with the nails and handle of the scalpel. 
Skin the ear down to the tip on the back (outside or hairy side). This 
is usually sufficient unless the skin of the ear shows fat or is densely haired 
on the inside, in which case the cartilage may be loosened at one edge or the 
tip and skinned down the inside, freeing the skin completely. In some 
cases the cartilage adheres so firmly to the skin that the only way to 
remove it after skinning the hairy side is to make cuts carefully through the 
cartilage until the edge may be grasped with broad-nosed pliers or 
between the thumb and edge of a jack-knife and peeled off gently in small 
segments, aided by pressure of the other thumb on the reverse side of the 
skin. 
“ Pocketing ” the Lips. The lips should be “ pocketed ” to allow 
entrance of preservative, and to form pouches to retain the plastic modelling 
compound in mounting. If the lips are cut off close to the edge of the 
hair it will be impossible to make a natural job of the mouth in mounting 
the animal, and the mouth will have to be closed with unsightly stitches. 
“Pocketing ” is done by splitting the lips all around longitudinally from 
within by a cut extending to the bottom of the fold formed by the outer 
skin and the inner mucous membrane, using care not to mar the mouth by 
cutting through the fold in any place. If the lips are very thick some of 
the muscular coat may be pared off, but generally it may be dried or cured 
by preservatives. The finishing touches in cleaning lips are done more 
easily after the skin has been dried, as the fleshy substances soften more 
quickly than the skin. 
The muscular ring around the eyes should be pared down and in large 
mammals the eyelids should be split from the inside in order to preserve 
the eyelashes. Many mammals have bristly hairs or whiskers, the roots 
of which should not be cut off or the hair will fall out. 
Antlers in the “ Velvet With the exception of two small Asiatic 
forms, the males of the deer family (Cervidae), as well as the females of 
reindeer and caribou, have antlers that are shed annually. The new 
antlers begin to grow in early spring, appearing as small knobs which are 
richly supplied with blood vessels and nerves. These knobs grow very 
rapidly with deposition of bony matter. The outer skin is very sensitive 
and is covered with very fine, short hairs known as “velvet”. When the 
