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shipped in boxes or bags by themselves, and must be either tanned or 
remade, using other preservatives, after reaching the laboratory or 
taxidermist’s shop. 
Brine, either alone or in combination with alum or acid, changes the 
texture and certain colours in the hair, transforming bright yellows to a 
dingy yellow, and dark yellows to purple or brown. Rowley (1925, 115) 
warns strongly against wetting with brine in any form, the hair of fur- 
bearers or skins having yellowish hair. If such skins have been dry-salted, 
and it is necessary to tan the skin for scientific purposes later, several 
applications of the salt-acid tan liquor must be painted on the flesh side 
of the skin, without wetting the fur. 
Brine has some uses in the field, particularly where other preserva- 
tives are not available in quantity. It may be used for pickling some 
kinds of large skins, such as those of sea-lions, walrus, and large seals, 
which must be shipped at once without drying, skins of hairless mam- 
mals, or skins that cannot be made safe from bugs by other means. It 
may be used in emergency for shipping bodies, uncleaned bones, and 
rough skeletons which might otherwise become offensive, as in the case 
of small whales or porpoises, embryos or foetuses, large stomach contents, 
etc., which may be hastily barrelled or soldered up in tins. Brine is a 
more powerful preservative if boiled to make a saturated solution, but, of 
course, it should be cooled before specimens are placed in it. 
If the skin is bloody, it should be thoroughly sponged with water and 
the hair combed with a steel comb to remove clots of blood. If very 
bloody, the skin may be immersed in water, soaked, wrung out gently 
so as not to stretch the wet skin, and spread out on the ground, flesh 
side up, to drain. Salt is then spread evenly over the whole flesh surface 
of the skin and well rubbed in with the hands. The ears, lips, and feet 
should be well salted, and the skin of head, neck, and legs folded over 
the body skin, flesh to flesh, and the skin rolled up. The skin should be 
unrolled the next day and examined for soft spots, where on account of 
thickness or patches of flesh or fat, the salt has not struck through. 
Such spots should be pared down and salt rubbed in again. The salt 
draws water out of the skin and the brine should be poured or wiped 
off. If the skin can be shipped soon to the museum or taxidermist, it 
may receive a second coat of fresh salt, and be rolled up in a compact 
bundle, firmly tied, with hair outside, for shipment. 
Hide Poison 
If hides must be kept for some time, the loose salt may be shaken 
out, and the hides dried by hanging them up so as to allow the air to 
circulate freely through them. Keep them out of reach of rats and mice, 
as a skin may be ruined in one night. If a skin becomes infested by 
bugs, it should be first sprayed or painted well with gasoline to kill any 
insect life in the hair. It may then be dipped in Cooper’s Dip, or B.A. 
Hide Poison, known also as “Venano,” which are used all over the world 
by hide dealers where dry cow and horse hides are kept in quantities. 
Where these solutions are not available, white arsenic stirred in water and 
