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through inner side of each foot and fastened to stick by twisting ends of 
wire together with pliers. The fore legs are laid out flat along each side 
of throat and secured to the body by a hidden stitch between the toes. The 
ears are spread out with dorsal side down, and held together by a stitch 
through inner edge of both ears. 
Flying Squirrels 
Flying squirrels have broad, lateral folds of skin extending from the 
wrists to the ankles and covered with fur on both upper and lower sur- 
faces. These double folds of skin should be separated and the inner side 
of the skin treated with preservative. In filling the skin do not let the 
body stuffing spread out into these lateral folds and make a sofa pillow 
effect. The body filling should be firmly wrapped and the legs should be 
held in to the body by thread tied around the front of hips and back of 
shoulders. Lay out the skin as in the case of an ordinary small mammal. 
Spread the lateral folds out smoothly and if they show a tendency to 
spring up, cut a curved piece of pasteboard to cover each side and pin 
these down close to the body until the skin is dry. 
Bats 
It may be well to spread fully the wings of one or two specimens of 
each species and pin them out on the drying board. Spread bats’ wings 
are easily broken and for that reason most collectors make up the bulk 
of their bat skins with the wings neatly folded at the sides (Figure 21). 
However, in many species of bats important specific characters are derived 
from comparative measurements of length of each finger, and length of 
metacarpal bones, and it is often difficult to measure these parts in a 
closely folded, dry skin. The writer has frequently found it necessary 
to relax such a skin before the desired measurements could be made. For 
this reason, he has recently been advocating that bat skins (particularly 
of the genus Myotis, the little brown bat and its near relatives) should 
be made up with the wungs partly spread, with each finger pinned out 
far enough that the different joints may be examined and measured 
separately (Figure 26). In addition to the three usual measurements 
(length, tail, and hind foot), bats should have additional measurements 
of the ear: height of ear and height of tragus {See Measurements, page 
44). The size and shape of the ear form important specific characters 
in some species, and the collector should try to have the ears dry in 
approximately natural state, keeping them in shape by occasional pinching 
into shape while the ears are still partly flexible. Major Allan Brooks 
stiffens the ears of the longer-eared species by painting the inside only 
with shellac; if care is used the tragus will stand up. It is also advisable 
to make an outline sketch of the ear, including tragus, on the back of 
the label. 
Skunks 
Most collectors are shy of handling skunks, but when killed properly 
and cleanly, a skunk is no more difficult to skin than a weasel, mink, 
badger, wolverine, or any of the other Mustelidae, all of which have scent- 
glands secreting a more or less disagreeable musky odour. The skunk is 
