123 
The best way to pack small skins for shipment is in flat pasteboard 
boxes, such as shirt boxes, in which case the skins need not be wrapped 
individually, but may be laid closely together on a sheet of soft cotton with 
wisps of cotton laid in the crevices between specimens, and a layer of cotton 
laid over the lot before placing the cover on the box. If desired, the paste- 
board boxes may be purchased from the manufacturers in knockdown form, 
but usually the small number needed may be obtained from local dry goods 
or clothing stores. If the smaller boxes are not available, the skins may 
be packed in bulk, but each skin should be wrapped in a piece of paper 
before it is finally packed. A good method is to roll each skin in a cylinder 
of paper (preferably heavy, sized magazine paper) and tuck in the paper 
at each end of the roll. A thin layer of cotton should be placed on the 
bottom of the box, and a layer of cotton between each layer of skins. If 
the box is large and the skins rather heavy, the layers may be separated 
by sheets of cardboard, pasteboard, or a folded newspaper, or by a thin 
board supported by nails driven into the inside of the box. If a large skin 
has to be packed with smaller ones it should be pinned down or separated 
from the others by a partition, to avoid crowding. Scatter naphthaline 
flakes in among the skins as they are packed. 
External and Internal Parasites 
It is well known that most species of animals are subject to infestation 
by external and internal parasites, some of which may be peculiar to a 
single host species, some common to a genus or a family, whereas others 
may have a life history running through two or three unrelated species. 
Some species such as muskrats and ruffed grouse, are known to harbour 
twenty or thirty species of parasites. Many of these are comparatively 
unimportant to the host, but others are directly injurious to the health, 
or may carry germs of disease that may be fatal. Increasing interest is 
being taken in the subject of parasitology in mammals and birds, as 
parasites have considerable bearing on causes of disease and of fluctuations 
in numbers of certain species. 
As collectors should always be anxious to make their work of the 
greatest possible practical and scientific use, they are urged to pay more 
attention to these subjects, which have generally been regarded as unim- 
portant, and to collect parasites from named hosts whenever practicable. 
Information gleaned from a lot of dead birds or mammals dumped together 
may not be reliable because external parasites, such as bird lice and ticks, 
seek fresh fields as soon as possible after the death of the host. Dead 
mammals in traps are usually comparatively free from external parasites. 
If the animal is fresh, the parasites may be shaken out on a sheet of paper 
and placed in small vials of alcohol, or the animal may be placed in a 
grocer’s paper bag with opening tied tightly until time is available for 
examination for parasites. Birds are usually obtained in a fresh state 
and may be kept in tightly rolled paper funnels for examination for 
external parasites. After skinning a mammal or bird, the throat, crop, 
stomach, and intestines should be examined for internal parasites such 
as tapeworms and round worms. 
