746 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
muscles of the shoulder, being without any direct bone con¬ 
nection with the trunk skeleton, and partly to the fact that 
an animal lying on its side has the weight of the body re¬ 
lieved from the forelegs which are then capable of being 
stretched out to varying lengths to accommodate the meas¬ 
urer’s ideas of correct position. The measurement when 
taken should be the distance between uprights from the 
worn surface of the hoof or sole of the foot in carnivorous 
mammals, to the top of the withers with the foreleg held 
straightened but not stretched. If the specimens are in¬ 
tended for mounting, innumerable measurements of value 
may be taken of the circumference and thickness of the 
body and limbs at various points. The skeleton is, how¬ 
ever, of more value to the taxidermist than any number 
of careful measurements and should be preserved if facilities 
are available. If it is not possible to preserve the whole 
skeleton, the limb bones and pelvis should be collected, for 
they alone are of great assistance to the taxidermist in mod¬ 
eling the manikin. The sportsman should at least, in all 
cases, preserve the complete skull, for it serves a double pur¬ 
pose. After it has served as a model for the manikin of the 
taxidermist, it is of permanent value to the zoologist for 
study, and is often absolutely necessary for the determina¬ 
tion of the species. Photographs should also be taken of 
the specimen in the flesh as an aid to the taxidermist. 
At the present time skulls of several of the large African 
mammals are much needed for the determination of the 
racial characters of the described subspecies. This is par¬ 
ticularly true of elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and 
giraffe. Of all skulls that of the elephant is the rarest in 
collections and the most valuable. What is particularly 
