6 
companied also with descriptive labels of the place and tune 
of finding, and any interesting circumstance in the exhumation 
or country around. 
Quadrupeds .—In Quadrupeds, and, indeed, nearly all of 
the remaining members of the vertebral animals, it is desira¬ 
ble to obtain the skin, the skeleton, and, in the smaller species, 
the entire animal. 
The skinning of a quadruped is simple, and easily perform¬ 
ed. Except for the largest animals, a pocket knife, with two 
blades, the largest for larger, and smallest for smaller animals, 
is, perhaps, the only indispensable instrument. 
A longitudinal incision is made along the central line of the 
abdomen, from the breast bone to the pelvis ; and then, as in 
ordinary cases, the skin is separated until arriving at the legs. 
These extremities are divided from the body by cutting through 
the flesh and disjointing them: the thighs at the hip joint, and 
the fore leg at the shoulder joint. The tail bones may be cut 
through and removed after the carcass; or, what is better, in 
small animals, drawn out at once with it. Having reached 
the base of the skull, the neck is then divided and the carcass 
removed. The head is then skinned and turned out, and no 
other attachments left between it and the skin, than at the tip 
of the nose and edges of the lips, except in animals with horns ; 
around which the skin must also remain attached. In sepa¬ 
rating the ears, care must be taken to remove them as deep in 
the head as possible, and not by cutting them ofl: on a level 
with the surface. The whole skull is then to be freed from 
the flesh and other soft parts, including the eyes and tongue, 
and an opening made on its posterior surface, through which 
the entire brain must be extracted. The legs are then return¬ 
ed to, and, after being skinned, all the flesh, tendons, and other 
soft parts removed therefrom down to the feet. If the bones 
of the tail and its attached parts be not before removed, a few 
joints are now to be unskinned ; and, if the animal be large, 
a cord secured around them. If the tail be short, the finger is 
then introduced, and the skin separated as far as possible; but, 
if it be long, a flat stick should be used for the same purpose: 
then, by pulling at the cord, the whole may be detached at 
