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nce at it. True, they nearly all give directions, in an off-hand way, as to the skinning of mammals; but their instructions are so vague and meagre that

rate my instructions, and, the learner having got out the whole of the knives (pr

rds, and, separating the fur on the stomach at about two inches from the root of the tail, gently insert the point of the skinning knife (keeping the handle well down) under the skin, and continue the cut to within about ten inches of the chest, between the fore limbs--that is

left; turn the fox now so that its head comes to your left hand instead of directly to your front, and skin in the same manner on the other side, which is now from you. The skin of a fox being very thin about this part, as indeed, nearly all over its body, you must be careful while makin

ds a good grip. (Plaster is very commonly used instead of either, but, though a capital absorbent of blood and grease, I object to it, except in the instances of white o

ging your position, go to the tail, and, seizing the foot nearest to you with your right hand, and the skin with your left, push and pull at one and the same time until you expose the knee

e knife on each side of the leg until you arrive at the hollow which lies behind, just above the shank; this exposes daylight between skin and flesh, and thus you may get your fingers between

in an exactly opposite direction, and repeat the process; you will before doing this find yourself, perhaps, restrained by the skin of the ventral orifice, which carefully cut out; this frees the limb considerab

et the whole of the tail free at the root. Letting it rest on the table again, you skin as far up the tail as you can go.

pull from the root of the tail with the right. Very often the tail will not move past this point; in that case there is nothing left but to cut it off at the root, and place the latter firmly in a vice (after the animal is skinned out), a

et round the sides and back. The knife being held short in the hand and guided near the tip by the fore-finger considerab

ng released the chest, skin all away from the back and shoulder; the fore-arm now appears, showing the articulation of the humerus with the radius and ulna. Skin all round it until you come to the return of the fore-arm in precisely the same manner as you have do

two cartilaginous bodies standing up one on each side - these are the ears. Having skinned a little on top of

ry carefully free it from its attachment all round, except at its lower angle, i.e., that nearest the nose; do the same with the other. Now skin a little more by the side of the jaw until you find it firmly held by a return angle of skin; there leave it attached. Turning the under jaw exactl

Procure a saw and saw the head off, so as to expose the brain. On reaching the flesh under the jaw, slip the knife up between on each side of the jaw, which will have the effect of pulling out the tongue attached to the body; preserv

e skull. Surrounding this is a pad of flesh, which hides the attachment of the lower jaw with the upper. By digging underneath with the point of the knife you remove all this flesh, taking care, however, not to cut

ach - farthest from the head - you must begin cautiously skinning, and by pushing your left hand through the aperture of the skin of the body, assist this with your finger and thumb, pushed into the ear from

ing all the flesh from the two bones (the radius and ulna of the fore limbs and the tibia and fibula of the hind), which together form those parts of the bones you leave in. If not done previously, now is the time to remove the ta

point where you left off. Skin round carefully and as much underneath as possible, so as to expose all the flesh and sinews, which clear from off the bone. Be sure to push your knife well round

hold to the bone being the top of the last joint and at the tips of the toes; the actua

of attachment and shapes of sinews, etc.., whi

n away now from the bone of the upper jaw on each side; having bared this, come back to the nose, the cartilage of which skin until you arrive at the extreme tip; in point of fact, skin it entirely out, which is best done by cutting a portion off inside, and then carefully skinning the little bit which is left until t

u made to free it from the gums; this is the inner skin of the lips; the knife must, therefore, be slipped between this skin and the outer skin, and it must then be carefully separated the whole of the w

lower lip is now attached only at the extreme tip; this must be cut away from the gum at that pla

s, mouth, nose, and vent, or any damaged parts. If the skin is allowed to remain for a night as it is, it will be all the better, as it allows time fo

ovide himself with such everyday implements as saw, chisel, chopper, hammer, pincers, rule, etc.., the only tool not in ordinary use being the "callipers," which are made of various patterns, an

h the orifice of the skin of the body. The back of the skull being now toward you, proceed to push tow into the cavity whence the brains were removed, also in the cavity of each orbit, between the art

at one end and make two loops in it (each similar to that in Fig. 1); one loop to occur about 4 in. from the tail, and the other up in the chest, near the junction of the fore limbs. Spread a sufficient quantity of tow inside the skin to run all the way along the back and up the neck to join t

ugh three or four inches, cut off the point with your large pliers (Fig. 16) to prevent injuring yourself, turning down the remainder to prevent the wire pullin

shing it through its proper loop on the body wire, and twisting it round and round the same with your pliers until it is firmly attached. Fill the cut pad with chopped tow, and nic

eck as you wish; in point of fact, shaping as you go on. Next work down the chest, and then fill up the skin of the limbs with smaller pieces of tow, endeavouring to keep to the characteristic shapes of the thin and thick parts

ing them into shape during work, and keeping the thighs nice and thin, and distinct from the body. All the limbs being shaped, model up the various parts of the body, not getting it like a sack, as is too f

ickness, in which holes are to be bored to receive the leg wires, which are then clenched underneath. This operation, no doubt, will knock the specimen somewhat out of s

cartilage of the nose has been removed, roughly shaping it, and covering it over with a pad of putty, pushing some also into the skin of the nostrils at the

til these parts set. Fill in the orbits with putty, attending to the eyebrows, reproducing the various muscles underneath, and insert the artificial eyes. All that now remains to be done is to push two point

ely out to the tips and to each edge. All the included flesh must then be cut away, and replaced with putty, the

ectly cured the skin - turning it, in fact, into a species of leather - you have not rendered it proof agains

mists. Though perfectly efficient as far as it goes, it yet possesses the disadvantage of allowing a certain percentage of shrinkage, and that caused solely by the yielding nature of the tow used to fill out the places where the m

ith a medium of an unyielding nature. To illustrate this, we will take another fox or similar animal. After skinning it, as in the foregoing lesson, you will, instead of leaving the leg bones in the skin, cut them completely out down to the claws, which may best be done b

round the skull, until the return of the skin of the side of the mouth is arrived at. Skin well under the jaw to the very tip, and now begin under-cutting at the sides, coming up to the return angle - kee

along the lower jaw, come right up until you can cut out, just under the eye, the top end of the return. Leaving it attached by a thin membrane 'to the upper jaw, skin downward toward the nose, and, by

low the under jaw. Your cuts must be made a hair's breadth at a time to get to the extreme edge. By this time the severed nostrils will have fallen some little distance underneath the under jaw. See, now, that the lips, both upper and lower, as well as the inner angles of the mouth, are skinned inside to the extreme edge at every point, or all your labour will be thro

es of the inside skin of the mouth were the only points of attach

subject, literally by the "skin of its teeth

se pieces are shaped to their required measurements, attach them by string or wire to their neighbouring bones in the manner which occurs to you as being the best. Having well secured them, go over the whole with plaster of Paris, mixed with water to the consistence of a stiff paste, merely s

n possibly shrink or shift, and though this plan is, perhaps, more tedious, and certainly requires more skill in its

e ears, nose, and around the skin of th

them with tow to the large leg wires in the necessary manner. This second wire partly supplies the place of the small bone and muscles of each leg, and its natural appearance is considerably enhanced by the application of putty or clay to pad parts of the animal's legs and feet. Being of a yielding nature, until

erience, I have not ventured to insist upon it previously, as it is too much to expect a tyro to take it up until he is thoroughly grounded in the first system. An a

n at the right fore leg and cross the body, and be pushed down the left hind leg and come out at the sole of the foot, the other wire then crosses it reversely. The body wire (having no loops) can be pushed in at the head through a

o cut them under the throat right up to the jaw, turning the skin back, and then to skin upward to the horns. This, though perpetrated by people who ought to know better, is based on entirely false principles, for

entirely away, keeping as close to the horn as possible - in fact, shaving its edge. When you arrive just above the eye, while doing this, you will find the ear hold back the skin considerably. Skin it as much as possible on the top, and, putting your finger underneath, cut it out as usual. Now you can work all round the horn to join the

e lips, nostrils, eyelids, etc.., afterwards skinned out and well cured; the skull-bone may then be plunged in a copper f

ubbed in with my preservative (No. 9), and looked at occasionally to prevent mildew, they will, after the lapse of many years, only need relaxing to make perfect specimens. The usual way of sending horned heads home from abroad is to leave the skins attached to the skull, and the consequence is, that at the various points of attachment the skin is improperly cured (often with

HORNED HEAD, BLOCKE

skull and preserved it, proceed as follows: When the bone is sufficiently trimmed, should the meat have been cut off, or dry, if the head has been previously boiled, tie together the upper and the lower jaws

now rigidly fixed, lay the head down for a while, and getting a piece of inch deal of suit

French nails" (Points-de-Paris) or pieces of pointed wire. At the place marked B (A to B being now hidden) make up with wet plaster of Paris, which, while filling up, serves also to steady the prop. Fill up the orbits with any pieces of loose peat, paper, etc.. Now carve a large piece of peat for each side, cut to th

sets, adding more where required, or shaving it off if in excess - in short, replacing the flesh, where it has been removed, with peat and plaster. The front vi

Sew the hair in position round the horns. Being now qualified to judge as to the size of the neck-block, you will cut an oval, or rather egg-shaped, piece of wood, out of inch stuff, to the required size; this determines the breadth and length of the neck at the back. The he

ears with putty, and also make up the back of the head and neck, with peat and plaster of Paris between the wood and the skull. Having previously cut the board somewhere near the dotted line E, the throat and ne

ck-board for

asily supporting it, such as ropes attached to the horns, and to a beam, etc.. When all the head and back of the neck is adjusted

th putty or clay to receive the eyes, packing up above and below them to show the various depressions and ridges. Turning the nose up, fill the nostrils and bag of the lips with putty or clay, being careful to

e nose inside, pulling your string over from side to side, and making a final stitch in the most convenient situation. Nicely insert the eyes, bringing the upper lids over, so as not to give

fensive effluvium. Placing the skull in a hot bed has been recommended, boiling will sometimes fetch the horns off, but it ve

the skin on the head; but in this case he will have to sew the inner to the upper skins, in addition to which he will find many th

framework on which to mount the skin, and hence is in use only for large animals. As an illustra

d, according to your degree of proficiency. To do such an animal as a bear, however, you should remove all the bones of the legs,

m the centre of the chest to the tail. In this wood fix a strong iron rod, or wire, at one end, by boring two holes through it

th to roughly form a neck somewhat smaller than you intend it to be when finished. Pull the skin over this, and adjust it so that you may see the places on the wooden backbone where the for

, and push the pointed end down the fore legs from the inside, so that the points come through the ball of each foot, and having stuffed and bent the fore-legs into shape, push the screwe

Greater steadiness can be attained if required, by using two "nuts" instead of one to each rod, that is to say, one on each side of

from the outside, to hold in the end of the "backbone," but a long-tailed animal will require to have the tail-bearer inse

as the "backbone" completely supports the weight of the sk

on while drying, and the leg rods, if too strong to clench t

ted; a model in parts would be made, fitted together, and the skin stretched over. A very int

ted or bent itself to the curves we wished to measure and preserved the measurements until wanted. M. Desmoulins drew the animal on one of the sides of the wall according to all these measurements, in the workshop where the model was to be constructed, in its natural size. This done, we proceeded to the skinning of the elephant, which we were only able to place upon its back by four corded pulleys fastened to the platform. In this positio

ticularly to the head. In this state the skin was placed in a large tub; we spread a considerable quantity of pounded alum in all its folds. We then boiled some water with such quantities of alum that so

ive the skin more exact, we modelled one-half of the skinned hea

this great mass. But to avoid all prolixity, it will be sufficient to observe that he composed this wooden elephant in such a manner that all the parts could be separated. He opened a panel (it is immaterial on which side of the body) and introduced himself into the interio

e wood without destroying the proportions; besides, the iron pins, the screws which fastened the work, would have lost their hold, and we should have run the risk of overturning the edifice. We then took down the skin, placed it on trestles, and diminished the thickness of it by the help of large knives, cutting it away in thick and long shreds from the whole of the inside. This work occupied five persons for four days. We weighed these shreds and they amounted

answered our purpose i

ity secreted in the skin might concentrate in such a manner (notwithstanding we had taken the precaution to give the wooden model a coat of oil paint) as to occasion mouldiness in the parts exposed to the air. The alum with which

et up, how can I manage such a subject satisfactorily? If I leave the fat on the skin I am doing wrong in every way, and if I trim it cleanly off, as it should be done, I stretch the

rience to trim fat off a skin without stretching it to any alarming degree, and in very fine-skinned animals, if we find them stretch in spite of all care, we take advantage of wrinkles t

y skinned out to the extreme tips of the fingers. These latter animals are best skinned out from the back, as a great many of our "relatives" have

s be used with advantage in

hind limb to the other, just under the tail, skinned out,

, may be also filled with sand, then t

is then stuffed with chopped tow, sand, or sawdust, sewn up, leaving the doubled wire outside; a hole is then made in a board (of the length and breadth suited to the specimen), through which the wire passes, and the "wings" are kept in place, until dry, by fine needle-points, or en

15 or 16). This remark applies with especial force to animals as yet unborn, which the naturalist will sometimes find during work, and will wish to preserve. These foetal specimens, however, let it be remembered, are of the greatest consequence in the study of embryology, and sho