Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting Part 4

Here are the two methods:

_A._ THE SALT-AND-ALUM BATH.--This is the finest solution ever discovered for the preservation of the skins of quadrupeds that are destined to be mounted. It is inexpensive, simple, and easy to make; its action is perfect; its strength can be regulated to suit any kind of a skin; it never gets stale; and if properly handled will preserve a skin for a hundred years in the same pliable and elastic condition as when it leaves the animal's back. In only two or three instances have I ever known it to change the color of the hair in the least. Every taxidermist knows that it is far easier to mount a fresh specimen in fine style than an old, dry skin which has lost all its elasticity. The work on a soft skin (_i.e._, one which has never been dried) can be done more easily, more quickly, and vastly better. With a dry skin you can make only what it will let you; but with a wet skin you can make just as fine a mount as your skill is capable of producing. And with the latter it makes no difference whether the skin came off the animal last week or ten years ago, except in the case of very young animals. Of these the bath softens the leg bones. For years it has been my custom to preserve all skins that I expect to mount (except the young of the smaller species) in this salt-and-alum bath, and it is almost superfluous to add that I strongly advise all others to do the same. In many ways it is a _great economy_ to do so.

_Directions for Making It._--For every gallon of water put in three-quarters of a pound of alum (one pint) and a pound and three-quarters of salt (about one quart), and heat the liquid to the boiling-point, stirring occasionally, so that the salt and alum will dissolve. Then pour it into a wooden, earthen, or gla.s.s vessel, or a tank lined with _lead_ (for zinc or galvanized iron will not answer), and when it is cool, or even milk warm, it is ready for use. Test it with your salometer (which you can procure for fifty cents of Bahmann & Hoehn, 21 Park Place, New York), and see that it stands at 15. This is the normal strength. If stronger than that, _e.g._, 16 or 17, the skin will be hardened too much. It can go as low as 13 with safety, but that is the limit. At 12 skins are liable to lose their hair.

_Directions for Use._--If the hair is tight on the skin everywhere, simply immerse it in the bath, leg bones and all, giving it plenty of room at first. Move it up and down, and leave it as much spread out and free from folds as possible. Remember that the fluid must act upon _the inside_ of the skin, for the epidermis is often almost impervious to it. If you allow the skin to lie upon itself in thick folds, stuck together on the inside, those spots are liable to lose their hair in a most unaccountable and aggravating way. If the skin is small and thin, the bath soon does its work; but if it is a large skin, move it up and down, and all about, every day for the first two or three days. By the end of that time its preservation will be complete.

_Half-spoiled Specimens._--Very often a subject will be brought to you in the flesh, several days old, green on the abdomen, and the hair starting to slip off between the hind legs. If the hair pulls out readily on various parts of the body and limbs, it is a gone case; but if it starts only a little on the lower part of the abdomen, and is firm everywhere else, put some bath, with a little extra alum in it, on the fire to get warm, s.n.a.t.c.h that skin off in a hurry, and without stopping for any fancy touches whisk it into the warm bath. The bath should not be so hot that you cannot bear your hand in it. It will act like magic. Then you can gradually finish your work on the skin, so as to keep it safe from harm. Very often quick work, and a warm bath with plenty of alum in it, will save a skin in fine, mountable shape, when nothing else will. The alum acts as a powerful astringent, drawing together the fibres of the epidermis around the root of each individual hair, and likewise binding together the cutis and epidermis.

_Cleanliness._--You will observe that as fresh skins are put into a bath it gradually loses its strength, and it is also liable to become, in time, so dirty with blood and grease that it must be thrown away. Keep skins that are greasy (bear, seal, etc.) carefully by themselves, and never put the skin of a deer, cat, or any animal with a fine coat in a greasy or dirty bath. If a bath is clean, but of too low strength, make some extra strong bath, say 20, and add to it and bring it up to 15. Keep all your bath receptacles tightly closed, or the liquid will evaporate very rapidly.

_Testing the Bath._--If you have no salometer, and are not overparticular, you can test your bath by tasting it; but unless the bath is new and untouched, I prefer the little salometer. By tasting the bath when first made in the proportions given above, and remembering the degree of its astringency upon the tongue, you can make that a standard for comparison--if it suits your taste!

_Skulls and Leg Bones._--The leg bones of all small and medium sized mammals, even up to the deer, can just as well go into the bath, after they have been _thoroughly cleaned of all flesh and tendons_. The skulls, however, had better not go into the solution. Clean them carefully, anoint them all over with thin a.r.s.enical soap, put a tag on each to show to what skin it belongs, and let it dry. Don't lay it aside without poisoning, or it will be swarming with dermestes before you know it.

As before stated, a skin must have room while it is curing, but when that has been thoroughly accomplished, which with the largest skins never takes more than four or five days, they can be packed together like sardines so long as the bath is strong enough.

_B._ MAKING DRY SKINS.--_Poisoning and Preserving._--When the skin has been removed and cleaned, the next step is to sew up from the inside any holes that may have been made in the skin by bullets or knives. Then make up a mixture of two-thirds powdered alum and one-third a.r.s.enic, and rub as much of it upon the inside of the skin as will stick there. The alum is to preserve the skin, the a.r.s.enic to poison it against the attacks of insects.

Apply this mixture thoroughly, especially in the feet, ears, head, and tail, for these are the points the dermestes attack first.

_Another Method_, and one which I almost invariably follow when I am compelled to make dry skins, is to anoint the skin with strong a.r.s.enical soap,[3]--the finest poison for skins yet discovered,--then rub on the skin, as soon as the soap has been fully absorbed, a mixture of fine salt and powdered alum, in equal proportions. Though the a.r.s.enical soap may be thought "mussy" at first, it should not be used thin and watery, but as a thin paste, like thick cream. The advantages of this method are--(1), that the skin is more thoroughly poisoned, especially externally, on the hairless portions; (2), the skin dries without becoming so hard and brittle and inelastic; and (3), it can be softened and mounted much more easily and successfully than skins prepared by the first method. For skins which are to be mounted, the advantages of this method are very obvious.

_The Simplest Method_.--If you have neither a.r.s.enic nor a.r.s.enical soap, and yet wish to save a skin so it can be sent to a taxidermist in good condition, prepare it with fine salt alone. Use the salt liberally, and if the weather is warm, leave the skin turned wrong side out and roll it up in a quant.i.ty of it. If you use it sparingly, the skin will absorb it all in a day or two, literally "cry for more," and failing to get it will sweat and spoil. It is simply a question of enough salt.

Even when collecting in the field, I nearly always cure small skins with salt only, so that they will stay quite soft and fresh until they get to the laboratory, and then go into the bath without ever having been dried.

_Rats._--Skins preserved with salt only must be carefully guarded from the attacks of mice, rats, cats, dogs, and other vermin that go about seeking what they may devour.

MAKING UP A DRY SKIN.--_The Legs._--Having applied the preservatives, if you propose to make up your specimen as a dry skin, wrap a little tow, oak.u.m, cotton, or cotton cloth around the bones of each leg, to partly replace the flesh, and keep the skin away from the bone, so that both can dry quickly. If you have no other material, paper will do. In the East Indies, where transportation was difficult, I used to carry with me bundles of coa.r.s.e brown paper such as the grocers use, and used it for wrapping the leg bones of monkeys, foxes, and the like. But for the small rodents, one must have either tow, oak.u.m, cotton, or cloth, the preference being in the order named. On no account should the skin be left to dry down upon the bone. The proper filling out of the legs is desirable in order that they may have a neat, shapely, and natural appearance, so that the hair will lie naturally, and can be studied to advantage. If this part of the process is neglected, the skin of the leg shrivels up, dries down upon the bone, and looks like a mummy. In the tropics the moisture in a leg bone is sufficient to cause the decay of the skin which surrounds it unless they are separated by some kind of wrapping. To avoid this, some tropical, collectors allow their skins to dry _wrong side out_, a most lazy and vicious habit, the results of which are in most cases totally worthless.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--A Model Mammal Skin.]

Having wrapped the leg bones enough fairly to replace the flesh, turn back the skin of the leg until it comes right side out again, adjust the skin neatly, and make the member as shapely and natural as you please.

_The Skull._--There are two ways of disposing of the skull. The universal custom has been to replace it in the head, with a little filling in the cheeks and orbits, the lips neatly adjusted on the teeth, and the eyelids also in their place, half open. This makes the best looking skin, and unless you wish to study the skull, is the best method to follow. For skins that are specially designed for study, the plan lately adopted by the curator of mammals of the National Museum is an excellent one. It is to remove the skull entirely from the head, and in case of all mammals smaller than a coyote, put it in the centre of the body, with the filling, in the line of the seam along the belly, so that by cutting a few st.i.tches in the dry specimen it may be readily taken out at any time. The advantages of this arrangement are obvious.

_The Tail._--The tail must be disposed of according to its character. If it is long and slender, take a small wire, wrap it with tow or cotton cloth, so that the skin cannot touch the iron at any point, insert it in the tail and sew it up with a few long st.i.tches. If you have not the means wherewith to do this, whittle a slender stick to a point, and insert it in the tail from within two inches of the body out to the tip. If the tail is large, and has been split open for its entire length, it can be left flat.

_Filling._--Begin at the head and fill out the head, neck, and body to about the natural size of the animal when alive, _but no larger. Better leave it too small than fill it too full_, and stretch the skin out of proportion. With needle and thread sew up the skin to give it a neat appearance, beginning at the throat. Comb and brush the hair so that it will lie naturally, and show its texture and colors to the best advantage.

Take a st.i.tch also in the centre of the lips to hold them together.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--Another Form of Mammal Skin.]

_Shaping._--The ends to be sought in laying out a skin to dry are, to have it take up a limited amount of s.p.a.ce in a drawer, to have all breakable points protected, and at the same time to have all parts of the specimen accessible for examination. The shape of a dry skin, therefore, must depend upon its character. The handsomest collection of small mammal skins that I have ever seen is that of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Bureau of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, Department of Agriculture. Although it is purely a private collection, it contains at this date 5,750 skins. Dr.

Merriam's method of shaping a skin is certainly, so far as looks are concerned, the best yet devised. Fig. 4, on the opposite page, shows it perfectly. The tail is wired, and extends straight out behind, lying between the hind legs, which also extend directly backward. The forelegs are drawn forward just far enough apart to allow the head to lie between them. The skin is well shaped, and lies flat upon the belly, with all the members resting down upon the bottom of the drawer.

With specimens having long tails this arrangement is open to one objection.

In the rough-and-tumble experiences that collections made in the field almost inevitably go through before they reach safe anchorage in the museum, a long tail sticking straight out for its full length is very liable to suffer damage in various ways, especially at the tip. For this reason I always bend the tail down and lay it along on the belly, with a st.i.tch or two to hold it there, safe from harm (Fig. 5). And with such animals as monkeys, sloths, cats, etc., having long and slender forelegs, I always place those members close alongside the body, instead of extending them their full length toward the front.

STEEL COMBS.--For dressing the hair of an animal it pays to have a furrier's fine steel comb, and a coa.r.s.er comb of German silver, such as can be obtained at seventy-five and fifty cents each, respectively, of J.

Ruszits, No. 73 Mercer Street, New York. The same furrier also furnishes a very large steel robe-comb (like an infant garden rake), which is very useful on large mammals having long, matted hair, such as buffaloes, camels, llamas, and the like.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] See recipe in Chapter XLV.

CHAPTER V.

COLLECTING AND PRESERVING THE SKINS OF LARGE MAMMALS.

The fundamental principles to be observed in skinning a large mammal are, in general, precisely the same as those which govern the same process in small mammals, and which have been recorded in detail in the preceding chapter. Having done my best to afford the student a clear and full understanding of those principles, it is almost unnecessary to say anything about large mammals. A keen-witted worker could skin any mammal and preserve the skin by the light of the directions already given, with such variations as common-sense would dictate.

But, in order to aid the student to the fullest extent, we will endeavor to state the exceptions and variations of method which are necessary in disposing of large subjects.

MEASUREMENTS.--Up to this hour there has been a total lack of system and uniformity among naturalists and hunters in taking measurements of large quadrupeds. I have in several important cases found it utterly impossible to interpret the meaning of measurements taken by other collectors--and it is very likely they have experienced the same difficulty in understanding mine. In the hope of securing uniformity hereafter in observations of this kind, I venture to propose the following system, which will apply to all terrestrial mammals larger than the fox, except the large quadrumana. If the method here proposed is rigidly adhered to, it will produce a uniformity in results that will certainly increase the value of specimens collected hereafter. The measurements are listed in the order of their importance, and are fully indicated in the accompanying ill.u.s.tration (Plate III.). Straight lines indicate straight measurements between two points, not following curves; and curved lines indicate circ.u.mference measurements.

Record all measurements _in feet and inches, and fractions of an inch_. If you would have your records understood by the few rather than by the many, then bow to the dictates of the French and German naturalists, who, as a rule, care not a bra.s.s farthing for American science or zoological nomenclature, and employ the metric system. The chances are as twenty to one that no one outside of the English language will ever care a continental about your measurements, and for this reason United States measurements ought to be good enough for us. There is no more reason why 120,000,000 English-speaking people should adopt the metric system for a few Europeans who might care for their measurements, than that we should write all our zoological books and papers in French or German. If you wish to make your records available _to the people who will care for them_, make them in the United States language.

1. _Length of head and body to root of tail_ (Plate III., A-A).--In taking this measurement, lay the animal upon its side, stretch the head straight forward as far as it will go, and hold a stick perpendicular against the tip of the nose. Erect another perpendicular rod under the tail, close to where it joins the body, at the angle formed by the lines _A_ and _H_, then measure between these two perpendiculars.

2. _Height at the shoulders_ (B-B).--This is a difficult measurement to take, because it is subject to the management of the operator. Plant a perpendicular rod close against the shoulders at the highest point. Then hold the foreleg perfectly straight, at a right angle to the axis of the body, and bend up the foot into the position it would a.s.sume if the animal were standing upon it. In short, place the foreleg and foot exactly as they would be were the animal alive and standing, _with its weight resting upon it_, and measure from the bottom of the heel in a straight line to the perpendicular at the shoulders.

3. _Girth behind foreleg._--In taking this, always measure at the point where the girth of a saddle touches the horse, and draw the tape-line taut upon the skin. If the hair is thick and long, part it.

4. _Circ.u.mference of the neck._

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE III. MEASUREMENTS OF A LARGE MAMMAL. (POLAR BEAR ON ICE-FLOE. MOUNTED BY THE AUTHOR.)]

5. _Depth of flank_ (E-E).--To a taxidermist, this is often a very important guide in the construction of a manikin. There is always a thin fold of skin at the point where the skin of the hind leg pa.s.ses to the side of a large animal, as indicated by the dotted line in the figure, at the lower end of the line _E-E_. Erect a perpendicular at the upper end of the line _E_, and measure between the two points.

6. _Circ.u.mference of forearm_ (F-F).--To be taken at the point where the forearm has the greatest circ.u.mference.

7. _From head of humerus to head of femur._--This is always of extreme value in building a manikin. As the animal lies upon its side, hold the foreleg the same as when you measured the height at the shoulders. Then feel for the two high points _G-G_, where the skin rests on the outer extremity of the arm and thigh bones (_not_ the pelvis), at shoulder and hip, and measure between the two points.

8. _Length of tail_ (H-H).--Hold the tail down at an angle of forty-five degrees with the axis of the body, or the line _A-A_, and measure from the angle A-H _to the end of the vertebrae of the tail_. If you measure to the end of the hair, let this be a supplementary measurement.

These are the measurements which should always be taken on a large animal.

Of course, of certain subjects, there are many other measurements that you will want, but your own needs will tell you what they are.

WEIGHT.--It is very desirable to ascertain the weight of an animal whenever possible. A thousand times, at least, have I been asked the weight of my big tiger (495 pounds), and that number of times have I been glad that in spite of jungle fever, I persevered with my 50-pound scales, and weighed the animal piecemeal, after he had been skinned and cut up. With a particularly fine animal it is well worth the trouble it costs.

SKINNING A LARGE MAMMAL.--Rip the skin open by a clean, straight cut from the throat along the neck, breast, middle of the belly, and on to the root of the tail. We are now obliged to slit the legs open along their entire length, so that the cuts will be as much out of sight as possible when the animal is mounted. In making these opening cuts, always insert the point of the knife under the skin, _edge uppermost_, to avoid cutting the hair. To rip open a leg, seize the foot in your left hand, bring the leg against your own knee to hold it tense and firm, then insert the point of your knife into the middle of the foot at the back, and cut straight up the back of the leg until you come to the "knee" on the foreleg, and hock-joint on the other. At these points gradually change the direction of the cut and run it on up the inside so that it will finally come to the body-cut at a point exactly between the legs, and as much as possible out of sight. The lines in the accompanying figure (6) show how the cuts in the legs should be made. In skinning the head of an animal having antlers or horns, it is necessary to make an opening at the back of the neck shaped like a Y. Make the cuts as shown in Fig. 7, on opposite page; cut completely around each horn at its base, and skin the head by working downward over the forehead and cheeks. The skull is then taken out through this Y.[4]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--Opening Cuts on a Large Mammal.]