Stránka:book 1912.djvu/397

Natural History 365 It is so difficult that I do not advise any boy to try it unless he has the time and patience to go into it seriously. To do this he should get some standard treatise on Taxidermy, such as: Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting," by W. T. Hornaday. (Scribners. $2.50) or "The Art of Taxidermy," by John T. Rowley. (Mac- millan's. $1.75.) Nevertheless all may learn to preserve the skins of small animals for cabinet collections, or for mounting at some later time. The best instructions for this are those issued by the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture. I reproduce them. PRESERVING SMALL MAMMAL SKINS By Dr. C. Hart Merriam Directions for Measurement The tools necessary for measuring mammals are a pair of compasses or dividers, a steel rule graduated in milli- meters, and two large pins. Dividers with round points are better than those with triangular points. All measurements should give the distance in a straight line between the points indicated. They should be taken by means of dividers, or by driving pins into a board to mark the points between which the measurement is desired. They should never be made with a tape-line over the convexities or inequalities of the surface. The three most important measurements, and those which should always be taken in the flesh are: (i) total length; (2) length vf tail; (3) length of hind Joot.