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Show I rrepurlng the Skeleton nf a Snake. 1 Said Osteologist Lucas: ''To properly prepare the skeleton of a snake is one of tlie most difficult pieces of work in my line of business. Serpents of all sorts come to tlie Smithsonian in two shapes. The smaller small-er ones are usually in alcohol, while the big fellows arc apt to be simply dried and poisoned by soaking in an arsenical solution. solu-tion. In tho preparation of a specimen very sharp and delicate scissors are employed, em-ployed, with forceps to supplement them, the flesh being carefully removed as fur as it is practicable with these instruments. Then recourse must be had to scraping of tlie bones until they are perfectly clean. Sometimes tlie skeleton is soaked iu an acid preparation for tlie purpose, but this destroys tlie ligaments, and it is not easy to put nil the parts together again rightly. In the preparation of delicate skeletons the great thing is patience. Washington j Letter. |