1.the incision, weigh and measure the specimen, determine the sex, and record these data in your field notebook. Place the specimen on its back with its tail toward you, push the fur away from the midventral line of the body, grasp the belly skin between your fingers so as to pull it away from the body wall ,and snip through the skin with a scissors. Now, slip the tip of the scissors underneath the skin and cut forward to the base of the sternum and then cut backward to the vent. Lf you have cut into the body cavity by mistake, plug the opening with cotton and add large quantities of corn meal to absorb any grease and blood. Following this, grasp the skin on one side of the incision and work it away from the body wall in the direction of the hide limb. On small rodents the skin is easily removed by simply pushing the body away from the skin with you fingers. In larger mammals, however, a great deal of connective tissue attaches the skin to the body and this must be broken with the butt end of a scalpel or very carefully cut. Two general dangers must be recognized here; (a) the skin may be torn or cut and (b) the skin may become stretched, making a “size14” out of a “size 9” animal. Thus undue pulling should be avoided.