The skull of a brown bear (Ursus arctos), photographed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

The next time someone watches my apartment I will have to post a warning about the skulls. A few are in plain sight, like a badger skull on the bookshelf and a comparative set of small animal crania on the desk, but there are a few more hidden away in drawers and closets. The present disorganization of my osteological collection was very unsettling to the young woman who was taking care of the place while my wife and I were out west. She opened a drawer looking for a pen or some such thing and instead found a raccoon skull. Fortunately