The Museum as it stands To-day 99 



There are three habitat groups of fishes: lake, rocky ocean shore, 

 and muddy pond. The lake group contains small-mouthed black 

 bass, landlocked salmon, and brook trout. The muddy pond groups 

 contain yellow perch, white perch, pickerel, hornpout, and small- 

 mouthed black bass. The marine group contains dinner, tautog, 

 cod, and daddy sculpin. 



We have also a number of more unusual species, such as the 

 Opah, Lookdown, Tripletail, and Filefish, which are of great rarity 

 in these waters. The fish collection is varied and extensive because 

 of the strategic position of the New England states where a north- 

 ern and a southern fauna overlap, southern species often wan- 

 dering as far north as the south shores of Cape Cod in the Woods 

 Hole region, and northern species coming into the Gulf of Maine. 



About 140 species are present in the study collection. Many of 

 these were apparently used by D. Humphreys Storer and figured 

 in his classic, Fishes of Massachusetts, published in 1867; and in 

 publications of the Society. 



From 1843 to 1849 Dr. Jeffries Wyman was curator of fishes; 

 from 1859 to 1870, Dr. Frederick W. Putnam. 



The Reptile Collection 



THE number of species of reptiles and amphibians found in 

 New England is not large, owing to the fact that the main 

 habitat of these animals is in the tropics, their number decreasing 

 as they extend northward. The forms recorded from New England 

 include ten salamanders, twelve frogs and toads, eighteen turtles, 

 sixteen snakes, and one lizard. The Society's collection contains 

 representatives of nearly all of these species. Until very recently it 

 has been impossible to exhibit reptiles and amphibians in an attrac- 



