X INTRODUCTION 



not yet been studied but it, too, will probably yield its share of new forms. 

 Some of my colleagues have also deposited for permanent safekeeping in the 

 national collection specimens that they have named and described. 



The Smithsonian Institution was fortunate in its early years in being aided 

 by many brilliant scientists who were also herpetologists. First among these 

 was Dr. Baird, who in 1850 was appointed Assistant Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution and in 1878 its Secretary, serving in that capacity 

 until his death in 1887. In 1878 he appointed Dr. Henry C. Yarrow as the 

 first curator of the Division of Reptiles and Amphibians. In addition to 

 papers on reptiles and amphibians collected during the surveys west of the 

 100th meridian, in which he had been a participant, Yarrow wrote the "Check 

 List of North American Reptilia and Batrachia, With a Catalogue of Speci- 

 mens in the U.S. National Museum." ^ 



The second curator of the division, Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, was appointed 

 in 1889 and worked until his death in 1943 at the age of 93. He had acquired 

 world fame as an ornithologist and mammologist before entering the field 

 of herpetology, and it was not long before his influence was felt here also. 

 His "Herpetology of Japan and Adjacent Territory" ^ and his "Poisonous 

 Snakes of North America" ^ are models of careful scientific writing. The 

 several editions of the "Check List of North American Amphibians and 

 Reptiles" that he published in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Barbour have 

 been essential in every herpetological library since the first one appeared 

 in 1917. 



Special mention should also be made of Edward Drinker Cope, who worked 

 intermittently with the national collection from 1860 until his death in 1897. 

 He described hundreds of new forms while doing brilliant work on anatomi- 

 cal relationships and on faunal distribution. He became one of the foremost 

 American scientists of his day in herpetology, ichthyology, and paleontology 

 and Avas noted for his perception of the finer points of specific variation, 

 which had been largely disregarded before his time. Many of his 1,400 

 scientific papers were published by the Smithsonian Institution. One of his 

 last papers, "The Crocodilians, Lizards, and Snakes of North America," * 

 is indispensable to every herpetologist. His "Batrachia of North America" ° 

 is now a collector's item. 



Curators at the National Museum, realizing early that type specimens must 

 be preserved for comparison with material still to come, have sought to 

 maintain the types in the best possible condition, and to safeguard the 



^ U.S. National Museum Bulletin 24, pp. v+249, 1882. 



*U.S. National Museum Bulletin 58, pp. xx+577, figs. 427, pis. 35, July 22, 1907. 



• Report of the United States National Museum for the year ending June 30, 1893, pt. 

 2, No. 1, pp. 339-487, figs. 70, pis. 19, 1895. 



* Report of the United States National Museum for the year ending June 30, 1898, pt. 

 2, pp. 153-1270, figs. 347, pis. 36, 1900. 



' U.S. National Museum Bulletin 34, pp. 525, figs. 119, pis. 86, 1889. 



