Introduction 



As biologists know, an important function of a natural history museum 

 is the preservation of those specimens from which new forms of life are 

 described. Many museums have collections of such type material, the 

 National Collection, in the United States National Museum, being among 

 the largest. The value of such specimens is equally obvious since they serve 

 as a standard with which later field collections can be compared, in order to 

 validate the original claim to novelty and to establish the range and variation 

 of the form. 



A published list of the type material in the national collection of reptiles 

 and amphibians is especially useful because of the intensive study being given 

 these forms today. The present list gages the extent of the collection and 

 makes known what is available to researchers; it provides a reference to the 

 sources containing the names and original descriptions of the forms repre- 

 sented; and it complements similar lists issued by other museums. Some of 

 these lists are: 



Barbour, T., and Loveridge, A. Typical reptiles and amphibians. 



Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69, pp. 205-360, 1929; supplement, 



vol. 96, pp. 59-214, 1946. 

 GuiBE, J. Catalogue des types d'amphibiens de Museeum d'Histoire 



Naturelle, 71 pp., 1949. 

 Leviton, a. E. Catalogue of the amphibian and reptile types in the 



Natural History Museum of Stanford University. Hei'petologica, 



vol, 8, pp. 121-132, 1953; supplement by A. E. Leviton and 



B. H. Banta, vol. 12, pp. 213-219, 1956. 

 Marx, H. Catalogue of type specimens of reptiles and amphibians in 



the Chicago Natural History Museum. Fieldiana: Zoology, vol. 



36, pp. 409-496, 1958. 

 Peters, J. A. Catalogue of type specimens in the herpetological 



collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. 



Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, No. 539, 55 pp., 1952. 

 Slevin, J. R., and Leviton, A. E. Holotype specimens of reptiles and 



amphibians in the collection of the California Academy of Sci- 

 ences. Proc. California Acad. Sci., series 4, vol. 28, pp. 529-560, 



1956. 



The national collection had its beginnings over a century ago. A brief 

 review of its history, prior to indicating the content and arrangement of this 

 list, seems appropriate. 



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