PREFACE 



In the present work the author has aimed to give in 

 a popular manner a general survey of the reptiles of 

 the world. While the manner aims to be popular, and 

 while the purpose has been to make the book inter- 

 esting reading, it is at the same time, the writer hopes, 

 everywhere in accord with the latest results of the scien- 

 tific study of the subject; and he believes the special 

 student may find scattered through the volume new 

 information drawn from the authors long and syste- 

 matic observation of the various orders of reptiles, their 

 habits, etc. — a course pursued both among the homes 

 and haunts of these creatures in many parts of the 

 world, and in the New York Zoological Park. The 

 scope of the book prevents it from being, as a previous 

 book by the same author was, primarily a volume in- 

 tended to be used for identification purposes: it is here 

 designed to consider the class of reptiles as a whole and 

 in a general way. But for purposes of identification 

 the profuse illustrations cannot fail to be serviceable 

 in a high degree. 



It is not unlikely that the quest of specimens, and 

 the methods employed in capturing them, of which 

 much is said here and there in the text, will prove both 

 entertaining to the layman and helpful to curators, to 

 the collectors and students, amateur or professional. 

 And the same may be said of what is written regarding 

 the feeding and general care and treatment of reptiles 

 in captivity. 



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