EXHIBITION OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 



By Bd.shford J)<(ni 



THE [Museum collrction includes at the present time about two 

 thousand ainjjhihians and five thousand reptiU's — not a strong 

 n'])r('>ciilali()U as material in ureat nuiseiuns goes, hut more tlian 

 a good beginning in the di'veiopment of a dei)artnient. Of these specimens 

 hardly more than one per cent are on general vi(>w: the hulk of the collection 

 in this as in otlier fields in the Museum will ever from the limits of space be 

 kept in reserve for puri)ose of study. None the less there are, all will admit, 

 great possit)ilities for the development of the popular side of the work of the 

 department: reptiles and am])]iil)ians are a|)t to interest the general visitor, 

 and they are of yeoman's service to the classes of nature study which 

 regularly visit the galleries. Snakes, turtles, salamanders, frogs, crocodiles, 

 lizards, all have their esj)ecial niche in non-technical natural history. And 

 it is clear that they should be exhil)ited in such a way as to attract the 

 visitor's attention to the nature of the various groups — to illustrate the 

 principal kinds, nati\c and foreign, to demonstrate at least the elements of 

 their structures, de\elopment, habits, distribution, descent. As a means of 

 teaching attractively the life habits of these creatures, a series of special 

 case-exhibits will be prepared, each illustrating one of the larger groups. 

 These will be brought together after the fashion of the })anoramic "habitat" 

 bird group, in a separate gallery, for the present in the southeast tower room 

 on the second story. The Ihillfrog Group is the first of this series to be 

 exhibited. It has been prei)ared under the supervision of Miss Dickerson, 

 and is described in the following paper. Her account howe\er does not 

 tell the reader the discouraging technical difficulties surmounted in tlu^ long 

 work of preparation in a little developed field. The present work is an 

 earnest of what can be done to make the remaining groups at once attractive 

 and instructive. 



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