The American Museum Journal 
VOL. v. WL VES Too5: No. 3 
parE principal article of the present number of the 
fc 4 JOURNAL is upon the snakes, lizards and turtles 
which are to be found in the vicinity of New York 
City. This article will be published separately 
as No. 19 of the Museum series of Guide Leaflets, 
and will form a convenient summary hand-book for use in the 
field as well as in connection with the collections on exhibition 
in the Museum. The author of the leaflet is Mr. Raymond L. 
Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles in the New York Zoological Park 
in Bronx Park, who is well known to all students of nature 
through his careful study and interesting descriptions of the 
forms of animal life which are his special study. The excellent 
photographs forming the basis of the illustrations were taken 
from living specimens by Mr. Herbert Lang, of the Museum. 
CORALS OF THE HAWAITIAN ISLANDS. 
DurinGc the past summer Dr. J. E. Duerden, Honorary 
Curator of Coelenterates, carried out, under the auspices of the 
Carnegie Institution, an expedition to the Hawaiian Islands for 
the purpose of studying and collecting the living corals. The 
main object was to secure a representative series of Pacific 
corals from which comparison could be made with results already 
published upon West Indian forms. About three months were 
spent among the islands, the capital, Honolulu, being made the 
headquarters. The directors of the Rapid Transit Company 
there generously placed the facilities of their newly established 
aquarium at his disposal, the constant supply of fresh sea-water 
being of great assistance in keeping the corals alive for investi- 
gation day by day. 
Between thirty and forty species of corals were collected, 
87 
