84 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



DEPARTMENT OF REPTILES. 

 Raymond I>. Ditmars, Curator; Charles E. Snyder. Head Keeper. 



With a large and varied collection like that in the Reptile 

 House it is necessary to constantly fill gaps caused by the death 

 of delicate specimens. This necessitates our keeping in touch 

 with agents in various parts of the world. Conditions vary 

 greatly from year to year. The past year brought little re- 

 sponse from European dealers, but several good series of speci- 

 mens were obtained from South America. In consequence, the 

 reptilian fauna of tropical America was particularly well rep- 

 resented during the past year. 



No deaths occurred among the larger and more valuable rep- 

 tiles during the year. There were the usual losses among the 

 very delicate poisonous serpents, but none to deprive the collec- 

 tion of its representative character. Several species previously 

 new to the collection were placed on exhibition. Among the 

 more important arrivals during the year were the following 

 specimens : 1 Nile crocodile ; 1 South American crocodile ; 1 Ma- 

 layan crocodile ; 6 star tortoises ; 6 Chinese tortoises, 1 fer-de- 

 lance; 1 bushmaster; 3 South American rattlesnakes, 4 boa con- 

 strictors ; 4 Central American boas ; 1 anaconda, 2 Indian py- 

 thons ; 1 Golden tree snake ; 1 Malayan river snake, 1 spectacled 

 cobra and 1 Japanese giant salamander. 



Considerable collecting work was done during the year, 

 both by the curator and his assistants. In this way only is it 

 possible to maintain the local collections at a high standard. 

 The cages of the local collection of reptiles were overhauled, re- 

 painted and new labels provided. The Curator and Keeper 

 George Palmer spent two weeks in the mountains of Sullivan 

 County, obtaining a fresh series of specimens for this collec- 

 tion. Crates were constructed and shipped from New York, 

 together with the necessary collecting utensils, and over one 

 hundred reptiles of ten species, a fine series of batrachians and 

 a large collection of living insects were brought back. A large 

 touring car was constantly used in this work. This was one of 

 our most successful trips after specimens to represent the rep- 

 tilian fauna of the state. During this trip a search was made 

 for the big toad characteristic of the mountainous regions of 

 the northeastern United States, and we succeeded in obtain- 

 ing five examples. Two of these were huge specimens, exhibit- 

 ing at least four times the bulk of the ordinary toad, (Biifo 



