OBSERVATIONS ON THE MENTAL CAPACITY 
AND? HABITS OF POISONOUS SERPENTS: 
By RAYMOND L. DITMARS, 
CURATOR OF REPTILES. 
HE Reptile House of the New York Zoological Park serves 
two important purposes. The first, and best known, is 
the maintenance of a thoroughly representative collection of rep- 
tiles and batrachians for public exhibition, descriptively labeled, 
and provided with maps and charts illustrating classification and 
distribution. Its second purpose is to afford opportunities to 
observe, from a sympathetic standpoint, the habits of groups, 
genera and species of particular interest, and to record in print 
such observations as tend to increase our knowledge of the rep- 
tilian world. That line of work began very shortly after the 
opening of the Park.* 
To accurately describe the habits of reptiles, great care and a 
thoroughly sympathetic interest are necessary. The actions of a 
single captive specimen are apt to be very misleading. If accepted 
as illustrating the habits generally of the various species of a 
genus, or even the habit of the single species it represents, the 
resulting description would be possibly interesting as popular read- 
* The following articles by the Curator of Reptiles have appeared in publica- 
tions of the New York Zoological Society: Turtles, Terrapins and Tortoises. — 
Bulletin No. 4. Noteworthy New Reptiles.—Bulletin No. 7. Poisonous Ser- 
pents of the New World.—Bulletin No. rr. Poisonous Serpents of the Old 
World.—Bulletin No. 12. The Big Serpents.—Bulletin No. 14. The Giant 
Tortoises. —Sixth Annual Report. Observations on the Development of Reptiles, 
with Notes on Feeding Reptiles in Captivity.—Seventh Annual Report. Ob- 
servations on Lacertilians.—Eighth Annual Report. 
