REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF REPTILES AND BATRACHTANS 

 IN THE II. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



By Lkonhard Stejneger, Curator. 



The year 1890-'91 has been one of unusual activity in the herpetologi- 

 eal department, no less than 908 specimens having been entered. In 

 most cases these specimens have been identified, except those for the 

 determination of which the necessary material for comparison or the 

 literature has not been accessible.* 



The installation of the collection in jars, upon the new shelving pro- 

 vided during- the previous year, has been continued, and the entire 

 extralimital collection, thus preserved, has been placed on the shelves, 

 (;ard-catalog'ued, and arrjinged according to localities. The number of 

 jars accommodate<l was J, 235, containing 2,840 specimens. Many of 

 these liad to be reentered and reidentificd, and all have been labeled. 



The collection of North American turtles has been similarly attended 

 to, but the curator has not attempted to arrange it definitely, as it was 

 understood that Dr. (1. Baur, of Clark University, was going to under- 

 take it. The collection was card-catalogued, however, showing a num- 

 ber of 460 specimens. 



The collection of North American snakes is in the same unsatisfac- 

 tory condition as in the pre<'eding year and can not be much improved 

 until all the material which has been and which may yet be sent to 

 Prof. Cope has been returned by him. 



During the early part oi' the year the entire reserve series of North 

 American batrachians was transferred from the old quarters in the 

 l>asement and arranged in systematic order on the shelves, catalogued 

 ^ and counted. The nund)ei' of jars thus transferred and arranged was 

 1,054, containing 7,020 specimens. Much time was spent in verifying 

 and correcting the identifications an<l data on the labels and in the 

 record books. 



First in rank among the many valuable accessions received during 

 the present year, Mr, P. L. Jouy's collections from southern Arizona 

 must be placed, both in regard to quantity and quality; the copious 



* For comparison, it may Ix' mentioned that the number of entries in 1889- '90 was 

 705; in 1888-'89, 784; in 1887-'88, 19; in 1886-'87, 138. 



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