6 
II, 72,000 poisonous snakes of twenty-seven different 
varieties were milked at "Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, 
Inc.," supplying 90 percent of all the venom used to 
produce antivenin for U. S. troops (Neill, 1950). To keep 
pace with changing times after the war, Allen converted 
part of the institute into a tourist attraction, with caged 
reptile exhibits, venom extraction shows, alligator shows, 
a mock-up of a Seminole Indian village, and a gift shop. 
He became a showman, lecturer, movie actor, and technical 
adviser to movie makers. The product-oriented work of the 
institute, including the venom extraction and the research, 
went on behind the scenes. The sale of the venom and gift 
shop curios, the admission fees, and Allen's other pursuits 
paid for the research effort. 
Wilfred began buying reptiles from Ross Allen in 1932 and 
later, still a boy, "accompanied him on expeditions" 
(Neill, 1950). In 1949 Allen formed a research division at 
the institute. Always worrying about his lack of formal 
education, he hired the 28-year old Neill to be his 
research director. Neill brought an academic scientific 
expertise and additional writing and artistic skills to the 
operation, freeing Allen from some of his responsibilities. 
It was a professional relationship which would last 
fourteen years and have a profound impact on Florida 
herpetology. 
Neill stayed mainly behind the scenes at the institute, 
maintaining the research animals, many at his home, 
collecting, writing, and developing academic ties, first 
with faculty and graduate students at the University of 
Florida and then more broadly, as President of the S. E. 
Division of the American Society of Ichthyologists and 
Herpetologists. He married in 1951, and his wife and he 
had one son, but the marriage soon ended in divorce. 
Wilfred never remarried. He published at least 91 articles 
and papers with Ross Allen from 1949 to 1962, an additional 
91 on his own, and six with other authors, making this his 
most productive period herpetologically. Many young people 
visited, worked, and studied at the reptile institute. 
Neill instituted a seminar program with faculty and 
graduate students from the Biology Department at the 
University of Florida, including Archie Carr, Coleman Goin, 
and James Oliver. Interested parties would alternate 
seminars at the Biology Department in Gainesville and at 
Silver Springs. Partially as a result of these experiences 
at the institute, academic interest in herpetology 
blossomed. Neill became a mentor for many people during 
these years and for some time afterward. 
