TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 71 



The Curator of this department gave part of his vacation 

 to collecting specimens in the mountains of Sullivan County, 

 engaged a guide and made a number of trips to ledges and cov- 

 ered much ground by automobile. This work resulted in the 

 capture of over a hundred good exhibition specimens of ten dis- 

 tinct species and enabled us to fill several of the big cages which 

 were practically empty. One of the exhibits thus formed con- 

 sisted of a fine series of rattlesnakes. 



Keeper George Palmer spent his entire vacation period in 

 collecting reptiles in Pike County, Pennsylvania. He brought 

 back over eighty specimens of reptiles and an interesting series 

 of amphibians and insects. 



The scientific work of the department during the year con- 

 sisted of articles for the New York Zoological Society Bulletifi. 

 The Curator also prepared and arranged 4,000 feet of motion 

 picture material which was exhibited at the Board of Managers' 

 Dinner and the Annual Meeting. This material was afterwards 

 projected in the Park in an entertainment arranged by Curator 

 Ditmars for the Keepers and other members of the Park force. 

 At the suggestion of the Chief Engineer of Light and Power 

 of the city, Mr. Ditmars was examined and passed as a licensed 

 motion picture operator and hence may ofl[icially under the new 

 laws assist the Society in its exhibitions. 



The department shipped a quart of dried snake venom to 

 Dr. Vital Brazil, at the Institute of Serum Therapy, at Sao 

 Paulo, Brazil. The institute was much in need of a generous 

 supply of venom to continue its work of producing anti-venomous 

 serums. The venom was obtained from one of our collectors in 

 Texas and represented the extraction of poison from over three 

 thousand large rattlesnakes. 



Following is a census of the collection compiled on December 

 31, 1918: 



Species. Specimens. 



Chelonians 30 137 



Crocodilians 3 66 



Lizards 10 35 



Snakes 40 184 



Amphibians 12 55 



Total 95 477 



