80 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



number of snake dens and noted the time of emergence, the 

 breeding and the abundance of a number of species, secured 

 suitable specimens for the collections, and in the case of danger- 

 ous species, — the rattlesnake and the copperhead snake, — made 

 note of the possible increase and spread of such types. 



In several instances, where the sides of mountains were 

 found infested with rattlesnakes and copperhead snakes, which 

 scatter over a considerable area after leaving the various hiber- 

 nating shelters, it was thought advisable to warn and advise 

 physicians in nearby rural communities and to supply them with 

 tubes of anti-venomous serum and pamphlets relating to its use. 



Head Keeper Toomey and Keeper Taggart made several trips 

 into the Ramapo Mountains to obtain frogs, toads and tadpoles 

 to feed the collections of reptiles, which for the past two years 

 have eclipsed in interest and importance any exhibit in the Reptile 

 House since the opening of the Park. During these trips our 

 men carried large fish-cans and brought in several thousand tad- 

 poles, with which we stocked all of the Park lakes. For a number 

 of years, frogs have been almost extinct in the Zoological Park, 

 and these tadpoles will go far toward remedying this condition 

 and providing easily collected food for the reptiles. With the 

 same end in view, the Curator shipped in several hundred leopard 

 and green frogs from his vacation trip in the Berkshires. 



As in former years, we are indebted to Mr. Arthur L. Gillam, 

 of Flushing, Long Island, for specimens of rattlesnakes and cop- 

 perhead -snakes for our exhibit of the local reptiles. 



Owing to depleted European zoological gardens, the Curator 

 visited several rattlesnake dens in the Berkshires during his 

 vacation trip, and shipped in a series of particularly large and 

 brightly colored rattlesnakes. Some of these specimens were 

 shipped on the Chinese Prince to the Zoological Gardens of Pre- 

 toria, South Africa, and others took the place of specimens that 

 had been shipped to London. 



In keeping with the splendid series of reptiles exhibited 

 during the past year, the Reptile House cages were systematically 

 overhauled by working on small sections and hence not greatly 

 disturbing the order of the exhibits. The scenic backgrounds, 

 painted in the rear of the cages by E. A. Costain, were carefully 

 gone over and retouched during the early spring overhauling of 

 the building. All of the illuminating fixtures of the Reptile 



