THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK 



blue-tailed lizard, horned toad (a desert lizard), tree boa, 

 pilot snake, carpet snake and others. The exhibit of ven- 

 omous snakes is especially comprehensive and contains 

 among others the diamond-backed rattlesnake of Texas, the 

 cobra-de-capello of India, responsible for the loss of about 

 18,000 lives annually, and the deadly fer-de-lance and bush- 

 master of South America. 



Bordering on the north side of the Turtle Pond is a 

 fine collection of snakes of the southern United States, and 

 a case on the southeast side of the hall exhibits skulls and 

 fangs of harmless and poisonous snakes, indicating the 

 difference between them. Many interesting snakes and 

 batrachians find a place also on this wall. The southwest 

 wall is devoted to the Economic Rodent-Reptile Collection, 

 showing the rodents most destructive to agricultural inter- 

 ests and the snakes which prey upon them. This extensive 

 and valuable series contains about fifty species of rodents, 

 some of them rare and interesting, such as the Egyptian 

 desert mouse, the Indian jerboa, the Egyptian jerboa (a 

 kangaroo-like rat), porcupine mouse, European marmot 

 and the flying squirrel; and, inasmuch as some of those 

 exhibited are nocturnal in habit, it is an achievement to 

 have induced them to show themselves in daylight. 



The Reptile House formerly contained a considerable 

 collection of insects. It has been found impracticable to 

 keep this up for lack of space, but various interesting 

 tarantulas, centipedes and other types are still to be found 

 here, among them the curious bird-killing spider. 



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