46 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



Collecting and Preserving Specimens. — There are large areas in 

 the state from which no amphibians or reptiles are recorded, and no 

 areas represented by large collections. In order to better understand 

 the distribution of species, and to ascertain what unrecorded species 

 may inhabit the state, it is desirable to obtain as much material as 

 possible from every portion of Colorado. Specimens may be sent to 

 the University Museum, at Boulder, at its expense, where they will 

 be identified and returned to the sender, if desired, at his expense; 

 otherwise they will be placed in the museum collection. If sufficient 

 material can be accumulated, it is hoped some time to supply the 

 principal high schools of the state with collections illustrating the 

 herpetology of Colorado. 



In collecting specimens care should be taken not to mutilate them, 

 especially the head. If killed with a stick or other instrument the 

 stroke should be back of the head, not on the head, and just sufficient 

 to kill without mutilating. If it is convenient to confine the specimen 

 in a closed vessel, it can of course be easily killed with ether or chloro- 

 form. It can then be preserved in grain alcohol, denatured, if not 

 obtainable in natural condition, or 5 per cent solution of formaldehyde. 

 Punctures, or in case of large specimens short slits, should be made in 

 the abdomen, the incision extending just through the skin, in order 

 to allow the alcohol or formaldehyde rapidly to penetrate all portions. 

 In shipping, the solution may be poured off after the specimens have 

 stood in it for two or three days, and the specimen wrapped in cloth 

 or some other absorbent soaked in the solution. 



The Literature. — The greater part of the literature of Colorado 

 herpetology is based upon collections made many years ago, chiefly 

 by the various expeditions and surveys sent out by the United States 

 government. In the early reports many of the localities were indefi- 

 nite, and a great deal of carelessness in subsequently reprinting the 

 records has added to the confusion. Some labels read simply ' ' Repub- 

 lican River," which river traverses portions of three states; or "Platte 

 River," yet there are two distinct rivers of that name, one in Missouri 

 and one in Nebraska, with branches in Colorado and Wyoming. 

 "South Fork" may or may not refer to the South Platte in some cases. 



