[9] COLLECTING REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS STEJNEGER. 



stores wound on spools. Various sizes, from Nos. 22 to 34, may be found 

 useful 5 the larger sizes might probably be quite as serviceable if of 

 copper. For larger snakes a noose of waxed twine will be found to 

 work well in many cases, and is to be recommended to persons who are 

 too nervous to grab a liv^e snake with an unprotected hand. 



The uoose should be fastened to the end of a long stick, or a light 

 switch, as the case may require, and if a few leaves are left at the end 

 so much the better, as they will attract the reptile's attention from the 

 noose. Slip the noose gently over its head and a sharp jerk towards 

 the tail will usually put the prize in your possession. 



The specimen as soon as secured should be immediately transferred 

 to one of the small cheese-cloth bags which tlie collector carries in his 

 pockets. A good supply of these bags of various sizes, from 2x4 inches 

 to 4 X 10 inches, each one with a string for tying it up, should be laid in 

 before starting, enough to average one bag for every three specimens. 

 A paper label with the exact locality written in lead pencil should be 

 slipped into the bag with the specimen. If the collector carries with 

 him a small glass or metal jar with alcohol the bag with the specimen 

 may be placed in it at once, if not it is put in the pocket or in whatever 

 receptacle the collector carries for that purpose. I have found a medium- 

 sized fishing basket or a botanical collecting box of tin to answer every 

 purpose. The live specimens are also put in bags, but are not trans- 

 ferred to alcohol until the day's collecting is over. 



Frogs, toads, and salamanders, when brought in alive, should be kept 

 moist by wetting the bag occasionally or wrapping it in wet moss. 



TAKING CAEE OF THE SPECIMENS. 



Having returned to his quarters the collector gets ready for "curing" 

 and labeling his specimens, attending first to those which were killed. 



The blood should be washed off in water, and while the specimen is 

 soaking there is time for making the necessary entry in the notebook 

 and for preparing the label. 



The entry in the notebook should contain (1) the running number of 

 the specimen ; (2) the exact locality where captured, besides county and 

 state ; (3) if possible the altitude above sea; (4) the character of the soil 

 and vegetation where the specimen was found, whether on sand, among 

 rocks, under logs or stones, in holes, in a swamp, meadow, desert, forest 

 of pines or deciduous trees, among sagebrush, cactus, or any other obser- 

 vations of a like nature ; (5) date of capture ; (6) color description of 

 fresh specimen (it is not necessary to describe the pattern, as that is 

 usually preserved in alcohol, but the exact shade of the ground color 

 and of the markings should be carefully determined by actual compar- 

 ison with the standards in Ridgway's Nomenclature of Colors*) ; (7) local 

 vernacular name, if determinable with certainty ; (8) other remarks. 



*A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists, etc., by Robert Ridgway. Bostou : Little, 

 Brown & Co., 1886. 



