PREFACE 



The Reptilian Gallery in the Zoological Department of the Museum 

 is primarily devoted to the exhibition of specimens of recent 

 Reptilia and Amphibia, the extinct forms being displayed in a 

 gallery in the Geological Department, to which there is a special 

 guide-book. Recent Reptiles cannot, however, be understood with- 

 out some knowledge of the extinct kinds ; and it has accordingly 

 been deemed advisable to exhibit specimens of a few characteristic 

 examples of each of the more important extinct groups. In addition 

 to these, from considerations of space, the skeleton of the great 

 Dinosaur Diplodocus presented by Mr. Andrew Carnegie is exhibited 

 in this gallery. 



The specimens are numbered consecutively, commencing with 

 the Crocodilia and going round the gallery to the Chameleons. 

 After the latter come the Amphibia. The groups are not described 

 in quite the same sequence in this Guide ; at the same time every 

 specimen is numbered, and the corresponding number can be found 

 in the Guide without any difficulty. 



It must be remembered that only a few selected species are 

 exhibited in this gallery, and that the bulk of the Museum collection 

 of Reptiles and Amphibians is preserved in the spirit-house and 



