COLLECTING AND PRESERVING. 



Inasmuch as it is very desirable that further collecting of the 

 reptiles and batrachians of the State be made, directions are 

 given for capturing and preserving these forms. For the sala- 

 manders, which are slippery and very difficult to hold, a noose of 

 fine wire is a splendid instrument ; the noose can be slipped over 

 the head of the specimen without disturbing it, and a quick jerk 

 will close the noose and the specimen can be dropped into the 

 collecting box. Frogs are difficult to catch and resort is often 

 made to the use of a small-bored gun, loaded with dust shot. A 

 thirty-two calibre collecting gun with shot cartridges is an effi- 

 cient instrument. The writer has never had any success with the 

 use of a fish-hook, covered with a red cloth which is suspended 

 over a frog by means of a pole and line and the hook fastened by 

 a sudden jerk into the lower jaw of the specimen, a method rec- 

 ommended by some. 



For lizards, a gun somewhat as described above is almost 

 necessary as their motions are very quick. Snakes may be caught 

 by grasping with the fingers or with long forceps, just back of 

 the head. Gloves may be worn to advantage with the larger 

 species. This is, however, not a method that recommends itself 

 for the capture of our venomous reptiles, as mistakes of a very 

 serious nature may arise. For the larger snakes and the venom- 

 ous ones, forceps may be used or a forked stick may be pushed 

 over the head of the specimen — the specimen and fork being 

 pushed into the ground. To kill snakes and turtles, there is but 

 one practical method, as far as the author's experience goes, and 

 that is to soak a piece of cotton with ether or chloroform and push 

 it by means of forceps into the mouth. The specimen may then 

 be left until dead, which time varies with the kind of specimen 

 from a few minutes, as with some snakes, to a day, as with the 

 larger turtles. A large cyanide bottle, as used by entomologists, 

 serves to kill salamanders and frogs. Otherwise an air-tight box 

 can be used, in which the specimens can be placed and into which 

 cotton, saturated with chloroform, can be dropped. 



Specimens may be best preserved in a 5 per cent, solution of 

 formalin.* Formalin is the anglicized form of the German 

 formol, which is a more correct term, chemically speaking. It is 

 a 40 per cent, solution of the gas formaldehyde, CH 2 0, in water. 



* Formalin or formol or formaldehyde, as it is variously called may be bought on the 

 market at a small expense. A pound bottle, which costs about 40 cents will preserve a 

 large number of specimens. 



