Report of the President 67 



courtesy of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Wellington, New 

 Zealand, via the Panama-Pacific Exposition; and 12 speci- 

 mens of Syrrophus campi, a new cystignathid recently 

 described, from Texas. It is also of interest that through 

 purchase the department has obtained 13 specimens of the 

 eggs of Sphenodon punctatiDn. There have been accessions 

 of skeletons as follows: tuatara, bullfrog, python, and among 

 turtles the green turtle, leatherback, Iberian tortoise, 

 matamata, and the South American river turtle Podocnemis. 



Florida Group — The important work in exhibition has been 



in preparation for the Florida group, fifth in the series of 



«, , ., . . groups showing the home life of reptiles, and the 

 Exhibition ? , ~ . 



largest yet attempted. Cypress trees and other 



accessories for the group are awaiting the completion of work 

 on the reptiles. Among the latter ready to date in wax cast 

 or mount, are toads and Congo eels, skinks, chameleons, 

 painted terrapins, mud turtles, soft-shelled turtles, alligator 

 snapping turtle, diamond-back rattlesnakes, pigmy rattle- 

 snakes, king and coral snakes and alligators at various stages 

 of growth. The group when completed will show the nest of 

 the alligator and young alligators hatching from the eggs. 



Gopher Turtle Group — Several specimens are mounted for 

 a floor group to show the habits of this large Testudo and the 

 sandy burrows where it makes its home. 



Sphenodon Group — The wonderful opportunity offered by 

 the possession of two living specimens of tuatara has been 

 utilized as far as possible, and the department is in possession 

 of mounted specimens, models and casts, all made from life 

 and of unusual accuracy. These are to be used in a floor 

 group to show the tuatara in its native environment. 



Among other exhibits planned and in progress, in addition 

 to the individual specimens needed to fill gaps in the synoptic 

 series, is one showing the poisonous snakes of North America, 

 with models, casts, skulls and X-ray photographs to show 

 species and poison apparatus and the development of poison 

 apparatus in snakes, with a full account of the action of the 

 poison and its treatment by antivenomous serum. 



