Report of the President 47 



In certain instances — as in the newt, tree toad, turtles, various 

 frogs, horned toads — not only is a species represented, but 

 it is shown in several specimens, so that the same "mount" 

 may illustrate such features in the animal's economy as color 

 changes, fighting, molting. In this line of exposition a number 

 of instructive new " habitat groups " have been prepared and 

 placed on exhibition. Foremost of these is the swamp scene, 

 which shows bullfrogs and other amphibians, and which illus- 

 trates such of their habits as capture of prey, shedding of 

 skin, fashion of swimming, feinting and feeding. This is the 

 chef d'muvre of Miss Dickerson, assistant curator of reptiles in 

 the department, who for years has been a close student of the 

 frogs. Another group pictures an Indian lizard, a monitor, 

 in its native surroundings; another represents the moccasin 

 with its young, together with kindred forms, in a nook in a 

 cypress swamp. Other groups completed include rattlesnakes, 

 copperheads and iguanas. These "habitats" have been 

 found very attractive to the average Museum visitor, and it 

 is hoped that a number of similar cases will be brought to 

 completion during the present year. One of these is to repre- 

 sent the spoonbill sturgeon of the lower Mississippi; it will 

 form a large group, picturing a school of the rare sturgeons 

 swimming near the muddy bottom of a Mississippi lake, and 

 with them such of their neighbors as gar pikes, "buffaloes" 

 and catfishes. The material for this exhibit was obtained by 

 Dr. Hussakof and Mr. Franklin during their expedition to 

 Moon Lake in 1910. In train, too, is a group of southern 

 Californian forms, which will show the desert conditions 

 under which many forms of lizards thrive. 



Especial effort was made during the past year to improve 

 the details in the installation of the cases in the exhibition 

 halls. In the Gallery of Recent Fishes the entire series of 

 casts, stuffed skins and skeletons, has been rearranged ; the 

 background of all cases has been changed; the hall has been 

 repainted and more than 200 new labels have been introduced. 

 In the Reptile Gallery similar important alterations have been 

 made. 



The year has been especially fruitful in gifts: 33 donors 

 have contributed in round numbers 250 fishes, 200 amphibians 



