Report of the President J$ 



Florida Group.— The largest piece of exhibition work on 



hand has been the Florida reptile group, planned last year. 



It will show the Florida alligator in particular, but 



x i ltion a j sQ w j|j j nc i U( j e p rac tically all the reptiles and 

 batrachians of Florida— except those also common at the North. 

 The group is large, twenty feet wide by twelve feet deep. 

 The alligators are represented at various ages, the adult female 

 guarding the nest where the young are hatching from the large 

 white eggs. To date the animal forms ready for the group 

 (wax casts colored from life) are 26 alligators, 33 snakes of 

 15 species, and 26 turtles of 9 species. There are many lizards, 

 among them the burrowing amphisbaenian. Among interesting 

 batrachians are the great gilled Siren, the smallest frog in the 

 world and the smallest Bufo in the world. It is hoped the 

 group will stand as a book plain to read on the reptile life of 

 Florida, as well as a beautiful picture of a part of the Florida 

 cypress swamps. 



Gopher Turtle Group.— The gopher floor group (5 ft. by 

 7 ft.), planned at the same time as the Florida group, is in 

 progress. The photographic and color studies have been made, 

 and the plants have been collected; also the plaster molds of 

 both animals and plants are ready for use. 



Sphenodon Group.— Through cooperation with the museums 

 of New Zealand, material and data have been obtained for the 

 Sphenodon Group. The Canterbury Museum has been espe- 

 cially active, sending photographs of Karewa Island in the 

 Bay of Plenty, and of the Sphenodon burrows there, specimens 

 of ferns and shrubs, and of the volcanic rock, as well as of 

 insects which form the food of Sphenodon; likewise detailed 

 descriptions of these and of the birds that frequent the place 

 have been sent by the careful observer, Mr. R. W. B. Oliver. 

 The specimens, nine in number, have been prepared (wax casts 

 from models and from living specimens). The character of 

 the material is so authentic and definite that it is thought pos- 

 sible to construct a panoramic group of the world's most 

 famous reptile, instead of the smaller floor group originally 

 planned. 



Synoptic Series.— Among the new forms added to the synop- 



