
1891] Where Amateur PhotograPhers Can Assist Science. 62 7 
When one comes to examine the figures of mammals, birds, 
reptiles, fish, and other forms that illustrate many of our older 
works in zoology, he can be but struck with the fact how wide 
of the mark the majority of them are. Indeed, it is frequently 
difficult to recognize the form of the animal that the artist 
intended to depict from the drawing he has made of it. 
It was along such lines, as well as others nearly related 
thereto, that I hoped to introduce an improvement into my own 
designs. So simple are these steps that I feel sure that any 
painstaking -young photographer can acquire and practice them, 
—and that, too, to profitable ends ; to his personal enjoyment in the 
pursuit; or to the great assistance of others; or even to the 
advancement of learning; possibly to all of these combined. 
A year or so ago I was collecting zoological and ethnological 
material in Northwestern New Mexico, and among many other 
things captured a great number of tiger salamanders (Amdlystoma 
tigrinum), which were sent to biological laboratories all over the 
world. Nowa salamander is a difficult subject to get a good 
figure of, and there are comparatively but few such throughout 
the entire range of zoological literature. This was my way of 
obtaining one with the camera: I fixed a small pine shelf perpen- 
dicular to the wall of my study at a convenient distance above 
the floor. This I covered with a large sheet of clean, white 
blotting paper, bending it so it hung down over the shelf in front, 
and likewise extended up over the wall behind. It was held in 
place by pinning it to the shelf with artists’ thumb-tacks. Next 
placing any long, small object on the middle of the shelf in the 
place to be afterwards occupied by the salamander, we focus 
upon it with the camera, a strong light coming directly from 
behind the instrument. Insert your diaphragm with the smallest 
aperture, and remove the “dummy” from off the shelf. Now 
we are ready for the subject, and as it is very difficult to get one 
` of these animals to lie still an instant, I waved over his nostrils, 
for a second or two, the fumes of a little sulphuric- ether, and 
placed him in position on the shelf. As he recovered from the 
anzesthetic, he assumed a very natural attitude, and was perfectly 
quiet, allowing me to make an exposure of two minutes, and the 
Am. Nat.—July.—3. f 
