24 



REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF REPTILES AND 

 ^ BATRACHIANS. 



By S. W. Garman. 



The collections in this department have maintained a very 

 gratifying rate of growth since the time of the last report. A 

 large and most important collection of skins, skeletons, and 

 alcoholic specimens was secured by purchase in London. 

 Through the kindness of our friends, Rev. M. M. Carle ton 

 (India), Revs. B. G. Snow, and A. A. Sturgis (Micronesia), 

 Richard M. Kemp (Florida Keys), Mrs. C. N. Willard (Florida), 

 Professor John T. Humphreys (Georgia and North Carolina), 

 Dr. G. E. Manigault (South Carolina), Dr. Edward Palmer 

 (Arizona), Professor Joseph L. Barfoot (Utah), Miss Mary H. 

 Hinckley, Mrs. J. B. Burnham, Mr. N. Vickary, and Russell 

 Hooper, Esq. (Massachusetts), Dr. R. M. W. Gibbs (Michi- 

 gan), and others, the Museum has received valuable contributions 

 from their various localities. To Count Emil Kornis (for Mon- 

 tenegrin species), the Musee Civique of Lyons (Syrian and 

 Cochin-Chinese), and the Turin Museum (Italian), it is much 

 indebted for well-selected and carefully preserved donations 

 and exchanges. The collections made in Northern New York, 

 Kentuck}^ (with the Kentucky Geological Survey, under Professor 

 N. S. Shaler), and in Cuba and Southern Florida (with the 

 Blake Expedition of the United States Coast Survey), furnished 

 quite an extended list of species, and many duplicates especially 

 desirable for exchanges with foreign correspondents. 



The most bulky additions were the large turtles purchased or 

 prepared by Professor Ward. The portion of my time which has 

 been spent on this department has been devoted to the care of 

 the material, its study and identification, and in preparing it for 

 the rooms open to the public, or for exchange. 



