SUMMARY:
Page reports Old Paulinas news, including telegrams from alumnae and updates on Joan Procter’s election to the Linnean Society, her aquarium design work, and her 1922 publications and Royal Society exhibit. A West Australian newspaper clipping notes that “Miss Jean Procter” was appointed Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoological Gardens, describing her early interest and training by Dr. Boulenger.

CONTENT:
PAULINA. July 1923

NEWS OF OLD PAULINAS.
The News of Old Paulinas this year was unfortunately com-
pressed into a very few minutes because business occupied
most of the Annual General Meeting. I therefore promised
disappointed Old Paulinas some of the news that has reached
me in the next issue of the magazine.
Telegrams came from MILDRED HOOKE, JEAN CHURCHMAN,
JANET BEVAN, and from MARY and DELPHINE SEAMAN in
Geneva.
JOAN PROCTER has been elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society.
Besides her work at the Natural History Museum she is at
present designing all the tanks for the big new Aquarium in
the Zoological Gardens. Her models include studies in red
granite with streaks of quartz, boulders, Yorkshire paving,
pulhamites, dark and light grey granite, waterworn limestone
and basalt columns (Giant's Causeway).
The new set of frog post cards (coloured) on sale at the
Natural History Museum are from Joan's water colour
drawings.

Her published works for 1922 are:--
"On a New Toad Cophophyne alticola collected by the
Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, 1921." (Annals
and Magazine of Natural History).
"Description of a New Typhlops from Tanganyika Terri-
tory" (Op.cit.)
"On a New Genus of Colubrine Snake from S.E. Brazil"
(Op.cit).
"On the Remarkable Tortoise: Testudo loveridgii Blyth, and
the Morphogeny of the Chelonian Carapace." (Proceedings of
the Zoological Society. 1922).
Reptiles and Batrachians in the Zoological Record.
Bibliographical Notices, and Reviews.
*Joan gave an Exhibition of the "Remarkable Tortoise" at the
Royal Society's Soirée in June, 1922.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 26.7

West Australian Papers
July 1923

Miss Jean Procter, an English girl,
who is 25 years of age, has been ap-
pointed Curator of Reptiles in the Lon-
don Zoological Gardens. Miss Procter,
whose grandfather was a famous ento-
mologist, had her first pet snake when
she was 10 years old. One day she re-
ceived a crocodile as a present, and she
took it to Dr. Boulenger, the head of the
Department of Reptiles, in the Natural
History Museum in South Kensington
(London), and he offered to train her.
Miss Procter is now one of the greatest
snake experts in the world.
We cannot imagine that too many
eligibles will call upon Miss Joan Proc-
ter.

SUMMARY:
Clippings announce E. G. Boulenger’s promotion to Director of the new aquarium and Joan B. Procter’s appointment as Curator of Reptiles, outlining her background and expertise. Additional coverage describes progress and features planned for the new aquarium.

CONTENT:
THE TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1923.

Mr. E. G. Boulenger has been appointed
Director of the new Aquarium at the Zoo,
and Miss Joan B. Procter has been appointed
Curator of Reptiles. (p. 9)

WOMAN CURATOR OF
REPTILES.

APPOINTMENTS AT THE
ZOO.

Mr. E. G. Boulenger, at present Curator of
Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens, has been
appointed Director of the new Aquarium.
He will continue to exercise a general super-
vision over the reptiles, but for some time he
has been very fully occupied with superintend-
ing the construction of the aquarium, and
when the tanks are ready for occupation it is
anticipated that his time will be almost com-
pletely engaged by his new duties. Mr.
Boulenger is a son of Dr. G. A. Boulenger,
F.R.S., for long chief of the Department of
Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes at the
British Museum of Natural History. Since
Mr. Boulenger has been Curator at the Zoo
the reptile-house has been greatly improved,
and the collection made one of the finest in
the world. During the war he served in
France with the balloons.

Miss Joan B. Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., has
been appointed Curator of Reptiles, and will
assume her duties in late autumn. She was
educated at St. Paul's School for Girls, and
since 1916 has worked in the Reptile Depart-
ment at the British Museum, first as voluntary
assistant to Dr. Boulenger, and, since his
retirement, in charge. She is the author of a
large number of papers on the anatomy,
classification, and habits of reptiles and
batrachians, and for many years has kept a
private collection of living snakes and batra-
chians. At present Miss Procter is still carry-
ing on the work of the Reptile Department
at the Museum, but is also engaged in design-
ing the rockwork for the aquarium tanks at
the Zoo.

Cutting from the Hull Daily Mail
Address of Publication.
Issue dated. 20.7.25

Miss Joan Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., an Englishwoman
of 25, has been appointed curator
of reptiles at the Zoo. She will have com-
plete charge of dozens of venomous cobras,
deadly pythons, boa constrictors, alligators,
and crocodiles. Miss Procter, unknown to the
world at large, is famous among zoologists as
one of the greatest snake experts of the day.

THE EVENING STANDARD.

ZOO AQUARIUM
PROGRESS.

NEW CURATOR ON WONDERS OF
COMING ATTRACTIONS.

£50,000 COST.

HOW LONDONERS WILL SEE
SEALS UNDER WATER.

Mr. E. G. Boulenger, the curator of rep-
tiles at the Zoological Gardens, who has
been appointed director of the new aquarium
which is expected to be completed at the
end of the year, gave some interesting de-
tails in an interview to-day of the progress
of the work.

Mr. Boulenger is a son of Dr. G. A.
Boulenger, F.R.S., formerly chief of the de-
partment of reptiles and fishes at the British
Museum of Natural History, South Kensing-
ton.

One of the Finest in the World.

"We began building the aquarium," he said,
"at the beginning of December. When it is
finished—we hope before the end of the year—
the aquarium should be one of the finest in
the world. It is being built under Mappin Ter-
races, and the tanks have been supervised by
myself and Miss Joan Procter, who has just
been appointed Curator of Reptiles, and is
taking over my duties in the autumn.

"The aquarium will be for fresh water and
marine animals, and the tanks will be faced
with plate glass 1¼ inches thick. This glass is
very expensive, and is a big item in the total
cost of £50,000.

"We are getting our sea-water from the Bay
of Biscay, and it will be brought in the ballast
tanks of large vessels to the docks and trans-
ferred there to barges, which will bring it up
along the Regent's Canal to the Zoo. It will be
piped from the barges into the tanks by means
of long fire hoses.

"Mr. Compton Mackenzie has given us a
quantity of shell sand from the Island of Herm
which he owns for some of the tank floors. This
shell sand is remarkable, for every grain is a
tiny shell.

Open Trout Pool.

"We will have an elaborate system of reser-
voirs, filtering arrangements, and plant for
heating, lighting, and ventilating, and the
aquarium, which will be 400ft. long, will be
divided into three parts.

"The fresh-water hall will have 25 tanks, the
marine hall 20, and the tropical hall 40. We
will have an open trout pool, a big octagonal
tank for marine turtle, and a tank for seals
under water.

"We will have a wonderful collection of
tropical fish brilliantly coloured and equal to the
finest in the world.

"Not even the New York Aquarium will sur-
pass it in the beauty of its contents."

The new aquarium, when it is completed, will
probably prove one of the biggest attractions at
Regent's Park.

Miss Procter, the new Curator of Reptiles,
was educated at St. Paul's School for Girls,
and since 1916 has worked in the Reptile De-
partment at the British Museum, first as volun-
tary assistant to Dr. Boulenger.

SUMMARY:
Clippings report on the Zoo’s teguexin lizard being treated and moulting, the arrival of saw-bill ducks in the Waders’ Aviary, and renovations and handling practices in the Reptile House with notes on crocodilians’ temper. Articles are from The Daily Mail and The Times.

CONTENT:
The Daily Mail
LIZARD'S NEW SUIT.
ZOO CURATOR MAKES
HIM FIT TO BE SEEN.

The Zoo's new Teguexin has seen
trouble recently—trouble fore and aft.
This fine big snake-killing lizard from
South America had a badly swollen jaw
when he arrived, and while this was
gently being dressed he lashed out with
his long, slender tail and snapped off the
tip.
This made it necessary to bandage up
the tail in the hope of saving the
damaged portion. Eighteen inches of
plaster of paris swathed in lint did not
add to the Teguexin's smartness on
parade, and he also blackened his record
by biting the curator of reptiles through
the finger-nail while his injuries were
being attended to. Sympathetic hand-
ling won him over to better behaviour,
and he has grown quite tame in these
last few days.
His moulting-time was overdue and it
was most interesting to see the curator
remove his old skin-overalls. They were
shiny at the seams and very frayed
round the hem, but gaps in the material
showed a promise of better things in the
background.
When the curator started to peel away
the old suit the great lizard's attention
was distracted with a beaten-up egg in
a bowl. He lapped it up with his long,
flat, forked, pink tongue, while his rags
were coming off with a sound of silky
rustling. As the overalls ripped away
from the back you glimpsed a smart
check suit in black and ivory, and when
his old socks and gloves were also re-
moved the improvement was astonish-
ing.
From a horrid-looking tramp he had
been changed into a little gentleman.
L. G. M.

JANUARY 16, 1924.

THE TIMES,
SAW-BILL DUCKS AT
THE ZOO.

THE WADERS' AVIARY.
The Waders' Aviary at the Zoological
Gardens has been enriched by the addition
of six ducks with serrated bills, purchased
from Holland. Four of these are goosanders,
the largest of the British "saw-bills," and two
are smews, or "nuns," the smallest of the
mergansers which visit us in winter. The
goosander reaches the length of 26in., and the
males are brilliant birds with blood-red bills,
glossy bottle-green heads and necks, the
under parts white with a tinge of salmon-
pink, the upper back and scapulars black.
The female is a dull, washed-out imitation
of the male. The male smew has a slate
blue bill and the general colour of the plumage
is in strongly contrasting bands and markings
of black and white.
The goosander and the smew visit our
estuaries and inland waters in the cold season,
sometimes remaining as late as May. The
goosander nests in Sutherland and many parts
of the Highlands, but most of those seen in
this country are visitors from Europe. The
smew nests close to the Arctic circle. Both
species prefer hollow tree stumps for breeding,
but have also been found in clusters of roots,
in hollows in peat, and even on sheltered
rocky ledges. They are fishing birds and
their elongated, narrow bills are armed with
a short down-turned "nail" at the tip, and
with transverse saw-like ridges along the
sides. The goosander in particular does
much damage to fishing streams, and there
is a conflict of interest between owners of
fishing rights, who justly regard these fine
birds as vermin, and bird lovers generally,
who with equal justice wish to protect these
attractive winter visitors.
The Diving Birds' house is now nearly
reconstructed, two large aviaries with pools
and rockwork having been provided for
delicate waders. The very beautiful scarlet
ibis, snowy egrets, and several other semi-
tropical waders will be on view there again
in a few days.
Two of the large lizards known as teguexins,
which have been on deposit at the Reptile
House, have now been purchased. They are
forest-living creatures from Trinidad and
tropical South America, reaching a total
length of nearly four feet. The head is very
large, and passes almost without change of
size into the neck and body. The cheeks
have pouches which are inflated with air
when the lizard is angry. The markings are
beautiful, the ground colour being olive-brown
with transverse bars of black. When they
arrived the teguexins were in poor condition,
the mouth of the larger one being badly
affected with a kind of canker. At first they
were wild and very shy, and as they not only
bite severely but use their powerful rounded
tails as weapons, they were not easy to treat.
The new Curator of Reptiles succeeded in
taming them, inducing them to take raw
eggs until they became sufficiently docile to
be handled, and to submit under not more
than reasonable protest to dressings. They
are now in good condition and, with some
assistance, have sloughed off their old skins,
so that they are extremely beautiful.

JANUARY 19, 1924.

CHANGES AT THE ZOO.

THE TEMPER OF
CROCODILES.
In this cold weather the Reptile House,
which was supplied with a new heating
system last autumn, is one of the pleasantest
resorts at the Zoo. Nearly all the fish which
were formerly exhibited there have now been
transferred to the Aquarium tanks and the
new Curator has had the opportunity of
making many changes which will give the
snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and terrapins
better accommodation. The high spirits in-
duced by the more genial temperature add
to the health and appearance of the reptiles,
but also increase the risk of handling them.
The poisonous snakes are not the most
difficult to tackle, as few of them are
specially strong or specially irritable.
Most trouble has been given by a
giant python, which, with a mate, occupied
one of the large cages. It was desired to
move it to a smaller adjoining cage in order
that its own compartment might be cleaned
out and provided with a more suitable bath
and sliding partitions for convenience in shut-
ting it off for cleaning purposes. Force could
not be used as it would have required a
dozen strong men to hold it, and the first
few who entered the den would have had
to face alarming trouble. It was deprived
of its bath but seemed contented with the
empty tank; the substitution of cold for
warm water only made it sulky. Its prey
(freshly killed rabbits and fowls), was
dangled in its view in the cage into which it
was to be lured, but it either took no notice
or was so quick as to get the food and retreat
again to its old home. After some weeks it
was shifted by a steady spray of warm water
with an unpleasant disinfectant, and now its
house is being refitted.
The crocodiles, alligators, and gharials show
a marked difference of natural disposition.
The gharials, now in the Tortoise House, are
quick, savage, and cunning. They appear to
take no notice of the keeper, but their alert
little eyes are watching him unceasingly, and
if there seems the slightest chance, their
narrow and well-armed jaws are shot out at
him. Alligators even of large size are
dangerous only in a blundering way; they
might mistake a hand or arm for food and
snap at it by mistake. But young alligators
become tame very easily, and can be handled
and petted with safety. Adult crocodiles are
always treacherous, and baby crocodiles in
good health have always bad tempers. Pond
nurseries have been made for the young
crocodilians, which have to be carefully
graded in size, as the smaller ones are fre-
quently attacked and always bullied by their
larger relatives.
P.C.M.

SUMMARY:
Pathé Frères Cinema Ltd. requests permission to film Joan B. Procter at home with her pet snakes for the weekly 'EVE & EVERYBODY'S FILM REVIEW'. They propose arranging the shoot on any convenient day, including weekends, weather permitting.

CONTENT:
PATHÉ FRÈRES CINEMA LTD.
REGISTERED OFFICE: 21 BUCKS ROW, E.C.4

Telephone:
REGENT 2836
(3 lines)

HEAD OFFICE:
103-109, WARDOUR STREET,
LONDON, W.1.

Telegrams:
PHONOFILM, WESTCENT, LONDON

Branches:
BIRMINGHAM
CARDIFF
GLASGOW.
LEEDS
LIVERPOOL
MANCHESTER.
NEWCASTLE
DUBLIN

TRADE MARK

All Communications to be
addressed to the Company
and not to individuals.

IN REPLY PLEASE QUOTE
FW/RS
PICTORIAL
DEPT.

4th Sept. 1923.

Miss Joan B. PROCTER, F.Z.S., F.L.S.
The Royal Zoological Society
Zoological Gardens.
Regents Park.
N.W.

Dear Madam,

We are very anxious to procure, with your
permission, a series of Cinematograph pictures of
yourself at home with your pet snakes.

These pictures would be published in
our well-known weekly Interest film "EVE & EVERYBODY'S
FILM REVIEW", which deals entirely with Women's
Activities.

Any day that is convenient to you would
suit us - weather permitting of course - and if
you are engaged during the week, Saturday or Sunday
would be quite convenient for us to take this film.

Thanking you in anticipation of your kind
permission.

Yours faithfully,
Patrice
PATHÉ FRÈRES CINEMA, Ltd.

No order for goods or advertisements will be recognised as binding this Company, unless it is given upon a printed and numbered order form
of the Company, duly signed in accordance with the terms printed on the said order form.
No contracts for a greater amount than £100 (one hundred pounds sterling) will be recognized as binding this Company unless passed and sealed
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Form 31. 10.22