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SUMMARY:
Article by Chrystabel Procter profiling her sister Joan B. Procter's lifelong dedication to herpetology, including training under Dr. G. A. Boulenger, publications, and society fellowships. It notes her upcoming role as Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens and her design work for aquarium rockwork at the Mappin Terraces.

CONTENT:
THE WOMAN'S LEADER.
AUGUST 10, 1923.

A WOMAN HERPETOLOGIST.

By CHRYSTABEL PROCTER.

Entomology and other branches of zoology can be, and often
are, begun comparatively late in life, but the herpetologist is
born a herpetologist.

As soon as she was old enough to express her thoughts, my
sister (Joan B. Procter) announced that she intended to spend
her life in the study of reptiles, and until now she certainly has
kept her word.

From ten to eighteen, she was educated at St. Paul's Girls'
School, where her ambition was treated sympathetically, though
I do not think anyone took it very seriously. She was
taught no biology—zoology was not included in the curriculum
until the term after she left, but she was allowed in the higher
forms to specialize in Geology, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathe-
matics. Out of school, almost the whole of her time was spent
in studying zoology.

She kept a large collection of reptile pets, from the time she
was a small child, and has always had the knack of taming them
very quickly. She believes she is safe with snakes, because
she has no fear of them. It is fear, she says, that makes the
danger. Young children are not, as a rule, afraid of reptiles
until made afraid by adults. At eighteen, her scientific education
began at the Natural History Museum, where she had the amazing
good luck to be trained for three years by Dr. G. A. Boulenger.
No other training could have fitted her so well for the work she
is doing now. I have heard her say many times that she owes all
her success to his patience and kindness. Dr. Boulenger was
the greatest living authority on reptiles, batrachians, and fish;
and in recent years has become a distinguished botanist.

My sister first met him when, as a child, she took a small
pet crocodile to the Museum to be named correctly. Other
visits followed and, when she left school, she went to work under
his supervision. Besides teaching her science, he encouraged
her to do independent research work, and instructed her in
the routine work of the Museum. She read papers before the
Zoological Society—the first when she was nineteen, and she
had much practice in the working out and naming of collections
from foreign museums.

When Dr. Boulenger retired in 1920, he arranged that she should
carry on his work, and this she has done ever since.

Her duties have included routine work such as the writing up
of reports, registers, and catalogues; the answering of letters
from all over the world on the subject of reptiles and batrachians;
the naming of museum and private collections; the describing
of new species, and the general supervision of students of
herpetology.

Some 3,000 specimens have passed through her hands; she has
published many scientific papers and compiled the Zoological
Record (Reptiles and Batrachians) for 1920 and 1921.

She is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the
Linnean Society, and the Bombay Natural History Society.

At home she has kept a private collection of living creatures,
which has latterly included rare and delicate batrachians from
collectors abroad.

Her work as Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens
will commence in November, and will include care of the living
collection and research. She is looking forward to it very much.
It is not usual in England for a woman to be offered such a post,
or to have enjoyed such training, and my sister feels herself to
be unusually fortunate. Abroad, however, especially in America,
there is more scope for women. A Miss Dickerson was for some
time head of the Department of Herpetology in the New York
Museum, and Dr. Nelly de Rooij now holds a similar position
in Leiden.

My sister is at present engaged in designing the rockwork
for the tanks in the new Aquarium, under the Mappin Terraces,
at the Zoo. This has, of course, nothing whatever to do with
her herpetological work. There are to be about sixty tanks,
all different, and each one geologically correct and suited to the
habits of the creatures which are to live in it. The designs
include studies in many kinds of natural rock. My sister makes
small models, scale two inches to the foot, and these are copied by
craftsmen.

SUMMARY:
Press clippings report that Miss Joan Procter, aged 25, has been appointed curator of reptiles at the London Zoological Gardens, highlighting her lifelong expertise with snakes and her prior work at South Kensington. Coverage includes details of her scientific distinctions and international recognition.

CONTENT:
The Girls' Own Free Press

MEETS CRAWLY THINGS
FROM ZOO AS FRIENDS

Woman Appointed Curator of Rep-
tiles at London

Girls who are afraid of mice, spid-
ers, beetles, newts, snakes, and such
unfamiliar things may shudder at
hearing that Miss Joan Procter has
been appointed curator of the rep-
tiles at the Zoo in London, England.
Miss Procter does not shudder at
any kind of animal, for they are her
familiars, especially snakes. She
began keeping snakes as pets when
she was ten. When she was eigh-
teen she became an assistant in the
reptiles department at South Ken-
sington.
Now, at 25, she goes to the Zoo to
be the friend of all the crawly and
cold-blooded things, as she is the
friend of the collection she keeps
in her home.

WINNIPEG, SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1923.
THE WINNIPEG EVENING TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1923

SNAKE EXPERT

Accordingly, as soon as
she left school she became Dr. Bou-
lenger's assistant, this at the age of
eighteen, and when he resigned she
was appointed to his post. Last year
the New York Zoological Society of-
fered her a job, but she would not
leave the Kensington Museum. Now,
of course, she will have to give up her
work there.

The young expert came into real
contact with the zoological society at
the age of nineteen when she read her
first paper, on pit snakes, before them.
A year later they made her F.Z.S.
At the beginning of July she gained
another distinction by being elected
F.L.S., Fellow of the Linnæan Society,
one of the foremost scientific organi-
zations in the world.
Being surrounded by snakes during
her attendance at the zoo apparently
is not enough for Miss Proctor, and
she keeps six Brazilian snakes in a
glass cage in her drawing-room. These
were sent her as a gift. Noted scien-
tists in South America and South
Africa have frequently sent rare and
deadly reptiles to England, knowing
her interest, and most of these she
keeps at her own home.

MISS JOAN PROCTOR, F.Z.S., F.L.S.
Miss Proctor has been appointed
curator of reptiles at the Zoological
Gardens. She is 25 years old and
acknowledged to be one of the great-
est authorities on snakes in the world,
and the ease with which she handles
even the most deadly specimens is
astonishing. Her last post was that
of chief of the department of reptiles
at the Natural History Museum,
South Kensington. Miss Proctor re-
cently refused an offer from the Zoo-
logical Society of New York.
Miss Proctor does not shudder at
any kind of animal, for they are her
familiars, especially snakes. She be-
gan keeping snakes as pets when she
was ten. When she was 18 she be-
came an assistant in the reptiles' de-
partment at South Kensington.
Now she goes to the Zoo to be the
friend of all the crawly and cold
blooded things, as she is the friend
of the collection she keeps in her
home.

New York Tribune.
5 AUG 1923

Reptiles Put
Under Care of
Woman Expert

Snakes Are Special Pets of
Miss Joan Proctor, Who
Has Been Appointed as a
Curator in London Zoo

LONDON,
Snakes and crocodiles are not per-
haps, the most pleasant creatures with
which to live, but Miss Joan Proctor
evidently thinks otherwise. This
young Englishwoman has just been
appointed curator of the reptile house
at the London Zoological Gardens,
where she will have entire charge of
the cobras, the pythons, the alligators
and all the other reptiles.
Miss Proctor's grandfather was a
famous entomologist, so possibly her
interest and aptitude in the subject
are inherited. It certainly looks as
though she is going to become as well
known as he was, for already she is
looked on by zoologists as one of the
greatest of snake experts.
When in her very early teens she
happened to visit the chief of the rep-
tile department at the South Kensing-
ton Natural History Museum and so
astonished him by her knowledge of
ophiology—she had kept snakes and
lizards as pets since her tenth birth-
day—that he offered to train her in
the subject.

SOUTH AFRICAN PAPER
FAMOUS SNAKE EXPERT

Girl Scientist Who Does
Not Advertise

Miss Joan Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., an
Englishwoman of 25 (who does not adver-
tise herself), has been appointed curator
of reptiles at the London Zoo. She will
have complete charge of dozens of venom-
ous cobras, deadly pythons, boa constric-
tors, alligators and crocodiles.
Miss Procter, unknown to the world at
large (for she does not advertise herself),
is famous among zoologists as one of the
greatest snake experts of the day.
Johannesburg
Sunday Times

Girl Is World Snake Expert

Miss Joan Proctor, the twenty-
three-year-old girl recently made
curator of reptiles in the London
Zoological Gardens, had her first pet
snake when ten years old and her
knowledge of crocodiles brought her
the assistance of Dr. Boulenger, head
of the department of reptiles, several
years ago. She was 15 when she be-
came his assistant and succeeded
him when he resigned. She is one of
the greatest snake experts in the
world.
AMERICAN PAPER
HARTFORD COURANT
ARIZONA, U.S.A.

SUMMARY:
Press cuttings report Miss Joan Proctor’s appointment as curator of reptiles at the London Zoo, describe her lifelong interest in reptiles and her unusual pets, and note her experiments with axolotls. Additional New Zealand clippings reprise the news and include a light verse celebrating her fearlessness.

CONTENT:
Cutting from the Dundee Telegraph
Address of Publication
Issue dated

23. 7. 23

GIRL ZOO CURATOR AND
HER QUEER PALS.
Boa Constrictor and
Crocodile as Playmates.
Turning a "Water Creature" Dry.

Miss Joan Proctor, the young girl who
has been appointed curator of reptiles at
the London Zoo, is somewhat shy to talk
about her life work, which has been the
study of creatures from which the average
person turns with a shudder.

A slightly-built, smiling girl, with a pleasant
expression, she is now busily engaged
in the new aquarium in course of construction
at the Zoo.

It was with reluctance that she admitted
her identity. Asked when she began to be
interested in snakes, she replied—

"I never did begin, I have always been
interested in them. I have worked among
them since the time I left school. I have
been at the Natural History Museum so far,
and I am coming to my new post here in
November.

"Yes, I have kept a great many pets of
all sorts," she continued. "Which is the
most unusual? Oh, they are all considered
unusual. Among them was a boa constrictor.
It is in the reptile house now—five
feet long and perfectly tame. I kept it at
home, and usually had it loose. It was shut
up at night. Of course, I did not allow it
to be about in the same room with the
cat. It would have eaten pussy.

"I have also had a crocodile, an alligator,
and all sorts of snakes and lizards. I have
never had the slightest trouble with them.
They were all great pets and quite tame."
When asked if she had trained any of her
peculiar pets to do tricks, Miss Proctor
merely smiled and said she did not want
anything theatrical to be said about her and
her pets.

She thinks, however, that the reptile
house is one of the most popular places in
the Zoo, especially with children.
"Children," she said, "are not afraid of
the reptiles."

Miss Proctor's own collection of animals,
it may be added, is a considerable one.
The crocodile to which she referred was her
playmate when she was quite a little girl
of seven years old. It, however, only lived
two years.

To see her making friends with a Brazilian
mongoose snake, which is one of her
favourites at present, would scare the ordinary
girl. A small python is also one of
her present possessions, and she has a number
of lizards.

Recently she succeeded with certain experiments
in regard to axolotls. She
managed to change the habits of one of
them by scientifically reducing his allowance
of water, and transformed it from a water
creature to a land creature.

New Zealand
DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1923.
THE EVENING STAR,
WOMAN AS SNAKE EXPERT.
IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT.

LONDON, July 20.
(Received July 21, at 11 a.m.)
The Daily Express says that Miss
Joan Proctor, an English girl, aged
twenty-five, has been appointed curator
of reptiles at the London Zoological Gardens.
Her grandfather was a famous herpetologist.
Miss Proctor had her first
pet snake when she was ten years of age.
One day she received a crocodile as a present,
and took it to Dr Boulenger, head of
the department of reptiles in the Natural
History Museum at South Kensington.
He was astonished at Miss Proctor's
knowledge, and offered to train her. She
became Dr Boulenger's assistant when she
was eighteen, and succeeded him when he
resigned. She is one of the greatest
snake experts in the world, and is a
fellow of the Zoological and Linnæan Societies.—A.
and N.Z. Cable.

DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1923.
THE EVENING STAR.
New Zealand

Joan Proctor was a little maid
Who never learnt to be afraid
Of caterpillars, slugs, or worms,
Or anything that creeps or squirm.

The birthday gift that first would fill her
With gladness was a caterpillar.
But great was her rejoicing when,
Attaining to the age of ten,
Some kindly friend contrived to make
A present of a lovely snake.

This gift with some might well beget
Dislike of a reptilian pet;
But Joan's small soul was tickled greatly.
She loved that serpent passionately!
And often (when the day was fine)
She bathed it in the Serpentine.
This lasted for a little while,
And then the sweetest crocodile,
With legs and jaws and tail complete,
Was sent her for a birthday treat.

Too lovely to enjoy alone,
She took it to South Kensington.
Thus opened her career of fame,
And soon our heroine became
The highest number on the lists
Of female serpentologists.
So great her reputation grew
That now she's been promoted to
Command the snake-house at the Zoo!

MORAL
So, little girls, be sure you keep
From fear of things that crawl and creep.
Whene'er you're terrified or scared,
Just think of how Joan Proctor fared.

SUMMARY:
Clippings report new arrivals at the Regent's Park Reptile House—Hardwick's Mastigures, a pigmy chameleon, a blue-tongued lizard, and several snakes—and note their behaviors and origins. Another article from the Public Ledger (Philadelphia) announces that Miss Joan Proctor has been chosen to take charge of the reptile house at the London Zoo in 1933.

CONTENT:
NEW REPTILES AT
THE ZOO.
LIZARD'S TONGUE LIKE PIECE
OF BRIGHT BLUE CLOTH,
PIGMY CHAMELEON.

Within the last few days the collection ex-
hibited in the Reptile House at Regent's
Park has been enriched by the arrival of a
number of new lizards and snakes of great
interest, which still further add to the many
attractions offered by this popular section of
the Zoo.
Of the lizards, the curious and strangely-
named Hardwick's Mastigures are among the
most noteworthy, both by reason of their un-
usual appearance and characteristic habits.
These reptiles belong to a group known as
Spiny-tailed lizards, all the members of which
are provided with thick, rather short though
well-developed tails, bearing numerous sharp
spines arranged in a series of rings.
The head is very short and rounded, while the
teeth, instead of being small and conical as in the
better-known lizards, are few in number and
united into broad grinding or cutting surfaces.
Vegetable Feeders.
The reason for this special modification is that
the Spiny-tails are all vegetable feeders, where-
as the typical lizards subsist, for the main part
at least, on animal food in the form of insects,
worms, etc.
These sombrely coloured and rather grotesque
creatures present a strange appearance as they
recline lazily on the sand of their cases, placidly
munching oats or maize, their unhurried move-
ments and benign expression being well in keep-
ing with their gentle and inoffensive disposition.
In a state of nature the Hardwick's Mastigure
occurs in the desert region of Baluchistan and
Northern India, where it lives in burrows, from
which it is dislodged only with the utmost diffi-
culty. When attacked it will cling firmly to
the walls of its retreat with its limbs, hanging on
with remarkable pertinacity, at the same time
blocking the entrance to the burrow with its
stout, spiny tail.
Changing Colour.
A pigmy chameleon is another newcomer, and
though of very diminutive stature—its body ex-
clusive of the tail measuring but little more than
three inches—has many features to recommend
it to public notice.
Like the larger species, this bizarre little crea-
ture possesses the faculty of changing colour in
an extraordinary degree, and even within the
confines of its comparatively small case is not
easily recognised, so closely does the hue of its
skin harmonise with whatever object the reptile
may choose as a resting place.
The deception is still further assisted by the
laterally compressed body and the attitudes
assumed by the animal, which will remain quite
motionless for hours together, only exhibiting
evidence of life by rolling its globe-like eyes, each
of which is kept in constant movement inde-
pendently of the other.
Unlike the majority of chameleons the pigmy
species gives birth to living young, as many as
twelve little ones—perfect miniatures of their
parents—being produced at a single birth.

A CHAMELEON.

Blue-tongued Lizard.
A blue-tongued lizard, with a tongue like a
piece of bright blue cloth; Indo-Chinese and
Indian rat snakes, well known in India as valu-
able vermin destroyers; a rare spot-ringed snake
from Brazil, and some Indian cobras are also
included among the animals which have just
arrived at the Gardens.
E.R.D.

PUBLIC LEDGER—PHILADELPHIA
SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 21, 1933

Girl Chosen to Take Charge
of Snakes at London Zoo

Member of Noted Scientific Societies Has
Made Reptiles Her Hobby Since
Early Childhood

Public Ledger Foreign Service
Copyright, 1933, by Public Ledger Company
London, July 20.—(By Wireless.)—
Miss Joan Proctor, who at twenty-five
years of age already sports two sets
of initials after her name, has realized
the ambition of her life. She has become
the world's greatest snake charmer,
and within a few months will assume
her new duties as mistress of the reptile
house at the London Zoo. She was
busy preparing models for the rock-
work which is to adorn the new home
now being built for her charges today.
Joan has been on intimate terms with
snakes since early girlhood. She has the
utmost contempt for those of her sex
or mere males who prefer almost any
other creature to a snake for a pet.
Collecting snakes, lizards, frogs, toads
and other members of the reptile fam-
ily has been her hobby since she was
ten years old—a tendency possibly in-
herited from her grandfather, who was a
distinguished entomologist.
Joan became assistant to the curator
of reptiles at the Zoological Gardens
when she was eighteen. She read her
first paper on snakes before the Zoologi-
cal Society a later and at twenty
became a fellow of that society. Two
weeks ago she was elected a fellow of
the Linnean Society of London, one of
the world's foremost scientific bodies.
But Joan has equipment other than
mental for her work. She looks like a
snake charmer—diminutive, sinuous,
with the jet black hair and beady, glit-
tering eyes. She is fully impressed with
the dignity of her new position. Today
she declared her intention to heed
closely the unwritten ethics of her pro-
fession.
"I really cannot grant an interview,"
she said, and then disappeared as mys-
teriously as one of her charges.

SUMMARY:
Magazine clipping from The Sketch featuring photographs and captions about Miss Joan B. Procter’s appointment as Curator of Reptiles at the "Zoo," succeeding Mr. E. G. Boulenger, with notes on her work at the British Museum and aquarium design. A note states the photos were published without her permission.

CONTENT:
Sketch
Aug. 29, 1923
Fond of Snakes:
THESE PHOTOS WERE
PUBLISHED WITHOUT
MY PERMISSION
The New Reptile Curator at Home.
DURING THE
SUMMER HOLIDAYS!

1. THE GREAT LADY REPTILE EXPERT: MISS JOAN B. PROCTER, F.Z.S., F.L.S., AND FRIEND.
2. A STUDY IN MISS PROCTER'S HOUSE: PUSSY, THE KYLON AND THE REPTILE.
3. THE LADY WHO HANDLES SNAKES WITH PLEASURE: MISS JOAN B. PROCTER, WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED CURATOR OF REPTILES AT THE "ZOO."
4. ON THE FRIENDLIEST TERMS: MISS PROCTER AND A MEMBER OF HER PRIVATE COLLECTION.

Miss Joan B. Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., who has been appointed Curator of Reptiles at the "Zoo," in succession to Mr. E. G. Boulenger, who has been appointed Director of the new Aquarium, is the greatest woman expert on reptiles of the day, and will assume her duties in the late autumn. She was educated at St. Paul's School for Girls, and since 1916 has worked in the Reptile Department at the British Museum—first as voluntary assistant to Dr. Boulenger, and, since his retirement, as the expert in charge. She is the author of a large number of papers on the anatomy, classification, and habits of reptiles and batrachians, and owns a private collection of living specimens. Miss Procter is still carrying on the work of the Reptile Department at the Museum, but is also engaged in designing the rockwork for the aquarium tanks at the "Zoo."

PHOTOGRAPHS SPECIALLY TAKEN FOR "THE SKETCH" BY ALFIERI.

SUMMARY:
Press cuttings profile Miss Joan Procter/Proctor as Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens of London, noting her expertise, refusal of a New York offer, and her design work for the new aquarium. Items also mention E. G. Boulenger’s appointment to direct the aquarium and related details.

CONTENT:
Snake Expert.
THE AMERICAN
AUG. 1923

Photo by Kadel & Herbert.
MISS JOAN PROCTOR.
Not an ordinary snake charmer
is Miss Proctor, F. Z. S. F. L. S.,
but Curator of Reptiles at the
Zoological Gardens of London.
She is an English girl, twenty-five
years of age, and regarded the
greatest authority on snakes in
the world. She recently refused
an offer from the New York
Zoological Society.

Le Matin (Paris)

11. Aug.

ÉCHOS ET PROPOS

L'ECOLE DE LA TENTATION. —
C'est une femme, une jeune fille même,
la frêle, délicate et gracieuse miss Procter qui
est chargée, au jardin zoologique de Londres,
de la section... des serpents.

Et je constate que les serpents et les fem-
mes ont décidément des affinités dont la pru-
dence masculine devrait commencer sérieuse-
ment à prendre ombrage.

Chacun connaît l'entente extrêmement cor-
diale qui existait entre notre mère Eve et l'an-
cêtre des serpents, et chacun sait aussi ce qui
en est résulté.

Seulement, voilà, du temps de notre mère
Eve, il y avait un paradis à perdre.
Tandis que maintenant...
Rosine

Cutting from the Nottingham Express
Address of Publication.
Issue dated

4. 9. 23

HER REPTILIAN FAMILY.

The second of the lady curators appointed by
the Zoological Society, Miss Joan Procter, will
take over her duties in charge of the reptiles at
Regent's Park during the autumn. Miss Procter
has plenty of practical experience of these strange
pets, for, apart from work which she has fulfilled
in the reptile department of the museum at South
Kensington, she has for several years kept a private
collection of live snakes and batrachians. She has
designed the whole of the rockwork for the new
aquarium at the Zoo.

Extract from
THE ENGLISHMAN
CALCUTTA.
Date
10 AUG 1929

WOMAN CURATOR OF
REPTILES

APPOINTMENTS AT THE LONDON
ZOO

Mr. E. G. Boulenger, at present
Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological
Gardens, London, 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 superintending the construction of
the aquarium, and when the tanks are
ready for occupation it is anticipated
that his time will be almost completely
engaged by his new duties. Mr. Boulen-
ger 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 Department 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 batrachians. At
present Miss Procter is still carrying on
the work of the Reptile Department at
the Museum, but is also engaged in de-
signing the rockwork for the aquarium
tanks at the Zoo.

MAKING THE ZOO'S NEW AQUARIUM. Finishing one of the two hundred tanks
which are to form the new aquarium under the Mappin Terraces at the Zoo. Some of
the tanks will hold thirty tons of water. (Daily Mirror photograph.)
OCTOBER 6, 1923

CONTENT:
Vol VIII Nº 94 NOVEMBER, 1923
OVERSEAS

Eve Among the Serpents
By Francis Yeats-Brown

SOFT-VOICED, delicate-handed young lady of twenty-
five was sitting at a desk by the window of a basement
room in the Natural History Museum of South
Kensington. Tall jars containing reptiles in spirits
of wine stood here and there. In a corner of the
room, an assistant worked among scales and test-tubes.

But Miss Joan B. Procter, Fellow of the Zoological Society, and
Curator-elect of the Reptiles at the Zoo, is a busy person, and did
not give me much time for staring about.

I noticed, as I took a seat at her desk, that various curly things in
test-tubes stood before her, and that there was a snake skin on her
blotting paper.

Since earliest childhood, Miss Procter has been devoted to reptiles.
It was a pet crocodile which was responsible for setting her infant
feet on the herpetological path. This little crocodile was of a species
that neither she nor her parents could precisely identify. Whether
or no she called it plain "Bill" in the nursery is beside the point:
the burning question which agitated her mind was, was it Crocodilus
niloticus or some rarer species? To solve the problem she took
her pet to the Natural History Museum, and it was there that she
met Dr. Boulanger, the greatest living authority on reptiles,
batrachians, and fish. From this meeting her life-work was
decided. As soon as she left school she worked under Dr.
Boulanger's direct supervision, learning science from him as well
as some of the routine work of the museum. When he retired in
1920, he arranged that she should carry on his work, and this she
has done ever since.

At the age of nineteen she read her first paper before the
Zoological Society. Recently she was elected a Member of the
Linnæan Society, and in November she is to take up her new and

Was it true that the cobra lowered its hood, and the rattlesnake
was dumb at her approach?
"Certainly not; I handle dangerous reptiles in the ordinary way,"
Miss Procter answered, "with an iron bar to keep their heads down.
Having handled snakes all my life, I suppose I have a certain
confidence in dealing with them, but that's all!"

All!—but how necessary confidence and experience will be to
Miss Procter I was able to gather from an inspection of her future
charges at the Zoo.

The big snakes, for instance, are generally untamable. Given
the slightest chance, they would seize and crush a man to death.
When the twenty-five-foot python that the Prince of Wales brought
back from India arrived at Regent's Park, it took ten strong men
to straighten out his terrible coils and put him into his London
apartment. Even now, the keeper would not trust him for an
instant.

This python, in common with others of his species, has a very
fickle appetite. At present he is hungry. On Friday evenings (his
weekly dinner hour) one can see him waiting at the door of his den,
his flat head waving to and fro, his forked tongue roving, and a
gleam of anticipation in his cloudy amber eyes. A goat is given
him, and he will contentedly swallow it whole, with horns and hair
complete. But presently his appetite may dwindle to a rabbit or
two, and then fade away altogether; indeed, pythons have been
known to go for a whole year without bite or sup.

Grass Snake swallowing a viper (see page 60). Photo by Mr. F. W. Bond.

Snakes, of course, are only a part of Miss Procter's charge. She
is deeply interested at present in foreign frogs and their habits.
Tortoises also will claim their attention. As to crocodiles and alligators,
they are hosts in themselves. From birth to death, all sorts
of accidents are liable to befall them, and when they have to have
a leg put in a splint, as sometimes happens, the operation is one
that demands a stout heart, as well as a steady hand.

I was shown an infant alligator which lives in tepid water behind
the scenes. He was no bigger than a lizard, although already six
years old (corresponding to about two years in the shorter-lived
human race), but, although so young, he was quite a little man
of the world, and lay placidly in my hand while I examined his
various devices for under-water comfort. After a few minutes, he
permitted himself to yawn, and disclosed his baby back teeth, which
in a hundred years or so, when he is full grown, will be strong
enough to masticate an ox. At present he is a cheerful little creature,
with no guile.

Who can tell what goes on in the minds of cold-blooded beasts?
No one knows.

A grass-snake recently tried to eat a viper who shared its
quarters. He began—rather foolishly, one is tempted to think—
at his companion's tail. Strange to tell, instead of objecting and
using its venom, the viper continued basking in the sun as if nothing
odd was happening. When three-quarters of the viper had disappeared,
the grass snake vomited it up again and made friends.
All this happened in the course of an afternoon, and is typical of
the strange lives that are being lived out in the Reptile House.

Why do rattlesnakes rattle? Why does the Mexican monitor
swallow eggs whole, as if it were taking pills? Why do baby alligators
have to be forcibly fed?
Who can fathom the psychology of reptiles? These things
are beyond the wit of man—
and Miss Procter. But her
position at the Zoo will un-
doubtedly add to our know-
ledge of that sinister creature
who whispered to our ances-
tress in Eden.

A young Alligator emerging from an egg.
Photo by Mr. F. W. Bond.

SUMMARY:
Multiple newspaper clippings from early September 1923 report Miss Joan Proctor’s appointment as Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo/London Zoological Gardens, noting her prior work with reptiles and aquarium rockwork design. One clipping discusses Miss Cheesman’s temporary withdrawal from the insect curator post for a South Pacific expedition and mentions related figures and institutions.

CONTENT:
SEPTEMBER, 1923
THE CHURCH MILITANT

Miss Joan Proctor, F.L.S., F.Z.S., has been appointed
Curator of the Reptiles at the Zoo, in which department she
has been working since 1916.

THE NEWS OF THE WORLD SEPT. 2. 1923.

THE ZOO LADY CURATOR OF REPTILES.
Miss Joan B. Proctor, who has been appointed Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo. She
is seen wearing one of her charges as a necklet.

Cutting from the Worcester Daily Times
Address of Publication
Issue dated 4.9.23

In view of her appointment on the personnel
of the Scientific Expeditionary Research As-
sociation's coming expedition to the South
Pacific, Miss Cheesman, who in 1917 became
curator of insects in the London Zoo under
Professor Maxwell Lefroy, will be temporarily
withdrawn from that position. Miss Chees-
man enjoys the distinction of having been the
first lady curator appointed by the Zoological
Society, and during her tenure of the post she
has created almost a revolution in the beauti-
ful insect house presented some years ago by
the late Sir William Caird. The Society has
also quite recently appointed a lady curator of
reptiles, in the person of Miss Jean Proctor,
F.Z.S., F.L.S., who for several years she
worked in the reptile department of the Brit-
ish Museum as voluntary assistant to Dr. Bou-
lenger, and latterly in full charge. It was
curious that the only lady curators who
specialise in creepy-crawly forms of life.

Canadian
Lepto
Bosses Snakes
CANADIAN

Miss Joan Proctor, an English girl
of 25, has just been appointed curator
of reptiles at the London Zoological
Gardens. She is one of the best
known experts on snakes in the
world.

Cutting from the Liverpool Courier
Address of Publication
Issue dated 4.9.23

HER REPTILIAN FAMILY.
The second of the lady curators
appointed by the Zoological Society, Miss
Joan Procter, will take over her duties
in charge of the reptiles at Regent's
Park during the autumn.
Miss Procter has plenty of practical
experience of these strange pets, for,
apart from work which she has fulfilled
in the reptile department of the Museum
at South Kensington, she has for several
years kept a private collection of live
snakes and batrachians. She has designed
the whole of the rockwork for the new
aquarium at the Zoo.

SUMMARY:
A correspondent from Calgary, 38 Ellwood Road, Brighton, requests an autograph for a new Autograph Tea-Cloth, describing a previous cloth—signed by Haig, French, Foch, Jellicoe, Beatty, and Sturdee—that was repeatedly sold for war charities and then stolen. They mention Scotland Yard’s efforts, an auction at the Royal York Hotel, Brighton for the R. Sussex County Hospital, and new signatures including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lady Eliza Bowes-Lyon.

CONTENT:
Calgary 38 Ellwood Road
Brighton. 30/8/23.

Slip sent
you. I
was glad to get it.

Dear Madam,

Pray pardon me, an utter Stranger, thus addressing
you, but I was looking at several pictures of your lovely
in "the Sketch" & the description under them so
attracted me I felt bound to write and ask you
the following favour- that of your autograph for
my wonderful "Tea-Cloth" May I explain?

About 22 years ago I began to make an Autograph
Tea-Cloth - & such is over the Water" 18 inches by
be signed by such men as Haig - French -
Foch - Jellicoe - Beatty & Sturdee - It was then
filmed! Then sold - auctioned & raffled, 5 times
in aid of War Charities - Last November - having
had it returned to me each time I gave it to Mr.
Harry Preston, Royal York Hotel - Brighton - to be auctioned
in aid of the R. Sussex County Hospital - at his
Great Yearly Boxing Tournament. During the evening
my Cloth was stolen - Scotland Yard did all in
their power to recover it, and a big reward was
still is, offered. but of no avail - Not to be
beaten I started another; the Archbishop of Can-
terbury signed first, consecrating it for its good
work! he wrote - Then Lady Eliza Bowes-Lyon
signed next, 10 days before her marriage -
And so on - the wonderful names are coming

SUMMARY:
A correspondent asks the head curator to sign a linen autograph cloth to be sold for a 'Cause', noting the B. & Bleach Linen Co. supplied the linen and it will be exhibited in their windows. Signed by Mrs R. Barrington-Hertz, with a note mentioning J. B. Procter.

CONTENT:
I'm fact, all sports, professions etc. are represented, & I, who spend so much of my time at the Zoo, crave to have you, the head Curator of such a splendid group, of it - as representative of the animals I love so much.
Please will you write your name on the enclosed piece of paper for me? I shall be so grateful.
The Cloth is on pure white Linen with handsome border of drawn thread work all round - the autographs in scarlet letterings in the centre. It has been all over the world nearly for signatures, but some names I have to ask for over myself. Otherwise the Cloth could not be filled up, or worked by me in time for December this year. It is, of course, going to be sold - for the same 'Cause'. The B. & Bleach Linen Co. have me the linen to make the new one of - & it is to be exhibited in several of their windows as soon as ever it is finished.
Trusting you will grant me this favour.

Yours faithfully,
(Mrs) R. Barrington-Hertz.

This J. B. Procter.