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SUMMARY:
Press clippings report Miss Joan Procter’s appointment as Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo, her work caring for reptiles, and an appeal for ‘golden’ cockroaches to feed chameleons, followed by a note on a chameleon’s recovery. A brief Manchester Guardian reference dated 3 November 1927 also appears.

CONTENT:
Thursday, November 1, 1923.
THE EVENING STANDARD.
WOMAN GUARDIAN
OF REPTILES.
ANIMATION IN THE ZOO AT HER
ARRIVAL.
NURSING THE SICK.
Miss Joan Procter, the newly appointed
Curator of reptiles at the Zoo, took over
for duties there to-day.

This is the first time that a woman has under-
taken such work, but Miss Procter has a special
instinct for the handling of such unpleasant
things as poisonous snakes, snappy monitors, and
those miniature alligators that look almost harm-
less, but could bite off a careless finger without
much difficulty.

"One of my principal duties," Miss Procter
said to-day, "will be to
look after the health of
the inmates of the rep-
tile house. All the new
arrivals have to be
examined, and as a
general rule are put in
quarantine in the sana-
torium for some time,
among parrots, squir-
rels, or whatever new-
comers there may be,
until they are found
permanent quarters.

"There is no room
for them all in quaran-
tine, but we can deal
with the suspects.
What Snakes Suffer.
Miss Joan Procter.
"Sickness," Miss Procter went on, "is quite
common among the reptiles, and it is chiefly
caused by parasites. The snakes are very sub-
ject to diseases of the mouth, although we do
not quite know why. They get a sort of ulcera-
tion, and if not properly attended to they will
die. Our method of cure is to bathe them with
a disinfectant as strong as they can stand.

"When treating the poisonous varieties for
sickness one has naturally to be very careful
not to be bitten, and in the case of mouth disease
it is practically impossible to give them a wash.

"The keepers are expert at handling them
for the usual sores on the body, but if the mouth
had to be treated it would be necessary to hold
them in such a way that they would be almost
sure to bite."

In a visit to the reptile house to-day one could
almost detect a stir among the specimens as if
in excitement over the arrival of the new
mistress. One of the crocodiles was observed to
move his head twice in the course of fifteen
minutes, which betokens unusual animation in
such undemonstrative creatures.

NOVEMBER 2. 1923.
FRIDAY, The Daily Mail
ZOO'S NEW WOMAN
CURATOR.
HUNT FOR THE "GOLDEN"
COCKROACH.
Miss Joan Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S.,
took up her appointment yesterday as
Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo-
logical Gardens.

In spite of her youth, Miss Procter is
a recognized authority in this branch of
science, and till now has been in charge
of the Reptile Department at the British
Museum of Natural History.

In the midst of "moving" troubles
yesterday one of her first anxieties may
be instanced as showing her attitude to
her new charges. "I have lost my
supply of golden cockroaches," she said,
"and I would be grateful if any of your
readers could tell me where they can be
found in any numbers."

These yellow or "golden" cock-
roaches are the finest food for many rare
reptiles, including chameleons. Miss
Procter was able to obtain them from
the basement of a certain public build-
ing until a catastrophic spring-cleaning
with limewash wiped out the whole
colony.

Chameleons, with their wonderful
"lashing" six-inch tongues, select
them as targets even should there be
only one cockroach among 50 blue-
bottles, and the best hope of nursing
such creatures through the coming win-
ter is to find the "golden cockroach"
at once.

Should anyone know of a colony of
these small yellow insects a post-card ad-
dressed to Curator of Reptiles, Zoo-
logical Society's Offices, Regent's Park,
N.W., would be much appreciated—
especially by the chameleons. The ordi-
nary black cockroach is too big, tough,
and indigestible as a diet.

the Manchester Guardian
Publication
3.11.27.

NOVEMBER 8, 1923.
THURSDAY, The Daily Mail
ZOO CHAMELEON
ENDS ITS FAST.
WILL TO LIVE RESTORED
BY NEW DIET.
The Zoo's Basilisk chameleon desires
to thank the Daily Mail reader who
saved his life by collecting and forward-
ing a tin of "golden" cockroaches.

Last Friday it was stated in these
columns that meal-worms and the big
black cockroaches had failed to tempt
the chameleon to go on living. Only the
small "golden" cockroach could save
him, but no supply of these insects had
been found.

It was quite a pathetic bedside scene
before the post brought the life-giving
insects. Showing evidences of his six
weeks' fast, the chameleon had scarcely
the strength to turn
black in the face
when the same old
mealworms were
offered at break-
fast-time. Billows
waves of yellow
mottled skin when
an ordinary mag-
got was served up
as an alternative.
He turned a shabby
green and began to squint. The
chameleon is the world's most gifted
squinter. His eyes work quite indepen-
A Chameleon.
dently of each other. One eye may
be seen riveted on the ceiling while the
other idly swivels round like the second
hand of a watch going the wrong way.
Then the golden cockroaches arrived.
He unpacked his elastic tongue with its
sticky tip, and slashed it out for a full
six inches. The first cockroach vanished.
In ten minutes 21 insects went the same
way.

This was "hearty" for a chameleon
in a decline, and no further bulletins will
be issued.
L. G. M.

THE NEXT FEW DAYS
BROUGHT ME ABOUT
THE WHEREABOUTS OF
GOLDEN ROACHES ALSO

Miss Joan Procter, F.Z.S., the
girl snake expert, has started
duty as curator of reptiles at the
London Zoo,

SUMMARY:
A 1923 Toronto Star feature profiles Miss Joan Proctor, curator of reptiles at the London Zoological Gardens, highlighting her methods of handling venomous snakes through kindness and understanding. The article notes her role in designing a new reptile house and references Raymond L. Ditmars of the New York Zoo.

CONTENT:
1923.
Toronto Star

Her Pets Are Ugly King Cobras
Deadly Reptiles Won By Kindness

Miss Joan Proctor, Curator of
Serpents in London Zoo-
logical Gardens, Tells How
She Overcomes Her Terri-
ble Playmates.

THE first woman in the world was on sociable
terms with a serpent, and the world knows
what came of that.
But here is one of Eve's youngest daughters
handling, petting and caring for innumerable de-
scendants of that wily snake of old. Her name
is Joan Proctor and her official title is curator
of reptiles of the London Zoological Gardens.
The feeling that soft, purring, cuddly little
kittens awaken in other small girls came to Joan
when, as an inquisitive ten-year-old, she first
made the acquaintance of a shining, wriggling
green garter snake, and that strange fondness
for the first enemy of man has grown and grown
until her greatest joy in life is playing foster-
mother to all the alligators, toads, turtles and
reptiles in London's famous zoo.
The family in which Joan belonged didn't ex-
actly favor the predilection of its youngest mem-
ber for crawling things when that first slimy,
glassy-eyed creature was introduced into their
happy home. But Joan was a positive little per-
son. She made it plain that her motto was "Love
me, love my snakes!" and presently the whole
Proctor clan progressed from abhorrence to in-
difference. They could put their hands into a
presumably empty vase on the living-room table,
touch the cold coil of a snake and not fall in a
faint.
From indifference, the Proctors went on until
they began to share Joan's uncanny affection for
creeping things, and now her home would not be
home without at least three boa constrictors
draping themselves about the furniture.
When Joan was seventeen she read her first
paper about snakes before the Royal Zoological
Society—a paper that attracted serious attention.
A few years later she became the unsalaried as-
sistant of the curator of reptiles at the British
Museum of Natural History—truly a labor of
love. In the museum laboratory she worked and
studied amid hundreds of jars and bottles con-
taining creeping things. And all the time at
home she watched over the boas, the bushmasters,
the asps and the black snakes that succeeded each
other at home as the darlings of her heart.
So it was that when the council of the Royal
Zoological Society found it necessary to engage a
new custodian for its great collection of living
reptiles, Joan, whose paper on snakes read before
that august body so early in her career had made
such an impression, was unanimously decided
upon as the logical recipient of the honor.

"It's a very simple thing to get on with rep-
tiles of any sort," says the new curator, illus-
trating her point by using one of her favorite
poisonous-tongued friends as a neckpiece. "By
using a handkerchief to make sure of my grip
on his tail, he can't get too playful, you see. The
dear things do love to twist themselves about
people's necks, and then sometimes they squeeze
too hard." Which, it may be clearly seen, is not
so good for the neck.
"Kindness and real understanding are back of
success with snakes," decrees the only woman
occupant of a position of such scientific note in
Great Britain.

So great is the confidence reposed in this
young woman by those who know that she
is not only to care for the huge creeping things
of the jungle, but has been empowered to design
the new home for reptiles at the London Zoological
Gardens, and is now engaged in deciding just
where, what and how big the quarters for her
favorites shall be.
"Woman snake-charmer!" shrieked local news-
paper headlines, when this announcement was
made.
"I'm not!" contradicted Miss Proctor, showing
a surprising little glint in her eyes—a glint that
may be the secret of her power over the descend-
ants of that serpent that tempted Eve.
"You might call me a 'snake-keeper,' if you
will, but not a snake-charmer. Do you know
what a snake-charmer is? Some queer voodoo
sort of person with supernatural powers. Of
course, I'm not that! It's so easy to get on with
snakes. Why, if you've learned the way to deal
with a two-foot garter snake you know how to
cope with an eight-foot python! They are all so
much alike." The foster-mother of London's rep-
tiles caressed the flat head of the amazingly
powerful boa constrictor just then draped about
her neck.
A neck, Miss Proctor explains, is an ideal
"warmer" for a tropical snake. There's nothing
he likes better than to coil about it. Coping
with Mr. Boa in this case means keeping a firm
grip on head and tail so that his enthusiasm
the human heater doesn't carry him too far.
There are many problems for this little wo-
man with the big nerve to solve, for snakes who
come from other lands as captives are likely to
behave as erratically as human beings under
similar circumstances. They go on hunger strikes.
They commit suicide. They demand one certain
kind of food—usually expensive and difficult to
obtain—and that only will they swallow.
How to combat this suicide tendency in rep-
tiles will probably engross Miss Proctor as it en-
grosses most curators of these temperamental
creatures. Raymond L. Ditmars, of the New
York Zoo, reports that a continual offender in this
regard is the bushmaster.

TORONTO
STAR
PRESS

SUMMARY:
The text describes Miss Proctor safely handling a small but powerful boa by securing its head and tail. It recounts a king cobra at the Bronx Zoo that refused to eat until offered a coach whip snake, after which long, thin strips of beef were cut to mimic its preferred food.

CONTENT:
The neck of a human being is just the sort
of a "warmer" that a tropical snake loves to coil
about—and squeeze—so Miss Proctor adopts
the simple "Safety First" measure of holding
the head and tail securely as she handles this
small but surprisingly powerful boa.

King cobras are another variety of Miss
Proctor's charges likely to become obnoxious at
times. Or, at least, that has been the experience
of other curators.

WHEN this monarch among snakes arrived
at the Bronx Zoo he registered his dis-
like of the institution and his objection to re-
maining in it by refusing to eat at all. As he is
a cannibal he was offered every species of crawl-
ing thing the authorities had ever heard of a
cobra eating. But no! Nothing doing! Never
in this world, so said the cobra in question, if
his expression mirrored his thoughts.

At length a "coach whip," a nice, five-foot
appetizing morsel, was sent in for the rebel's
breakfast. That hit the spot. The king cobra
ate and demanded more of the same. And there
the scheme struck a snag, for coach whips cost
three dollars each and aren't to be had at all
times for a striking monarch's fastidious taste.
What was to be done? The diet of coach whip
had been kept up while the curator engaged in
thought, and now long, thin strips of beef were
cut in the length of the favorite food

SUMMARY:
Newspaper cuttings report record attendance at the Zoological Society's Gardens, the near-completion of the Aquarium, and staffing changes including Miss Joan Procter becoming Curator of Reptiles. Articles from The Times, Cape Argus, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), and Yorkshire Post highlight new zoo arrivals and Procter's expertise with reptiles.

CONTENT:
THE TIMES, SATURDAY,
DECEMBER 29, 1923.

THE ZOO IN 1923.

RECENT ADDITIONS.
Although there is still the attendance on
Sunday and the attendance and gate money
of Monday to be placed to the credit of the
year, 1923 has already established a "record"
in the history of the Zoological Society. The
number of visitors has been over 1,600,000—
that is to say, larger than the total of 1920,
which until now was the largest attendance in
any one year. The gate money has increased
in proportion also, and the total number of
Fellows, as well as the number of new Fellows
elected, and the receipts from subscriptions,
are also the largest in the history of the
Society.
There have been, too, an unusual number
of important additions to the collection, so
that now there is an exceptionally fine display
of mammals, birds, reptiles, and batrachians.
Among the additions of special interest are a
young African elephant presented by Sir
Horace Byatt, two young giraffes, purchased
from the Sudan and South Africa respectively,
two great anteaters, purchased from South
America, and the recently acquired walrus.
There have been important changes of staff.
Mr. R. I. Pocock, formerly superintendent,
has retired on pension on attaining the age
of 60, and has been replaced by Dr. G. M.
Vevers; Mr. D. Seth Smith, formerly Curator
of Birds, has been promoted to be Resident
Curator of Mammals and Birds; Mr. E. G.
Boulenger has left the Reptile House to be-
come Director of the new Aquarium, and has
been succeeded by Miss Joan B. Procter, who
was formerly in charge of the reptiles and
batrachians at the British Museum. The staff
of keepers has been subjected to careful sur-
vey, and there have been rewards and promo-
tions for the more competent, while some of
the older men have been retired on pension.
The Council and the Garden Committee
have made great efforts to improve the general
condition of the animals and of the gardens,
and much more than has been possible in
recent years has been done to improve the
general hygienic conditions and to repair and
redecorate houses and enclosures. The largest
and most expensive work of the year has been
the construction of the Aquarium. This is
now practically completed, only minor details
of lighting and decoration being still in hand.
The difficult business of stocking has begun,
and it is anticipated that it will be opened
to Fellows and the public in the first fort-
night of April.

ZOO VISITORS: A RECORD.
During 1923 the visitors to the Zoological
Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, numbered
1,613,125, an increase of 185,276 as compared
with 1922.
The number of visitors last year was the
largest in the history of the Society.

from the Yorkshire Post
of Publication Leeds
Dated. 24.12.29
HOLIDAYS IN LONDON.

HOW TO ENTERTAIN THE
CHILDREN.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
"NO," the clerk in a large theatre
office told me, "they don't dare
to try new Christmas plays in the
West End. The old favourites are good
enough for them. You must go to the
theatres further out if you want something
new in the way of plays for the children
this Christmas."

The morning is often a difficult time to
entertain children in London, but the Zoo is
always open, and several new and interest-
ing inmates have arrived since last holidays.
Small boys frequently have a liking
for creepy beasts, and the new reptile
house, presided over by that young snake
charmer, Miss Joan Procter, should give
them the necessary thrills. Baby animals
to rejoice the heart of the motherly little
girl are also plentiful at the Zoo this
Christmas. There is Percy, the six-
months-old pigmy hippopotamus, already
becoming quite friendly with visitors,
while in a pen close by is the slightly older
African baby elephant. It is amusing to
see Andy, the youthful walrus, being fed,
for, although he is five months old, he has
not a single tooth, and his food—cut up
strips of cod fish—is placed in his mouth
by his attendant. For sheer grace and
agility, the baby antelopes surpass any-
thing I have ever seen, and one can under-
stand their having an audience round their
cage quite as enthusiastic as that which
greets the Fairy Queen in the pantomime.

Telephone No. Central 7980.
International Press-Cutting Bureau

14. New Bridge Street, London, E.C.4.

Extract from
CAPE ARGUS
CAPE TOWN.

Date

13. DEC 1923

Girl Curator of Reptiles.—The new
Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo-
logical Gardens is a young woman. Miss
Joan Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., is a
recognised authority in this branch of
science: in fact, she is said to know
more about snakes and reptiles than
any woman in the world. Until now
she has been in charge of the Reptile
Department at the British Museum of
Natural History. Miss Procter has a
special instinct for the handling of
poisonous snakes. She has not the
slightest dread of any kind of reptile.

International Press-Cutting Bureau,

Extract from
SUNDAY MAIL
BRISBANE.

Date 4 NOV 1923

CURATOR OF REPTILES

Woman Appointed

Miss Joan Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., an
Englishwoman of 25, has been appointed
curator of reptiles at the Zoo in London.
She has complete 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 large, tiny room in the base-
ment of the Museum of Natural History,
South Kensington, in which she works
is filled with deadly snakes, some bottled
and some alive.
"Her interest in the subject is pro-
bably hereditary," said her mother
a Press correspondent. "Her grandfather
was a famous entomologist."
Miss Procter opened a glass cage in
her drawing-room and six beautiful
Brazilian snakes, which were sent to her
daughter as a gift, she allowed them to
climb and wriggle and coil around her arm.
"At the age of ten my daughter had
her first snake as a pet." Mrs. Procter
added. "She also kept many lizards, most
of them remarkably tame. One day she
received a large and valuable crocodile
as a present, and we took it to Dr. G. A.
Boulenger, the famous chief of the de-
partment of reptiles at the Natural
History Museum at South Kensington.
"He was astonished at my daughter's
knowledge of ophiology, and offered to
train her on the subject when she left
St. Paul's School. She became his assis-
tant when she was 18, and when he re-
signed she was appointed to his post.
Scientists in South Africa and South
America have sent Miss Procter rare and
deadly reptiles from jungles and swamps.
Occasionally a crate for them has been
overturned on arrival, and they have
been spilled on the floor. Miss Procter,
without the slightest fear, has collected
the poisonous creatures from their hiding
places.
She read her first paper on "The Pygmy
Snake," before the Zoological Society at
the age of 19. She was made a Fellow of
the society at 20. She was elected a
Fellow of the Linnaean Society, one of
the foremost scientific organisations in
the world, last August. She is also a
Fellow of the Zoological Society of Bom-
bay, and last year was offered a remu-
nerative post by the Zoological Society of
New York.

SUMMARY:
Clippings report on women’s achievements and fashions and profile Miss Joan Proctor, Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens. They describe her creating a heated nursery in the Reptile House for baby crocodiles and alligators from the West Coast of Africa.

CONTENT:
JANUARY 1. 1924.
Evening News.
Cutting from the Evening News
Publication
20.2.24

WOMEN LAST YEAR—AND THIS.
Consolidation the Keynote. No New Stars. Some Notable Feats.
dated 24.2.24

ZOO BABIES.
A keeper at the Zoo with the baby crocodiles which have just arrived from the West Coast of Africa. Miss Proctor, the curator of the reptiles, is making a special nursery for them.

A Young Expert.
Another case in which a woman has been given an entirely new appointment is that of Miss Joan Proctor, F.Z.S., F.L.S., who, at 25, is Curator of Reptiles at the Zoo, and, although unknown to the world at large, is famous among zoologists as one of the greatest experts on reptiles.

In 1929 the first woman—Mrs. Annie Swynnerton—was elected to the Royal Academy, since the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

In legal matters the right of a woman to divorce her husband for unfaithfulness without cruelty is one of the most important things that has happened to women since the passing of the Married Women's Property Act.

The Fashion World.
In the world of dress the most conspicuous of the successful fashions is the low heel for shoes and the maintenance of that silhouette which needs a "natural" or no corset.
The Women's Golf Union have decided to have a club of their own colours. So, probably, that will mean fewer woollen jumpers and more shirt blouses among golfing fashions of 1924. Miss Cecil Leitch has always been faithful to the shirt-blouse mode.

Literature and the Stage.
In the social sense the opening of so many men's clubs to women has marked an advance in the so-much-valued "equality." In literature no new stars have arisen on the firmament of women: at least, if they have risen we have not yet noticed them. Out of the thousands of books published during 1923 there has been no novel by a new author that is indubitably epoch-making.

"NURSERY for Baby Crocodiles," says a headline. A lover of children says he's going to write to the N.S.P.C.C. about it.

NURSERY FOR BABY
CROCODILES

—AND A WOMAN AS "NURSE"
AT THE ZOO.

THREE MEALS A WEEK.

Miss Joan Proctor, Curator of Reptiles at the Zoological Gardens, is very busy just now making a nursery for baby crocodiles.
Six of these have just arrived from the West Coast of Africa, and as they are only eighteen months old and very small and tender they need a lot of care.
Miss Proctor's nursery will consist of a special tank with rockwork and other decorations dear to the heart of the juvenile crocodile. To compensate the new arrivals for the loss of the African sunshine, and to make them feel as much at home as possible, a radiator is being buried in the sand under the bottom of the tank, and by this means the temperature of the water will be kept at 85 degrees.
Young crocodiles like to be kept warm.

LEISURELY GROWERS.
The tank will be fixed in the Reptile House and is to be officially known as "The Nursery."
When first hatched these baby crocodiles were only six inches long, but if they keep fit and well, and make normal progress, they may reach a length of thirty feet in time, though no one now living is likely to be here to see them then.
These crocodiles, which are similar to those found in the Nile, live to a tremendous age, and go on growing for years and years.
The biggest crocodile now in the reptile house is getting on for 10. He is about 14 feet in length, and still has a long way to go. The older he gets, the less often does he feed. At present he only has a meal once a fortnight. It generally consists of a pound of meat.

NO HUSTLING FOR THEM!
Young crocodiles, however, need feeding two or three times a week, and the lusty youngsters who have just arrived at the Zoo are doing very well on a diet of chopped meat and small fish. All being well, they will grow quickly at first, and two years will make an appreciable difference to their size.
But when they are about 6 feet long they will slow down and begin to take life easily. From then onwards their rate of growth will be about an inch a year!
That is the way of crocodiles. You cannot "hustle" them.

BABY ALLIGATORS
Two of the six baby alligators which have arrived at the Zoo and are in a special nursery designed by Miss Joan Proctor.

ILLUSTRATED SUNDAY HERALD, FEBRUARY 24, 1924.

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:
A clipping titled "Trials of a Herpetologist's Mother" from The Seventeenth Reporter features the quoted question, "And does she get her brains from you or her father?" attributed to E. H. P. The page appears to be a humorous or reflective note about a herpetologist's family.

CONTENT:
TRIALS OF A HERPETOLOGIST'S MOTHER
THE SEVENTEENTH REPORTER

"AND DOES SHE GET HER BRAINS
FROM YOU OR HER FATHER ?"
E. H. P.