SUMMARY:
Magazine clipping profiling Miss Joan B. Procter’s appointment as Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoological Gardens, noting E. G. Boulenger’s move to direct the new aquarium and her prior work at the British Museum of Natural History. It also discusses the appeal and design of aquariums, referencing examples at Monaco and New York.

CONTENT:
THE
WORLD'S
WORK
SEPTEMBER 1923
MEN AND WOMEN OF
TO-DAY

A CURATOR OF REPTILES
ON the appointment of Miss Joan B.
Procter, F.Z.S., F.L.S., to be a
Curator of Reptiles at the London
Zoological Gardens the funny men,
from "Mr. Punch" downwards, had a great
day. There were any number of weak jokes
about the modern snake-charmer; and "Mr.
Punch" opined that the opportunity had at
last arrived for Woman to be revenged upon
the Serpent.
But, seriously, her assumption of this office
adds another to the many strange occupations
which are now open to, and have lately been
taken up by, women of to-day. Miss Procter
succeeded to her position because Mr. E. G.
Boulenger, who has been Curator of Reptiles,
has been appointed Director of the new
aquarium. For some time to come he will
exercise a general supervision over reptiles;
but he has of late been fully occupied by the
construction of the new aquarium; and when
the tanks are ready for occupation it is
anticipated that his new duties will leave
him little opportunity for work elsewhere.
Mr. Boulenger's family has long been asso-
ciated with Natural History, for he is a son
of Dr. G. A. Boulenger, who was for many
years Chief of the Department of Reptiles,
Batrachians and Fishes at the British Museum
of Natural History. It is due to his son that
the reptile house at the Zoo has been so
greatly improved, and that it contains one of
the finest collections in the world.
But, to go back to our subject, Miss Procter
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
of Natural History first as a voluntary
assistant to Dr. Boulenger, and, since his
retirement, in charge of the department.
There is no doubt whatever of her ability
and efficiency. She has written a large
number of papers on the anatomy, classifica-
tion and habits of reptiles and batrachians;
and has for a long time kept a private collec-
tion of living snakes and batrachians.
Although she is still working in the Reptile
Department in the Museum of Natural History
as its chief, she has also been assisting at the
Zoo in designing rockwork for the aquarium
tanks, which promise soon to be such an
attractive feature of London life.
No one familiar with the exceedingly
beautiful aquariums in the Oceanographical
Museum at Monaco or on the Battery at
New York can fail to realise the possibilities
of these institutions. Those who have not
seen them cannot imagine the beauty of
properly designed and decorated tanks set
in windows through which the light plays
not only upon gorgeously coloured fishes
and marine monsters in all shades of red and
grey, gold and silver, but also upon masses
of coral branches, deep-sea weeds and grasses
and shells of all shapes and sizes, both with

MISS JOAN B. PROCTER
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