The current holdings of the Tulane amphibian and reptile collections consist of 27,700+ lots holding about 80,000 specimens. Lots such as tadpoles do not have subtagged specimens, whereas most of the substantial turtle holdings do have subtags whenever a single catalog number covers a group of specimens. The bulk of the collection is from Louisiana and the southeastern United States, but a number of exotics are included, especially from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Australia. The collection is rich in turtle skeletal material.

The collection apparently started in the 1885 when a formal public display museum was begun. That museum flourished until the early 1940's when it was closed because of World War II; it was never again reopened to the public and was dismantled in 1956. That the collection contained herp specimens is known from a publication in the American Naturalist in 1898 by George E. Beyer, who served as the museum's second curator from 1893-1918. In that paper Beyer mentioned capturing specimens in 1893 and their deposition in the Tulane University collections. Other than Beyer's paper, we have a few catalog pages that lists snakes from number 5501-5703, stating locality and even the price paid for specimens, but no dates; several sets of old catalog pages of differing sorts listing other animals, vertebrate and invertebrates with overlapping numbers are available in the present museum, thus we have no idea of how sizeable a collection Beyer might have assembled. No complete sets of pages for any listings are available. The disposal of the herp specimens and most of the museum catalogs still remains a mystery. However, with the arrival of Fred R. Cagle at Tulane in 1946 and his ascension to the Dept. of Zoology chairmanship shortly thereafter, a whole new collection of amphibians and reptiles was begun with tag numbers starting from No. 1. The assemblage does include some mounted specimens that were carryovers from the old original museum and which bear dates from the 1880's and 1890's; these apparently came as a donation from the private collection of Joseph Gustave Kohn, a wealthy New Orleanean. Other mounted specimens were very likely the work of Beyer who was an accomplished taxidermist. The collection was simply known as the Tulane University amphibian and reptile collection with the acronym TU. The first curator was Cagle, who was succeeded by Harold A. Dundee in 1958. Specimens are currently kept in isopropyl alcohol except most tadpoles, which are in formalin.

The collections started by Cagle were housed on the main campus until 1992 and were then removed to the present museum which is located some 12 miles from the main campus. In 1970, Royal D. Suttkus, curator of fishes, moved the fish collection to the West Bank [a local term applying to location relative to the Mississippi River] site, the F. Edward Hebert Research Center, and established the Tulane Museum of Natural History. He began to acquire a herpetological collection, as well as collections of other animals and plants. Fortunately he began the numbering of the herpetological collection from no. 25001, thus leaving a reasonable gap from the main campus collection. Today the collections are combined and retain the acronym TU. Dundee, although now an emeritus professor, remains curator of the collection.

The amphibian and reptile range needs upgrading so that it will have quality overhead lighting, a sink, and a prep, catalog, etc. room. Although the collection data are not computerized, species catalogs, geographic catalogs, and location of specimen cards are maintained. Once an uncataloged accumulation of approximately 500 lots of tadpoles and several hundred exotic specimens are identified the entire collection will be computerized.

Visitation of the collection can be arranged through Nelson Rios at phone number (504) 391-1711. E-mail: nelson@museum.tulane.edu. His normal hours are weekdays 8:30 A.M.to 3 P.M. Arrangements can be made for visitation at other hours if need be. All loan requests and other inquiries should also be directed to Nelson Rios.