Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 100. (Budapest 2008)

Korsós, Z.: History of the Herpetological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum

the death of JÁNOS FRIVALDSZKY, first to SÁNDOR MOCSÁRY, then to GÉZA HORVÁTH). But let's go back to the 1850s. IMRE FRIVALDSZKY did not stop the expansion of his private collection after his retirement (1851), and in 1864 he sold it to the National Museum. In contrast to him, PETÉNYI, who died in 1855, "never collected anything as a curator for himself even gave all his bird and egg collection to the museum. He did this because in most of the cases the curators work more with their private collections than with the museum's and he did not want to be such a curator" (KUBINYI 1864). In the private collection of FRIVALDSZKY, there were 207 amphibian and reptile specimens from the Balkans, Turkey, and Asia Minor (Fig. 12). One year later, in 1865 FRIVALDSZKY wrote his book entitled "Characteristic data about Hungary's fauna"

, in which there were herpetological records from three areas, altogether five snake and a frog species. He highlighted two species of our herpetofauna, which are - even today - considered as the most valuable ones: the Caspian Whipsnake and the Snake-eyed Skink (then under the names Coluber caspius and Ablepharus pannonicus). These two species were also beautifully illustrated (Fig. 13). IMRE FRIVALDSZKY was followed in his position by a distant relative of his in 1852: JÁNOS FRIVALDSZKY (1822-1895) head curator, whom he worked with since the 1840's. JÁNOS FRIVALDSZKY was assistant curator from 1851, curator from 1852 and head curator from 1870. The two FRIVALDSZKYS travelled to one part of the country or another almost every year in order to examine the Hungarian fauna. They travelled through and collected everything from Trencsén, Krassó, Ternes, and Máramaros counties, but they visited - together or separately - the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, and even the isle of Crete. The Zoological Collection of the National Museum occupied 15 rooms on the second floor of the two-floored building in 1861. There were "... two curators and an assistant curator taking care of the collection, with the help of a taxidermist and two servants." The amphibians and reptiles got their place in the third 'department': "Department of Naturals and Artefacts. A) Animal-collection a) Superior or vertebrate animals.

... 3.) Collection ofCreepycrawlies (Amphibia). In this large collection of

300 specimens almost all of the Hungarian species are presented. The foreign collection was greatly enhanced by the donations of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington and by Dr. Lajos D oleschall Javan medical soldier." (KUBINYI 1861). After the flood in 1838, this is the first time we can find a quantified summary of the amphibians and reptiles (which still appear together in the exhibition and the collection). Not many records remain on how the amphibians and reptiles were prepared in these times, partly because the specimens mounted then have been destroyed (mainly in 1956 in the exhibition and in the building of the Department of Zoology), and partly because written records have not survived from that time. However, there exists at least one, the "Instructions" by SAMU BATIZFALVI (1826-1904), a medical surgeon, who published his book in 1853. BATIZFALVI was not a preparator of the museum, thus his little booklet of 42 pages was not about the museum's aspect of taxidermy, but a general one. In the seventh section he wrote in detail about the preparation of reptiles for "natural collections". We get exact descriptions of the flaying of frogs, toads, lizards, and even of the preparation of the turtle shell. He belived that such details as the fangs of the poisonous snakes, the fragile tails of the lizards and the scales coming off when the animal sheds its skin (Fig. 14).