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

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

Figs 13—14. 13 —Plate ofColuber caspius and Ablepharus pannonicus (FRIVALDSZKY 1865), 14 = Illustration from the book by SAMU BATIZFALVI (1853). Original figure legend: "9: Venomous snake. There are the especially conspicuous poison fangs, a, a, which risk the preparation, and the tongue, b. 10: For comparison, here the head of a non-venomous snake is presented, also with the tongue, a. 11: On this supine river turtle we can see the divisive line separating the upper and under parts of the shell, a, a." THE FOUNDATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY The most significant period of JÁNOS FRIVALDSZKY'S directorship begun in 1870, when the Department of Naturalia was divided into three departments (see also BUCZKÓ & RAJCZY 1995 for the history of the Department of Botany), and the independent zoological department was created (this was the predecessor of today's Department of Zoology) (KORSÓS 2000,2). Besides FRIVALDSZKY (who led the department until his death in 1895), JÁNOS KARL and SÁNDOR MOCSÁRY were the first young professional assistants. FERENC PULSZKY, director of the National Museum, wrote about these scientists in 1888: "the departments of the museum are led by excellent professionals, who - despite their low salary work with all their devotion, find the vocation of their life in the expansion and scientific presentation of the collections, do not chase honour, their names - which are better known in foreign countries than in Hungary - rarely appear in newspapers, but their efforts are admitted by the whole scientific world."