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

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

MÉHELY dedicated his whole scientific work to the revealing of the laws of evolution on functional and morphogenetic basis. In the question of the genesis of species, he considered Darwinism as the only acceptable and should-be-followed theory. He had an analytical biological outlook and he used it in the area of herpetology also. His monographic works about amphibians and reptiles are exceptional not only because of their superb scientific value and accuracy, but because they are illustrated with his own beautiful, hand-painted, artistic pictures. In the time of MÉHELY the individual Department of Zoology suddenly rose up to the level of the most famous European museums, thanks to the acquisitions and donations. The rooms of the museum which had already been crowded in 1896 were entirely filled in with the 300,000 zoological items. A survey in 1896 (ANONYMOUS 1896) wrote about the herpetological material: "The reptiles and amphibians and fish occupy a smaller room and are displayed in glass cabinets. Out of the 785 reptile and amphibian, 168 are preserved in denaturated alcohol, and 17 are dry stuffed. And there are 5 crocodile skulls." The accession in one year (1896) included 41 Hungarian amphibians and reptiles, 17 South African donated specimens (from EMIL HOLUB), a purchase of 4 specimens of 4 species, and the 20 specimens of New Guinea collected by SÁMUEL FENICHEL. MÉHELY took over the handling of the aforementioned inventory book (the one that was numbered from 1850) in 1896. His first entry was no. 2019: "A stuffed domestic cat (tom-cat). Found in the old mammal collection without number and name"

. When MÉHELY got his job in the museum, he sold his private herpetological collection to the museum for 300 Hungarian forints (entry no. 1986); it contained 1,636 specimens of 37 species. The new head of collections started to catalogue the material - which was in a very unpleasant state - and put it in order with great enthusiasm: it is very well reflected in the entries of the inventory book, that he listed many formerly omitted items, and that he had thrown out the wretched, useless specimens. In the case of many items (e.g. the cat mentioned above) we find the text of JÁNOS SZUNYOGHY saying "deleted by Méhely in 1898". These items were not always thrown away, for example the József University of Budapest got 112 specimens of 73 species of East Asian reptiles, amphibians, snails, and clams this way (ANONYMOUS 1896). By the inititation of GÉZA HORVÁTH, the Fauna Regni Hungáriáé started in 1893 - to celebrate the Hungarian millennium - which targeted the listing of all animals in Hungary. The release of these volumes lasted until 1918. As the main editor JÓZSEF PASZLAVSZKY wrote in the introduction: "We neither have the time, nor the power to write a full comprehensive description, but we do have it to create a »Prodromus«, apre-list." From the vertebrates, the chapters amphibians and reptiles were already written by MÉHELY in 1895, but it was only published in 1918 (due to reasons beyond the author's control). MÉHELY listed 23 reptile and 16 amphibian species, but there were many mistakes in his writings. For example, it is not at all understandable why he mentioned Buda and Losonc (the latter on the Hungarian Upland, now in Slovakia) as a habitat for the Hermann's tortoise (Testudo graeca in MÉHELY's works, today it is T. hermanni, see DELY 1978), or why he listed Budapest among the habitats of the Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipara), but he forgot to mention the populations of the Alpine Newt (Triturus alpestris) in the Hungarian Middle Range and in the foothills of the Alps. The Hungarian Snake-eyed Skink