All requests for herpetological collection data require a formal, hard-copfy letter. This letter must be on institutional letterhead, and state exactly what specimen data are being requested and why. A request from a student must be countersigned by the major professor or other responsible staff member. Initial inquiries by email (dkizirian@amnh.org) are encouraged.

Printouts are supplied for the sole purpose of indicating the nature and extent of particular holdings in this museum. These data are for the individual researcher's personal use, as originally requested. The Department of Herpetology requires that these data not be transferred to any institutional data-bases, or put to other uses without written permission.

The provided information should not be used as a primary data source. Outdated names and/or mistaken identifications or erroneous localities are likely to occur for various reasons-including degree of expertise of the determiners, length of time since this part of the collection was revised, and the on-going process of collection inventorying and proofing the database.

These are problems of all large museum collections. The curatorial staff of this department is alarmed at the practice of citing specimens and mapping localities from secondary sources, without verifying identifications.