9408316 Good The collection of amphibians and reptiles in the Louisiana State Universitiy Museum of Natural Science currently contains approximately 56,000 specimens and is recognized internationally as a significant research resource largely because of its important neotropical holdings and because of its particular strength in snake skeletal and hemipenial material. Funds will permit movement of two "orphaned" collections, from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Southeastern Louisiana Universitiy, totaling some 21,300 specimens to LSU Museum of Natural Science. This will result in a 38% increase in the overall size of the LSU collection. Incorporation of this new material will involve cataloguing and installing the specimens, entering their ancillary data into the Museum's computer database system, and checking the database for accuracy against the individual specimen tags. Funds will also support several non recurring needs resulting from the acquisition of these specimens, including the purchase and installation of additional shelving to house the influx of new specimens and temporary support for a collection manager to handle this new material.
