Raymond Lee Ditmars

Raymond Lee Ditmars (1876-1942), American naturalist, born in Newark, New Jersey, and educated at Barnard Military Academy, New York City. During his lifetime he was considered the world's leading herpetologist. After serving for five years as assistant curator of entomology at the American Museum of Natural History, he became curator of reptiles at the New York Zoological Park in 1899 and curator of mammals in 1910. He was a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London and a fellow of the New York Zoological Society. He wrote The Reptile Book (1907), Strange Animals I Have Known (1931), Reptiles of North America (1936), and The Making of a Scientist (1937).