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Prof. Raymond L. Ditmars,
Curator of Reptiles, New York
Zoological Park, Who Made
the Remarkable Moving Pic
tures of the Lower Creatures'
Domestic Life.
By Prof. Raymond L. Ditmars
Curator of Reptiles at the New York
Zoological Park.
THERE are many traits in animal
life that parallel the events of
the human race. There Is much
humor, pathos and tragedy In Nature that
would fill a vast book that has not yet
been wrltteu. It M upon tnls field of
wild life that I determined to point the
moving picture camera and show animals
as they actually live, play and die.
The mind of the scientific man may
grasp the scope of his field, but it needs
a more sympathetic mind to search for
inspirations in work like this. Mrs. Dlt
mars has voiced many Ideas in the com
pletion of these pictures and has spent
many hours in the seething lights of the
studio, exposed to the various dangers
la the handling of wild animals and
poisonous reptiles. I remember one In
stance In particular where my wife fur
nished the Inspiration for an especially
startling scene, that the observer could
see In but one way and remain alive
and that Is upon the motion picture
screen. We were filming the deadly ring
necked cobra, a species that spits its
venom toward the eyes of the intruder.
Mrs. Ditmars had been
watching the operation from
the far end of the studio,
where we entreated her to
remain. The sorely frightened
camera operator was manipu
lating the Instrument about
fifteen feet from the cobra.
"The glassy stare of that
snake is positively -uncanny,-
said Mrs. . Ditmars. "How
wonderful it vould be If the
camera could look hira
straight In the eye and pic.
ture Mm as 1 see him now!"
Ill S advice was followed.
We flit on auto goggles to
rrf ct pur eyes from the
er ,yed poison. The
jera was focused
ion a spot not rour
det away, then belt-
id to an electric mo
tor. WltH a long
pole we 'slid the
enake before the ma
chine and commenc
ed to photograph.
Mrs. Ditmars was
not) satisfied. She
wanted the snake to rear and pose. Com
ing to the elevated stage she flicked a
handkerchief at the reptile, which reared
to meet her. ,
It struck a.d posed again, then darted
with such force as to slide from the plat
form and fall almost at my wife's feet.
I reached forward to swing her away, but
she had Jumped upon tne housing of an
electrical coll, and the snake darted away
under her feet, sending the electrician
rushing through the door to safety. It
will take some time to forget that traglo
moment, but Mrs. Ditmars thus prepared
a scene that may never again be dupli
cated. When the film was screened the
cobra appeared to literally darken the
auditorium with the spread of his ominous
hood, while the terrible head with the
glassy eyes looked down in malignant fash
ion. And then the creature, with an ex
pression of blind fury strikes. It is that
stroke that placed my wife's life in deadly
peril, and I give her all credit for this
wonderful delineation of reptilian anger.
With many scenes in which excessively
timid animals are Involved my wife and
I go about the work alone. Things often
move swiftly, and we feel that any addi
tional help would be more of a hin
drance than a benefit. In the Illumination
of mercury vapor, we were taking a scene
that Illustrated the moonlight prowlings
of the lance-head snake, the lethal fangs
of which cause many fatalities among the
sugar plantations of tropical America. A
prowling animal Is supposed to alarm the
snake.
At first there Is but a slight movement
of the dlamond-shaned head, the lithe
Prof. Ditmars Explains How He
Managed to Get Remarkable
Motion Pictures of the In
timate Family Life
of Many Strange
Creatures
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"Mrs. Ditmars flicked her handkerchief at the cobra, which
then sprang at her. At the same time the moving picture
camera was thrust forward and Its electric-turning motor
started. All wore goggles to shield their eyes from the
poison ejected by the
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A Turtle About to Breakfast Upon a Frog
body is suddenly contorted In S-shapsd
loops, and the enraged serpent 1b seen to
hurl himself forward with the vehemence
and precision of a suddenly released steel
spring. One might fear the monster has
jumped off the screen Into the audience.
Actually, the venomous reptile bad thus
hurled himself at Mrs. Ditmars, who had
been working the camera when this pic-
Mending Broken Bones with Rugs
CATGUT woven In the form of a little
rug with long fringed ends Is the
newest method for holding the ends
of a fractured bone in place until they
have had time to knit together.
The rug is woven on a hand loom, the
gut first being wet so It can be woven
mora closely. It Is made Just a little
shorter than the circumference of the
bone and the fringed ends are used to tie
It around the injured member Just as you
would a splint. .
Experiments with these catgut rugs on
a number of dogs have shown them to
be superior to any other kind of splints In
the treatment of fractures. When the
fracture Is mended the catgut is not re
moved but Is allowed to remain and be
come absorbed by the fiesh. In a number
of cases the absorption was so complete
that by the end of three weeks not a trace
of the splint could be seen.
By an Ingenious method of weaving, only
two sizes of the rugs are needed for the
treatment of fractures In the human body
one for large bones, the other for small
ones. This is accomplished by having the
strands that run the long way of the rug
made up of separate fibers while those run
ning across the fabric are made of one
long continuous strand which Is alternately
woven over and under the long parallel
strands.
In applying the catgut rug to a broken
bone the rug is of course first carefully
sterilized. Then the bone ends are ex
posed, the muscles gently separated from
them and the rug introduced around the
bone. Great care has to be taken in do
ing this not to Injure or displace the
bone's delicate membrane.
When the surgeon Is sure that the line
of fracture Is at the exact centre of the
rug he begins tying the two opposite
free ends of each of the longitudinal
strands o catgut Should it seem desir
able to make them splint still stronger the
ends remaining are qule long enough to
wind and to tie again beore cutting off
As soon as the rug is in place the limb
Is put in a plaster cast and kept there for
three or four weeks
ture was being taken. It fell within a
foot of her shoes, and she saved herself
only by the hastiest of retreats.
I remember but one Instance when Mrs.
Ditmars voiced any objection to en
thusiastically assisting in the production
of these pictures. This was upon a qulto
recent occasion when we were filming the
home-life of an untamed and consequently
dangerous family of skunks. No disagree
able events transpired, but Mrs. Ditmars
was exceedingly cautious in obtaining
close-up life studies of the father skunk
while the vrtter was engaging the ani
mal's attention and causing it to wave
the plumed tail.
Throughout the difficulties In com
pleting these pictures, my wife's ingen
uity and patience are apparent. By ex
periment sbe made possible a really
amazing scene the Juggling fly. ITpon
this scone was ased a reel called "The
Jungle CircuB," showing the wild crea
tures performing all sorts of natural
acrobatics. The fly in question was one
of many dozens put through series of
experiments until It entprs the arena on
the back of the elephant beetle and gives
ah exhibition of actual Juggling. Likewise
my wife experimented with singing in
sects, sorting out those examples bold
enough to show the eccentric methods of
"singing," by scraping the wings or rub
bing the long hind legs.
My entire family has thus helped me
in the preparation of these scenes, as
Gladys, a child of ten, has been the
"keeper" of the more delicate kinds,
rearing her delicate charges in the won
derful Insect rages constructed by the
Japanese.
A considerable amount of motion pic-
Copyright, 1914. by the Star Company.
A Juggling; Fly on an Elephant
Beetle One of the Strangest
Motion Pictures Ever Pre
pared The Idea Was ; Sug
gested by Mrs. Ditmars.
ture material has recorded big game at
home, and we are always fascinated to
note large animals in a natural environ
ment. At first there was a startling orig
inality , about the possibility of showing
herds of zebras, elephants and the like
In their native lands, but when we stop
to carefully analyze the value of these
films we realize that a considerable por
tion of them does not teach us anything
particularly new. It Is possible to ob
serve and study the movements of all
these creatures In zoological gardens.
The writer has seen a few of these films
that brought out speclflo wild habits and
delineated conditions that were espe
cially Instructive, but films of this type
are much In the minority. If advantage
is to be taken of the great possibilities
of portraying nature with the motion pic
ture camera, the photographer should
seek animals amid environment that elu
cidates facts new to the greater number
of students, or causes his subjects to Il
lustrate characteristic habits.
The work of photographing mammals,
reptiles and Insects demands much va
ried Ingenuity. Some of the mammals,
that are large enough to be dangerous,
take many liberties In the studio and at
times do considerable damage. In order
to avoid any trace of cagework In the
pictures the subjects have the tree run
of the place and are enticed upon the
stages with food or by rock shelters
built for them. The promptings of a
hungry stomach are found to be the most
effective in the stage management of
this theatre of Nature, and many of the
pictures aro made at the period of feed
ing time.
Tbe prowling of a hungry ocelot or
tiger cat is a good illustration of animal
management. Kor several days this
creature's food had been concealed In
different locations of the stage some
times hidden among the rocks or con
cealed In the branch of a tree. The pic
ture was taken as the rat started to
search for the food, crouching, scenting
and alertly peering about.
The development of the eggs of frogs
and toads was obtained with a camera
set before a Hohemlan glass Jar and from
the same position recording a few feet of
film each day. One of these cameras dM
such duty for a period of two months,
thus placing this instrument hors-de-combat
for all other laboratory work.
The life history of several spiders was
obtained In like fashion. The story of a
large species of Lycosa, or wolf spider,
was recorded throughout upon the same
"field" a gravelly hollow six Inches
square. After each photograph the en
closure was covered with a bell-glass
and wet sponge to provide the proper
moisture, for many spiders are particu
larly delicate as captives.
The care of this spider was more la
borious than that of a large animal. Soft
bodied grubs were hunted for her, and
she received drinking water by permit
ting miniature drops to run to the end of
a broom straw. These precautions were
necessary in preserving the absolute
cleanliness of her tiny yard, which on the
projecting screen will be magnified thou
sands of areas. The spinning of her egg
cocoons was successfully accomplished,
and we waited with much anxiety the
time when the young spiders would
emerge and crawl upon the parent's back
hundreds of them presenting an in
describable spectacle. This chapter of
the family history was reeorded, and
there was a wait of eight days when the
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Infants would swarm from the mother's
back and shift for themselves.
This process may be spectacularly In
augurated by a sudden vibration of the
ground, causing th0 parent to Jump
then, a riot of the splderllngs swarms
over the ground. An additional camera
was trained Into the field, for once the
dispersal takes place, all Is over and the
little spiders are gone. The critical time,
when the youngsters appeared uneasy,
arrived on a humid evening, when a
heavy electrical storm was breaking. The
rectifiers for the mercury vapor lamps
were already giving some trouble as the
cameras were adjusted.
With the cameras running, the metal
stand containing the spider arena was
vibrated by a steel bait dropped upon it
and the spider family departed to all
points of the compass. This was an
event, we bad anxiously awaited, and
luck appeared to be with the photogra
pher. As the electrician prepared to
throw out the main switch and extinguish
the illuminating batteries, lightning fol
lowed the foed wires into the studio
and gave us a week's work repairing
burned-out parts. But the history of tho
spider family was completed, minus a
few feet of film to show the exit of the
more laggard members.
So many of the InHects are tiny, al
most mlcroscopio creatures, and so many
of them perform their characteristic ca
pers in Inaccessible places, that the
value of greatly enlarged motion picture
portrayals opt-as previously impossible
opportunities for studio and observations
In the school room. Hy theBe methods
students are enabled to see habits the
greater number of them would never In
any other way observe. Not one child
In a million has seen the katydid sing
lug; tbe preying mantis rear In frightful
pose, grasp and devour a fly; tbe toilette
of a gaudy grasshopper as she carefully
brushes pollen dust from her face, or tbe
spider, presented as a terrific mniaa
A Horned Toad About to DeTOtxt
an Unwary Cricket.
and seen upon the screen as the fly sees
this terrible enemy of the Insect legions.
To Induce web-eplnnlng spiders to con
struct nurseries It was necessary to
build cases painted black Inside, make
the spider feel at home hy keeping her
quiet for soma time, feeding her and
giving her water, when she usually
batched her young, spun her nursery and
stood guard over it. Then the case was
placed upon the photographic table, tho
camera adjusted and a cruel deed per
formed. The' photographer destroyed
the silken nursery, removed the tan
gled ruin while the baby spiders ran
frantically about their distracted mother
who immediately started the construc
tion of a new and generally more elab
orate nursery; and while she was doing
this and her infants wero being rein
stalled the camera was steadily clicking
away, to later tell tbe story on the pro
jecting screen.
To photograph the katydid singing by" ,
a scraping of Its wings was a difficult'
matter. This insect sings only at night. '
A light of any kind will stop it. Yet to
photograph a singing specimen at night
meant that a stream of powerful electrlo
light must be turned upon the songster.
The deed was done In a grove of young
oaks close to the studio. Several doien
katydids were placed in the trees, and
the camera, on a high tripod, focused on
tbe vegetation of a tree In. the centre of
the grove. The Instrument, with special
long focus lens, was to record the move
ment of a single Insect that watched all
proceedings, but remained silent owing;
to our close arrangements with the ma
chines. The camera was then belted to
a small motor, so that no operator would
stand by the instrument to disturb tha .'
Insect. A searchlight, such as is used In
tie navy, was then trained on tbe single
tree In which reposed the actor, lta pow
erful rays making photography possi
ble. With the remainder of the grove In
darkness the decoy katydids sang vigor
ously. In the Intense beam of violet
light this musician of nature was seen
turning slowly.
Was It Irritated by the light,' and
would it crawl from the lines of focus?
Tills would mean much labor In mov
ing tbe heavy apparatus In what seemed
a fruitless and costly experiment. But
its uneasiness was caused by the saucy
taunts of the decoys. Its wings were ele
vated slightly. It could not resist an
swering some of those rasping calls. The.
man behind the searchlight could ba
seen glistening with perspiration as ha
"fed" the carbon of the great arc light
The writer's fingers were upon tha
switch of the camera motor. Then tha
insect's wings began to rhythmically
move and another chant was added to
the chorus of "Katydid, katydidn't" and
so It continued until tbe picture was
taken. And now this picture may ba
seen by thousands ef children who neves
anew how. Insects "sing.'