A personal glimpse into natural history and a revisit of a classic paper by Fred Cagle

.—Herein, I provide perspectives on natural history studies and discuss the importance of a contribution by FredCagle to herpetology. Having studied the natural history of many amphibians and reptiles for 35 years, I recognize theimportance of developing a research strategy prior to beginning work. Cagle’s manuscript is a detailed outline of whatdirections an investigator can take when developing a research strategy in natural history. His thorough approach providesany interested scientist a bounty of questions worthy of scientific study.