In total, the collection contains many thousands of amphibians as alcohol preparations and more than 300 serial histological sections of amphibians and their larvae. A large proportion was already collected and preserved during the 19th century by captains, traveling salesmen and expeditions (e.g. Dr. Gustav Adolf Fischer (1848-1886) on the first East African expeditions and W. Michaelsen on the Hamburg Magellan Expedition (1892-1893).