Institution's Division of Reptiles carried much of the burden of assembling the reptile and 

 amphibian sections . Dr. Robert R. Miller, Curator of Fishes , Museum of Zoology , University 

 of Michigan, Dr. Edward C. Kinney, and Mr. Stephen H. Taub of the Division of Fishery 

 Services, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, were largely responsible for the section 

 on fishes. Howard R. Leach, Wildlife Management Branch, California Department of Fish 

 and Game, Sacramento, California, and others of that agency reviewed and constructively 

 commented on the data pages pertaining to California. Data were gleaned from the published 

 and unpublished work of many other scientists and agencies which are too numerous to be 

 acknowledged individually. 



Federal Acts 



Perhaps more confusion exists about the kind of protection an endangered species receives 

 than about any other aspect of the program . Neither the Endangered Species Protection Act 

 of 1966 (80 Stat. 926) nor its amended version, the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 

 1969, provides a Federal prohibition against the taking or possession of native endangered 

 fish and wildlife. Federal protection is afforded to migratory birds through the Migratory 

 Bird Treaty Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 703-711); to eagles through the Bald Eagle Act, as 

 amended (16 U.S.C. 668-668d): and to marine mammals through the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act (P.L. 92-522). Resident wildlife such as quail and pheasants, terrestrial 

 mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles may be under State jurisdiction but do not have 

 Federal protection except as provided on some Federal lands. Under the Lacey Act, as 

 amended (18 U.S.C. 42-44) the Federal Government can become involved if an animal 

 (endangered or not) is taken in violation of State law, and then moved across State or 

 international boundaries . 



Formal involvement by the Federal Government in endangered species conservation began 

 with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. That law acknowledged a national 

 responsibility to act on behalf of native species of wildlife which were "threatened with 

 extinction. " It required the Secretary of the Interior to judge what was endangered and 

 publish in the Federal Register lists of such animals by scientific and common name. He 

 then was authorized to: 



1. Conduct research on such animals. 



2. Use limited amounts of money ($750,000 per area, $2.5 million per year 

 for a total of $15 million) from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to 

 acquire habitat for them. 



The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 was signed into law on December 5, 1969. 

 This amendment to the 1966 Act broadened the scope of the effort to conserve endangered 

 species. Among other things it: 



1. Broadened the coverage of the Act to include all vertebrates, mollusks 



and crustaceans . 



2. Permitted the consideration of subspecies as well as species (a subspecies 

 is a recognizable race or variant within a species) . 



IV 



