500 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



the spreading adder or viper, the 

 buUsnake, the black snake {Coluber 

 c. constrictor), the pilot snake (Elaphe 

 laeta), the coach whip (C /. fla- 

 gellum), and the kingsnake {Lam- 

 propeltis), all suffer from the senseless 

 fear which leads most people to kill a 

 snake on sight. The most interesting 

 species of snake in the state is one which 

 is rarely seen even by professional zoolo- 

 gists. This is the Texas blind snake 

 (Leptotyphlops dulcis) taken by the writer 

 at Norman. It is a small worm-like 

 burrowing species much resembling in 

 size and general appearance a large 

 angle-worm. Among the lizards, swifts 

 (Cnemidophorus) and skinks (Lumeces) 

 are common, the horned lizard is abun- 

 dant, and the so-called "glass-snake" 

 {Ophisaurus vcntralis) not rarely seen. 

 The collared lizard, locally called the 

 "mountain boomer" and erroneously 

 considered dangerously venomous, is 

 characteristic of the rocky hills of the 

 western half of the state. The alligator, 

 which rarely ascends the South Canadian 

 as far as Norman, is somewhat more fre- 

 quently seen in the southeastern part of 

 the state, though always as an occasional 

 straggler. Turtles of a dozen species 

 are common, ranging from the alligator- 

 snapper that may attain a length of shell 

 of fully 4 ft. and a weight of 200 pounds, 

 down to some of the terrapins and box- 

 tortoises only 4 or 5 in. long. Bullfrogs 

 are common and attain a maximum size 

 in Oklahoma waters, which they share 

 with the leopard-frog and treefrogs. In 

 the eastern part of the state the arboreal 

 hyla occurs, while on the plains only the 

 palustrine species are found. The most 

 common toad throughout most of the 

 state is the cognate toad which with its 

 larger size and bigger blotches of color 

 is notably different in appearance from 

 the more common species of the eastern 

 states. 



The Fish and Game Warden has re- 

 corded the following species of fish from 

 the streams and "lakes" of Oklahoma, 

 but the list is far from complete since 

 almost no systematic search by ichthyol- 



ogists has yet been made. He names: 

 large-mouth black bass, small-mouth 

 black bass, rock bass, white crappie, 

 black crappie (also known as calico or 

 strawberry bass), pumpkinseed, green 

 sunfish, bluegill, and "between 30 and 

 40 {sic.) other species or varieties of the 

 sunfishes," yellow cat, black bullhead, 

 brown bullhead, blue cat, big muddy cat, 

 shovel-nose cat or spoonbill, the jack- 

 salmon or pike-perch, the garpike and 

 alligator-gar (the record specimen of 

 the last named species for the state hav- 

 ing measured 7 ft. 10 in. in length with a 

 weight of 196 pounds), and finally vari- 

 ous minnows and suckers, not to speak 

 of the introduced German carp. 



The Ouachita Mountains are covered 

 largely with longleaf, shortleaf, lob- 

 lolly, and slash pine, with an occasional 

 sweet gum and Hercules club. The 

 Ozarks carrj^ a growth of oak, hickory, 

 walnut, elm and maple, with an occa- 

 sional specimen of papaw and witch- 

 hazel, while yellow pine occurs on their 

 southern peaks. In the western half of 

 the state along the streams occur cotton- 

 wood, elm, hackberry, chinaberry, wal- 

 nut, willow, dogwood, redbud, soap- 

 berrj^, boxelder and mulberrJ^ In the 

 far western part of the state the thorny 

 mesquite is found both on the prairies 

 and along some of the streams. On the 

 sandhills blackjack, barren- and post- 

 oak, hackberry, hickory and sumac are 

 to be found. Barde, writing in the game 

 warden's report for 1912, says: 



The flowers of eastern Oklahoma, from 

 the Red River to Kansas, are astonishing 

 in their variety and luxuriance. The 

 violet, columbine, and Dutchman's 

 breeches grow there, and the serviceberry 

 whitens rocky hillsides with its early 

 bloom. The dogwood, linden and red- 

 biid expand their dream-like clouds of 

 pink and white from lowland to upland. 

 Here are growths of holly a hundred 

 acres in extent, with their perennial 

 green. Some of these holly trees are of 

 extraordinary size, being 40 ft. in height, 

 with trunks as thick as a man's body. 



. . . The Kiamitia [a portion of 

 the Ouachitas] is an unknown land to the 

 scientific botanist. [The wild huckle- 

 berry] grows everywhere in the Kiamitia; 



