^^7^2 Trees oj Soiithei-ii California. [zoe 



the highest meadows. This animal and the " California Lion " 

 are the sheep-herders' greatest enemies. 



52. Fe/is co)icolorl^\nx\e. California Lion; Panther. 



This beast is common in places on both sides of the moun- 

 tains and extending to high altitudes. It is very destructive to 

 sheep and colts. Some horse ranches have had to be abandoned 

 on account of its ravages. 



53. Lynx rtifus (Giild.) Wild Cat. 



Apparently this species has about the same range as the 

 mountain lion. None were seen about Red Point, but it is said 

 to occur in the neighborhood and is destructive to poultry yards. 



DISTRIBUTION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TREES. 



BY S. B. PARISH. 



The distinguishing feature of the natural vegetation of the 

 five southern counties of California is the prevalence of shrubs. 

 Over probably three-fourths of the surface this was the principal 

 growth. Scattered in open order over desert and plain and 

 vallej' aflfording clear space or sheltered covert for a multitude 

 of humbler plants, or massed on hillsides in close and often 

 impenetrable chaparral, it was seldom that shrubs gave place 

 to meadows or forests. The ariditj' of the climate is doubtless 

 the cause of this peculiar condition, woody plants being better 

 able to endure a deficiency of moisture than those of a more 

 succulent nature, while from the same deficienc}' the former are 

 unable to develop into arboreal forms. From the same cause 

 manj^ species are here stunted shrubs or barely arborescent, 

 which in cooler and moister climates attain to the dimensions of 

 considerable trees. 



Hence, too, at lower altitudes the arboreal vegetation is 

 mostly riparian. The streams are scantilj^ fringed with cotton- 

 wood, sycamore, alder, and a few species of willow, which do not 

 extend beyond the irrigating influence of the water. In other 

 cases the close proximity of a moist subsoil enables a grove of 

 trees to be sustained, of which the cotton wood groves which 

 formerly existed in the San Bernardino and the San Jacinto 



February 6, 1894. 



