274 Field Columbian Museum — Zoology, Vol. III. 



at this camp, and one new race of Neotoma, quite characteristic of the 

 desert, and a new species of Lcpus, were procured. 



From Oro Grande, Mr. Heller next went to Daggett, "situated 

 on the south bank of the Mohave River about fifty miles northeast 

 of the last stopping-place, at an elevation of 2,000 feet above the 

 sea. At this place the river is a dry sand wash with low banks which 

 rise gradually to the level gravelly desert through which the bed has 

 been cut. The river, at intervals of several years, contains water 

 for a short period during the winter as far down as Daggett, and a 

 narrow part of the bed is free from vegetation. The greater part 

 of the bottom land is composed of fine white sand, which has been 

 drifted into small sand dunes a few feet in height, which gives it an 

 undulating surface. This part of the bed supports a growth of desert 

 willows, Chilopsis, together with a few creosote bushes. The level 

 and border parts of the bed are covered with a thick growth of 

 Atriplcx bushes. The country bordering the river vallev consists of 

 extensive plains of granite gravel, which slope gradually toward the 

 river from the low granite hills of the more distant country. This is 

 perhaps one of the most desolate parts of the Mohave Desert. The 

 soil supports a widely scattered though even growth of straggly 

 creosote bushes, interspersed with a few low Atriplcx bushes; cacti 

 and other vegetation is rare except in canons." At this place there 

 was a stay of ten days, and especial efforts were made to procure 

 Citellus mohavensis and Dipodomys descrti, and fair series of both 

 were obtained. Among the various animals taken was a new species 

 of desert fox which ranges through this district north to the Pana- 

 mint Mountains, and has its allies in British Columbia and west of 

 the Sierras. 



The next camp was at Copper City, an abandoned mining camp 

 thirty-five miles northwest of Daggett, at an elevation of 4,200 feet. 

 "It lies at the south base of the Granite Mountains, of which Pilot 

 Knob, seven miles north, is the eastern terminus, and on the north 

 side of Paradise Valley. This last is an immense level, with a forest 

 of giant yuccas, except in its central portion, where several dry lake 

 beds occur. Lane's Mill, wdiere a few specimens were taken, is 

 situated at the southeast border of the valley. The vegetation about 

 Copper City is almost wholly creosote, which grows luxuriantly at 

 this elevation on the loose, gravelly soil. Beneath the creosote 

 bushes a flourishing growth of annuals is found for a short time in 

 the spring. The entire region is in the upper part of the Lower 

 Sonoran Zone: The most abundant mammal of this district was 

 Perognathus panamintinus , and it was found everywhere on the loose, 



