A LIST 



OF MAMMALS COLLECTED BY EDMUND HELLER, 



IN THE SAN PEDRO MARTIR AND HANSON LAGUNA 



MOUNTAINS AND THE ACCOMPANYING COAST 



REGIONS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



BY D. G. ELLIOT, F.R.S.E., ETC. 



In February, 1902, Mr. Heller arrived at the port of Ensenada on 

 Todos Santos Bay, Lower California, with the intention of making this 

 place his starting-point for an exploration and collecting expedition into 

 the mountain ranges of Hanson Laguna, and San Pedro Martir. A 

 guide was here procured and a pack-train of burros, for the opportunities 

 to obtain any supplies after leaving the coast were practically nil, and every- 

 thing needed had to be carried on donkey back. An existing law com- 

 pelling all who brought guns into Lower California to return to the 

 port of entry every sixty days and have their permits to bear arms 

 renewed, made it necessary that his first trip should not exceed two 

 months, and Mr. Heller decide'd to go to San Felipe on the Gulf of 

 California through the canon of the Salado River, San Pedro Martir 

 Mountains, returning to Ensenada by the same route. As this lofty 

 range is but little known, and never before has been systematically ex- 

 plored by any collector, a comparatively small number of animals having 

 been previously obtained from a few localities only, Mr. Heller's de- 

 scription of these mountains contains valuable information. He writes: 



"The name San Pedro Martir is applied to an elevated plateau 

 region extending from 30 30' to 31° io' North latitude, and with a 

 width of from fifteen to twenty miles. The general trend of the plateau 

 is north and south, and it is traversed by low rocky ridges having the 

 same direction, and the plateau varies from six to nine thousand feet and 

 the ridges and peaks rise a few hundred feet higher, the highest peak 

 attaining a height of 10,126 feet, and the slopes of the plateau are pre- 

 cipitous except on the south, where the range gradually merges into the 

 lower hills of that region. The east slope is almost sheer from the sum- 

 mits of the highest peaks to the floor of the desert, and only one almost 

 impassable trail is known on the whole of its extent. The north and 

 west slopes are about equally precipitous and the summit is accessible by 

 but a few rocky trails. The greater part of the drainage of the moun- 



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