8 ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 



and the Sophora, with brilliant vermilion-colored seeds, from which 

 Wood has recently obtained a valuable sedative allialoid which he calls 

 sophorine. The shrubbery of the highlands consists largely of dwarf 

 live-oaks and two small species, Quercus sansahw and Q. durandii of Buck- 

 ley ; with the black persimmon Biospyrus texana, a five-leaved barberry, 

 and a Rhus very much like the B. cotinm of the gardens. Occasionally 

 the elegant macb^oSa raises its kid-colored branches [Arhutus texana 

 Buckley), and a small ash with very obtuse leaflets is common. Then 

 there is a multitude of berry-bearing shrubs, and all are intertwined with 

 three or four species oiAmpelopsis and other creepers. The open stretches 

 are clothed with a dense carpet of buffalo-grass {Buchloe), from which 

 rise several species of Cactacece and two or three Yuccas and the Dasy- 

 lirion. The lower levels and hill-sides are, however, the home of the 

 cacti. There the large deei>-green Opuntia, so conspicuous on the arms 

 of Mexico, rears its lines of discs from the short grass, or depends from 

 the cliffs in picturesque festoons ; a type among plants of endurance and 

 persistence, of beauty and of repellant hostility. 



Having thus glanced at the topography, geology, climate, and vege- 

 tation of Texas, I reach the principal object before us, a considera- 

 tion of the distribution of its vertebrate animals. My remarks will re- 

 fer chiefly to the BatracMa and Eeptilia, but I commence with what I 

 was able to learn of the distribution of some of the Mammalia. In pre- 

 paring this part of my paper I have made considerable use of Pro- 

 fessor Baird's magnificent report on the Vertebrata of the Mexican 

 Boundary. 



MAMMALIA. 



Uncia* onca ; the jaguar. This magnificent cat is not rare on the Nueces 

 Eiver, especially in the extensive thickets along the southern part of 

 its course. Its range extends east as far as the Guadalupe Eiver, 

 where specimens have been killed, and it does not usually range north 

 of San Antonio. I was assured, however, by several persons that a pair 

 were killed a few years ago on the Medina Eiver, in Kerr County, at 



* I have employed Dr. Gray's name Uncia for the genus of true cats with round pu- 

 pil, which embraces the largest known species— the lion, tiger, etc. (Proceed. Acad- 

 emy Philada. , 1879). In the paper cited I remark, ' ' I assume that this name is derived 

 from uncus, a hook, which is appropriate to the weapons of these animals." This pro- 

 ceeding has been the subject of remark by two critics, who with remarkable perspi- 

 cuity, remind us that Dr. Gray's name is probably a latinizatiou of the common name 

 "ounce." Had I not suspected as much, I would not have used the expression quoted, 

 " I assume." As Gray was in the habit of giving barbarous n?mes, without giving any 

 etymologies, I esteem it a piece of good fortune to nomenclature when any of them can 

 be rendered classic by assumption or any other lawful process. 



