142 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [no. Ki. 



Castanopsis sempervirens (Kello^u) Dudley. Sierra ( "liiiKiuapiii. 



The distribution of the mountain chiuciuapin on Shasta is discon- 

 tinuous. It is })ossil)le tliat two forms exist, one apparently restricted 

 to the manzanita chaparral of the Transition zone from Sisson up to 

 the lower edge of the Shasta fir Delt; the other to the scattered 

 stretches of PinuH albicatdis of the Hudsonian zone, where it reaches 

 timberline on the rocky slopes and ridges. 



Prof. ^Villiam It. Dudley, of Stanford University, Oalifornia, has, at 

 my reipiest, kindly looked up the i)roper uame for the boreal Sierra 

 chin(iua])in, which he linds to be .seinpervirens of Kellogg.' The type 

 locality of sonperriri'ns is the west slope of the Sierra near ^NFariposa. 

 I have found the si)ecies abundant on a ridge near a stage station 

 called Chinquapin, between Mariposa and the Yosemite, where it 

 occurs with Pinii.s jejffrei/i, P. himbertiana, Aides )naf)n)fic<(, ]'.seii(lotsu(/a 

 miicroiiata, and Pruiius eiii((r(/in<(f<( at and above an altitude of 0,2(K) 

 feet. The locality, therefore, is along the overlapping borderlaiul 

 between the Transition aiul Canadian zones. 



Professor Dudley tells me that the ' var. minor'' Bentha-m is the small 

 southern coast range form of the true coast chin(|uai>in. C<i-st<in<>psis 

 chryaophijlla, and that the type locality is the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

 C. chrysophylla is a handsome tree 75 to 125 feet in lieight, with large 

 leaves, ending in long, slender attenuate points; C. sempervirens is a 

 bush with small and relatively bluntly rounded leaves. I found both 

 species common on the Trinity Mouutains : C. ehrysophyUa on the sunny 

 lower slopes in the Transition zone; C. sempervirens on the cold summit 

 in the lower edge of the (Janadian zone, where it is associated with 

 Arctostaphylos nevadensis, Gerasns ei)i<ir<iinai<{^ Ceanotlnis reliitiiiKs, the 

 dwarf mountain form of (^hierens c/tri/solepis, and the very distinct (^>. 

 vaeeinifoliu.' 



1 Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., I, p. 75, 1855 (reprint). 



- QuercuH vaccUiifoJia Kellojjjjf is auotlic.r I'xcellent species, iisiiar.y (•oiii'oiinded 

 witli the dwarf inountaiii form of ^,>. chrijHoJepis, with whicli it has nothing to do. 

 Their zone relations are much the same as those of tlic two species of Cast(ttio])iiix, for 

 (J. vaccinij'olia occurs along the lower edge of the Uoreal, and ranges up tlirough the 

 Canadian zone, always in rocl^y phices, while (J. chry-solepis belongs to the Transition 

 zone. Their ranges join where these zones meet, and I have found both growing 

 side by side; on the Trinity Mountains, and also on the .Sierra. (Jncrcit.s clinisoJcpis 

 is a TransUion zone tree wliich at the upper limit of its lange is always dwarfed 

 and often reduce<l to a shrub; l)ut irrespective of size it always r(!tain8 its charac- 

 teristic leaves and acorn cups, (^hiercns vacc'nii folia is always a small bush — rarely 

 much over a metc-r in lieight — and, whether in Iriiit or not, is distinguishable at a 

 glance by the character of its leaves and (Mips. The leaves are smaller, narrower, 

 thinner, and lilunter (commonly narrowly oval with an obtuse jioiiit instead of 

 Hliari)ly laiKUiolate ) and lack the yellow tomeutum undei iieatli ; furthermore, their 

 margins, although somewiiat tliickencid, are not distinctly revolute. The acorn cuiis 

 aie smaller and thinner, and lack the beautiCul yellow ' turban ' so characteristic of 

 diniHoleiih; the acorns average shorter and thicker and the. basal seal' is smaller. The 

 branrlilctH lie miirli more slender, and glabrous or nearly so, iusliad ol' toiiieiitose. 



