Amphibians and Reptiles of Santa }sIarta 7 



kindly given to collectors, and to the careful field work of Mr. Carriker. 

 The writer also wishes to express his indebtedness to his companions ifi 

 the field, M. A. Carriker, F. M. Gaige, and A. S. Pearse. Their loyalty 

 and indefatigable efforts to advance the work on the reptiles and amphibians, 

 although principally interested in other groups, made it possible to obtain 

 a large amount of data that otherwise would not have been secured, and 

 contributed to the pleasure of the field work. 



The writer is under obligations to Mr. Samuel Henshaw and Dr. 

 Thomas Barbour for the loan of material in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, and to Dr. Henry W. Fowler and the authorities of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for the opportunity of examining the 

 specimens obtained by Mr. J. A. G. Rehn and Mr. Morgan Hebard in 192 1. 

 He has also had considerable assistance from Dr. Thomas Barbour, Dr. 

 George Boulenger, and Miss Joan Procter in the identification of specimens, 

 and from Dr. Leonhard Stejneger in the settling of problems in nomenclature. 



The writer congratulates himself on being able to publish a description 

 of the region by Mr. Carriker. Certainly no one is more familiar with the 

 area, and no one who has visited it is better fitted to describe the conditions 

 from the biological standpoint. The writer has been able to spend much 

 time in the field with Mr. Carriker, and fully agrees with the interpretations 

 of the conditions given in his account. 



Description of the Santa Marta Region 



(With comments on the zoological work which has been done there and a 



list of localities) 



By M. a. Carriker, Jr. 



The preparation of this paper was suggested by Dr. Ruthven at the 

 time of his second expedition to this region in the summer of 1920. He 

 argued that the information the writer possessed as the result of personal 

 observations over an extended period should be published as an aid to 

 future workers as well as to those who have already made extensive bio- 

 logical studies here. It is due to his enthusiasm and encouragement that I 

 was induced to undertake the work, and it was with his help that the out- 

 line of the paper here presented was prepared. 



The writer first arrived in Santa Marta in 1909, and with the exception 

 of about two years spent in various parts of the interior of Colombia, has 

 been more or less a constant resident in the region, living in the lowlands 

 near Santa Marta and in the mountains within a radius of twenty-five 

 miles of that city when not engaged in making trips to other parts of the 

 Nevada. (See map following Plate XH.) 



As one approaches Santa Marta from the sea (PI. I, fig. i) the beauti- 

 ful snowcapped peaks (see frontispiece) forming the apex of the range 

 are visible for many miles and present an almost irresistible attraction to 

 any lover of the wild and unknown spots of the earth, but especially to the 



