A COLLECTION OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES FROM 

 GOGEBIC COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



By Arthur T. Evans, 



Of the University of Colorado, Boulder. 



Records from Gogebic County are included in but few of the reports 

 on the herpetology of northern Michigan and in all these reports 

 refer to a single species, ThamnopMs sirtalis (Linnaeus).^ Gogebic 

 County is situated at the extreme western end of the Upper Peninsula 

 of Michigan. The county lies approximately between the forty-first 

 and forty-second degrees north latitude and between the eighty- 

 eighth and ninetieth degrees west longitude. The topography of 

 the county is more or less broken, there being many rocky hills. 

 Much of the higher ground is covered by heavy hardwood forests 

 some of which, however, have been cut over. In contrast to these 

 habitats there are many dense arbor-vitse swamps and occasionally 

 small tracts of cleared farm land. In many places forest fires have 

 laid waste large areas. Rivers, lakes, and large ponds are numerous. 

 The climatic conditions of the county undoubtedly have a very decided 

 effect upon the fauna. The winters are long and severe, usually lasting 

 from October until May, during which time from one to several feet of 

 snow fall and the temperature often reaches forty degrees below zero 

 Fahrenheit. In 1913 the first snow of six inches feU on September 21. 

 In the spring the snow does not disappear usually until the latter 

 part of April, and during the spring of 1914 about three inches of 

 snow fell on May 12. With the coming of warm weather lowlands 

 for some distance on either side of the streams are overflowed. This 

 condition continues for some time after all of the snow has disappeared 

 from the woods. Summer weather does not usually begin before May. 

 The summers are usually short and the temperature rarely exceeds 

 ninety degrees Fahrenheit. The evenings are cool and frost may be 

 expected any time after the fkst of August. 



During the years of 1913 and 19i4 while the writer was a resident 

 of the county an effort was made to collect representatives of all of the 

 species of amphibians and reptiles found there. The species taken 

 are listed below. The collections were made in the vicinity of Wake- 

 field, which is centrally located in the county. In all eleven species 

 were taken, ten of these being recorded from Gogebic County for the 

 first time and one being an addition to the fauna of the Northern 

 Peninsula of Michigan. 



» Ruthven, A. G., Herpetology of Michigan, Mich. Geol. and Biol. Surv., 1912; and Ruthven, A. G. 

 Bull. 61, U. S. National Museum, 1908. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 49— No. 2109. 



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