608 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History [Vol. XL VI 



secured on the islands of the Gulf of California, many of which had not 

 been visited previously by a scientist, while some additions are made to 

 the faunae of even the better known islands. 



In connection with the work on the Albatross collection, the Field 

 Museum of Natural History in Chicago has kindly loaned a part of the 

 Heller collection from the northern part of the peninsula, which has been' 

 especially valuable for comparison with the distinct fauna of southern 

 Lower California. The United States National Museum has loaned the 

 valuable collection of Lower California^ amphibians and reptiles, con- 

 sisting of one hundred and sixty specimens, made by Dr. E. W. Nelson 

 and A. E. Goldman in the course of the Lower Calif ornian explorations of 

 the Bureau of Biological Survey, for study in connection with the Alba- 

 tross material. My heartiest thanks are due to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, 

 Head Curator of Biology, for information on other specimens in 

 his charge and for many courtesies in connection with this loan. The 

 specimens from this collection have been listed in a separate paragraph in 

 the discussion of the species. Valuable specimens loaned by the Museum 

 of Vertebrate Zoology of the University, of California and by the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, chiefly in connection with 

 other studies, have been drawn upon to some extent in the preparation of 

 the present paper, and my thanks are due to these institutions. 



I am greatly indebted to Mr. Charles L. Camp for important sug- 

 gestions and corrections drawn from his intimate knowledge of Califor- 

 nian herpetology. Miss M. C. Barnett has assisted in many details of 

 the manuscript and bibliography. 



It was the purpose of Miss Mary C. Dickerson to follow her paper 

 on the new species of the Albatross collection with a more detailed study 

 of the lizard fauna of the southwestern United States in which the Lower 

 Californian fauna was to be included. I originally hoped to be able to 

 extract from her manuscript, which has been in nry hands, an account 

 of the reptiles of the Albatross collection; but I find myself so frequently 

 at variance with her conclusions on the taxonomy of the fauna concerned 

 that it has seemed preferable to drop the plan of editing her work and 

 present an entirely independent paper. Many of the illustrations in the 

 present paper, however, were prepared under Miss Dickerson's direction, 

 and much bibliographical work was done under her direction by Dr. 

 W. B. Veazie. 



For the adequate study of the herpetological collections of the Alba- 

 tross Expedition, it has been necessary to consider the fauna of the whole 

 peninsula and adjacent islands. The 'Herpetology of Lower California' 



