526 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



The mountain parks of Colorado are 

 elevated valleys clothed chiefly with a 

 dry grassland and surrounded by forest- 

 clad hills. The largest are North Park, 

 South Park, Middle Park, and San Luis 

 Park. There are many smaller parks 

 scattered along water courses chiefly 

 in the Foothill and Montane zones of 

 the eastern slope. The Rocky Moun- 

 tain National Park contains a number 

 of mountain parks of great interest. 

 (See various publications of the National 

 Park Service, U. S. Department of the 

 Interior.) 



About one-fifth of the entire area of 

 Colorado is in National Forests. These 

 forests are chiefly protection forests 

 and do not furnish at present any great 

 amount of timber. (See various publi- 

 cations of the U. S. Forest Service, 

 especially those dealing with recrea- 

 tional possibilities.) 



The state tree of Colorado is the blue 

 spruce (Picea pungens), occurring locally 

 along streams in the upper foothills. 

 The blue columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) 

 is the state flower. It grows sparingly 

 in the foothills and more abundantly 

 in the Montane and Subalpine zones. 



Colorado is well known for its trout. 

 There are native mountain trout in the 

 streams from the foothill country almost 

 to timber line; various species also have 

 been introduced. (For an account of 

 Colorado fishes, see Ellis: "Fishes of 

 Colorado," in University of Colorado 

 Studies, Vol. XI, pp. 1-136, 1914. For 

 reptiles and amphibia see Ellis and 

 Henderson: "Amphibia and Reptilia 

 of Colorado," in University of Colorado 

 Studies, Vol. X, pp. 39-129; Vol. XI, 

 pp. 253-263, 1915.) 



Following are some selected titles 

 of papers dealing with vegetation of 

 Colorado. 



Cockerell, T. D. A. Alpine Flora of 



Colorado. American Naturalist. 40: 



861-873. 1906. 

 Cooper, W. S. Alpine Vegetation in the 



Vicinity of Long's Peak, Colorado. 



Botanical Gazette, 45: 319-337. 



1908. 

 Ramaley, Francis. Plants of the Floris- 



sant Region of Colorado. Univ. of 

 Colo. Studies, 3: 178-185. 1906. 



Plant Zones in the Rocky Mountains 

 of Colorado. Science, N.S., 26: 

 642-643. 1907. 



Botany of Northeastern Larimer 

 County, Colorado. Univ. of Colo. 

 Studies, 5: 119-131. 1908. 



Dry Grassland of a High Mountain 

 Park in Northern Colorado. Plant 

 World, 19: 249-270. 1916. 



Xerophytic Grasslands at Different 

 Altitudes in Colorado. Bull. Torr. 

 Bot. Club, 46: 37-52. 1919. 



Some Mountain Plant Communities 

 of Sandy Soil. Plant World, 22: 

 313-328. 1919. 



Subalpine Lake-shore Vegetation in 

 North-Central Colorado. Amer. 

 Jour. Bot., 7: 57-74. 1920. 

 Ramaley, Francis, and Robbins, W. W. 

 Studies in Lake and Streamside 

 Vegetation. Univ. of Colo. Studies, 

 6: 133-168. 1909. 



Robbins, W. W. Climatology and Vege- 

 tation in Colorado. Botanical 

 Gazette, 49: 256-280. 1910. 



Successions of Vegetation in Boulder 

 Park, Colorado. Botanical Gazette, 

 65: 493-525. 1918. 



Shantz, Homer L. Study of the Vege- 

 tation East of Pikes Peak; the 

 Bouteloua formation. Botanical 

 Gazttte, 42: 16-47, 179-207. 1906. 

 Vestal, Arthur G. Prairie Vegetation 

 of a Mountain-front Area in 

 Colorado. Botanical Gazette, 58: 

 377-400. 1914. 



Foothills Vegetation in the Colorado 

 Front Range. Botanical Gazette, 

 64: 353-385. 1917. 



Although it has not been possible in 

 the space allowed to consider the in- 

 vertebrate animals of Colorado the 

 reader may wish to know of two papers 

 on invertebrates in which ecological 

 as well as taxonomic matters are 

 considered. 



Dodds, Gideon S. Altitudinal Distribu- 

 tion of Entomostraca in Colorado. 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 54: 58-87. 

 1917. 



Henderson, Junius. Mollusca of Colo- 

 rado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and 

 Wyoming. Univ. of Colo. Studies, 

 13: 65-223. 1924. 



II. NATURAL AREAS 



*Wheeler National Monument. Three 

 hundred acres; of much interest from a 

 geological standpoint, as an example of 



