REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 11 



our warm, dry climate well adapted to their needs, and 

 are very numerous. In the following pages I have 

 admitted to the fauna of the states under consideration 

 seventy-seven species and subspecies of reptiles belong- 

 ing to thirty-seven genera, thirteen families, and two 

 orders. Of these, three are turtles, forty are lizards, 

 and thirty-four snakes. 



While it is probable that no two of these species have 

 exactly the same geographical limits, yet the ranges of 

 certain species are, in a general way, conterminous with 

 those not only of other reptiles but of other kinds of 

 animals as well. Thus, if we map out the areas occu- 

 pied by the different kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles, 

 insects, plants, etc., we find that the boundaries of the 

 ranges of many species are nearly coincident, so that in 

 one area we have certain genera and species associated, 

 while more or less closely related kinds inhabit adjoin- 

 ing districts. From such study of its animals and 

 plants temperate North America has been divided into 

 a number of life zones,* each of which may be sub- 

 divided into minor areas technically known as Faunae. 



When regarded from a herpetological standpoint, 

 California may be divided into five minor life areas, 

 each of which corresponds more or less closely with one 

 of the chief physical areas of the State. Thus, one 

 biologic area occupies the southeastern deserts, an- 

 other the southern coast, a third the western slopes of 

 the northern coastal ranges, a fourth a belt along the 

 Sierra Nevada, and a fifth the great interior valleys of 

 the Sacramento and San Joaquin together with their 

 fringing foothills. 



*0n this subject see especially Allen, Bull. Am Mus. N. H., IV, 1, 1892, pp. 199-244; 

 Auk , X, 2, Apr., 1893; Merrlam. N. A. Fauna, No, 3, 1890, and No. 5, 1891 ; Proc. Biol. Soc. 

 Wash. VII, pp. 1-64, 1892; Nat. Geog. Mag.. 1894; Rep. Sec. Agri., 1893. pp. 228, 229 (1894). 



