184 Biology in America 



The life of this region is widely different from that of the 

 East, but the mere enumeration of the names of its inhabi- 

 tants would be of little interest. Many of its species are in- 

 habitants of the ground and bushes and are more or less 

 bleached in color corresponding to the background upon which 

 they live. How this adaptation has been effected no one can 

 surely say. But more of this in a later chapter. One of the 

 most characteristic of its inhabitants is the "horned toad/ 5 

 which is not a toad at all, but a lizard. This little creature 

 with its horned head is a miniature Triceratops, the giant 

 dinosaur which once shambled across our plains. 



The towering Sierras rising like a mighty wall shut off 

 the Great Basin from the interior valleys of California, and 

 these in turn are separated from the Pacific Coast by the 

 Coast Range of mountains, which while pygmies compared 



THE GILA MONSTER 



Characteristic of the arid Southwest. From Ditmars, ' ' Reptiles of All 

 Lands, " in ' ' National Geographic Magazine, ' ' Vol. 22. 



with their mighty neighbors to the east, nevertheless form a 

 very efficient climatic barrier to the moisture laden winds 

 sweeping landward from the sea. The climatic differences 

 thus caused are reflected in the life of the interior valleys and 

 the coastal slope. In no similar area in North America are 

 there such great extremes of climate or more marked dif- 

 ferences in the corresponding life. Especially is this true 

 of Death Valley in the interior of southern California, whose 

 lowest point is 276 feet below the surface of the sea. Here 

 the temperature in summer frequently reaches 125F. in the 

 shade, and the relentless sun scarce ever hides its shameless 

 face behind a cloud. Here lives a little community of desert 

 dwellers, for the most part characteristic of their arid home. 

 The fauna and flora of California are peculiar to them- 

 selves, following however the general principles of distri- 

 bution of life elsewhere. Here occur the Goliaths among 

 plants the California big trees. At one time in the past 



