94 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



CHANGES IN THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF CALIFORNIA. 



BY H. H. BEHR, M. D. 



A residence of nearly forty years in this vicinity, during 

 which the country has been rapidly settled, has necessarily 

 made me a witness of many changes in the Flora and Fauna, 

 and it seems to me a matter of importance that some record 

 of these changes be made. Such records of the physical 

 changes abound and are of very great interest, but the mu- 

 tations of organized life are certainly equally so, and they 

 have had no historian. 



From time to time, in the progress of a busy life, I have 

 taken notes of various such changes, and propose to give 

 them to the Academy in the shape of a series of short 

 papers. 



1. Serpents. 



The venomous serpents of this vicinity, of which only 

 one species (Crotalus lucifer) occurs, have, as is well known, 

 very greatly decreased in number, indeed it is probable that 

 very few, if any, now exist on the peninsula of San Fran- 

 cisco. They are, however, still found in considerable num- 

 bers on Tamalpais, that wild and only half-explored mount- 

 ain at our doors, and in the range of hills back of Oakland 

 and Berkeley, and in certain sections there has certainly 

 been a local increase in their numbers. 



As two of the places where they are increasing are to me 

 well-trodden grounds, I have made some investigations of 

 the causes of this increase, which is sufficiently marked to 

 be noticed by casual visitors, and of course still more by 

 residents of the districts. 



Statistics in such matters being out of the question, I 

 have only to mention the reasons which have convinced me 

 of the local increase, to which my attention was first called 



2d Ser., Vol. 1. Issued Feb. 28, 1888. 



