1913] Atsatt: Reptiles of th< San Jacinto Area 49 



species, all of which range in Lower Sonoran : Uta rm arnsi, Set loporus 

 orcutti, Verticaria hyperythra beldingi and Crotalus ruber. A report 

 has been made by Dr. Van Denburgh (1912, p. 149) of S. orcutti 

 from material collected in 1887 or 1889 in Waterman's Canon, San 

 Bernardino mountains. Strictly speaking, on the basis of this record, 

 .S 1 . orcutti would be excluded from the above list, but inasmuch as no 

 collection of S. orcutti since 1889 in the San Bernardino mountains 

 has been recorded, this species does not appear to be an inhabitant 

 of that area at the present day. Certain of the desert forms of the 

 San Jacinto region, namely. Callisaurus ventralis, Sauromelas ater, 

 RhinocJu ilus lecontt i, and Salvadora grahamiae were not found in the 

 San Bernardino area, but it is entirely possible that they may still 

 be in that part of the San Bernardinos of desert character, which is 

 just across the pass from Whitewater. In the San Bernardino moun- 

 tains at higher levels were found forms not yet known in the San 

 Jacintos, namely, Thamnophis clcgans and Eumeces (sp. ?). This 

 skink was recorded as Eumeces gilberti (Grinnell, 1908. p. 163). Re- 

 examination makes the previous determination questionable, but the 

 true status of the species remains to be worked out. 



In a field observation of the reptiles of San Jacinto one can not 

 help noticing certain general features in coloration. On the glaring 

 white sand of the desert the extremely light background color of the 

 reptiles and the main dorsal patterns of black and shades of gray 

 and brown give a high degree of protective coloration to such species 

 as Callisaurus ventralis, Phrynosoma platyrhinos and Crotalus c< rasti s. 

 Associated with the dryness and intense light of the desert environ- 

 ment seems to be the sharp contrast of extremes of light and dark 

 in the color patterns of the reptiles. With the colors of the yellow, 

 buff and brown sands of the higher levels and of the Pacific area the 

 ground colors of Phrynosoma blainvillei blainvillei, Cnemidophorus 

 stejnegrri. Lam propel t is boylei and Crotalus ruber harmonize, while 

 the patterns themselves have the darker shades of that group of 

 colors. In the yet higher altitudes in the Transition zone, where the 

 light is subdued by the large amount of shade and the dark colors of 

 the foliage and where the air is more humid, the darkening of color 

 and softening of pattern outlines is observed in Sceloporus biseriatus, 

 Sceloporus graciosus and Crotalus lucifer. Of course in some localities 

 there are exceptions to these general statements, both in individuals 

 and species. Again, in Sceloporus orcutti the females and juvenals in 

 their browns and greens are effectively concealed against the trunk 



