REVIEW OF THE 

 CALIFORNIA. 



HERPETOLOGY OF LOWER 

 PART I— REPTILES. 



BY JOHN VAN DENBURGH, 



Curator of the Department of Herpetology. 



[With Plates iv-xiv.] 



The peninsula of Lower California lies so far from the 

 usual routes of travel that few collections of its animals 

 have found their way into museums. Its reptiles have 

 been known chiefly from the specimens secured by Botta, 

 Xantus, and Belding. Within the past few years the 

 California Academy of Sciences has sent several collect- 

 ors to the peninsula, and among the specimens brought 

 back each time have been a few reptiles. In this way 

 the collection has been formed upon which this paper is 

 primarily based. 



A few remarks on the zoogeographical position of 

 Lower California may not be out of place. 



The Sonoran Subprovince, as defined by Dr. Allen, 

 but excluding Lower California, is inhabited by the fol- 

 lowing forty genera of reptiles : * 



Phyllodactylus, 



Dipsosaiirus, 



Crotaphytus, 



Callisaurus, 



Holbrookia, 



Uma, 



Sauromalus, 



Uta, 



Sceloporus, 



Phryuosoma, 



Heloderma, 



Gerrhonotus, 



Anniella, 



Xantusia, 



Cnemidophoriis, 



Verticaria, 



Eumeces, 



Kena, 



Leptotyphlops, 



Lichanura, 



Charina, 



ChilomeniscTis, 



Tantilla, 



Chionactis, 



Ehinochiliis, 



Lampropeltis, 



Diadophis, 



Contia, 



Gyalopum, 



Hypsiglena, 



Phyllorhynchus, 



Salvadora, 



Bascanion, 



Pituophis, 



Arizona, 



Thamnopliis, 



Natrix, 



Trimorphodon, 



Elaps, 



Crotalus. 



Twenty-nine of these range over a greater or less part 



* The turtles are not considered in this discussion. 

 2d Ser., Vol. V. 



May 28, 1895. 



