g6 West American Scientist. 



Xantus' notable collection of reptiles and birds, besides adding a 

 few new species ; but I was most pleased to know that I had as- 

 certained that the " Cape Species" were by no means confined to 

 the Cape, and this accorded with my belief, based upon my first 

 critical survey of this part of the peninsula from a steamer's deck. 

 I brought Uta thalassina from Cliffs near Playitas, Sauromalus 

 ater from Espiritu Santa Island, Sceloporus rufidorsum from 

 igneus rocks, east of La Paz, and the new toad was first found in 

 a well at Infirmaria Bay. 



I was alone when I went to the bottom of the well, as my boat- 

 men were on the bay diving for the beautiful but frail Coral found 

 in Infirmaria Bay, and I was somewhat nervous when I descended 

 the well, as I might need help in getting out, and if I could not get 

 out I might never be found; but after a careful survey, I rightly 

 conjectured that I could safely descend. Some of the specimens 

 I carried in my saddle pockets and fish basket, at least three days 

 before putting them in alcohol, but I was careful to inject a little 

 preservative which was usually a solution of Chloride of Zinc. A 

 few specimens I got at Laguna, in the Victoria Mountains, were 

 thus preserved, rolled up in cotton and forwarded to Washington 

 for identification, and I suppose they reached their destination in 

 fair order, as I never heard to the contrary. I kept the most of 

 the alcoholic specimens in large Mason fruit jars, next to the wall 

 of my only room, where I saw them early and late, and often ex- 

 amined them to see if they were doing well. Handling the speci- 

 mens before breakfast, as I invariably did, did not increase my 

 appetite for it, and a repetition of the same just before retiring at 

 night was not conducive to pleasant dreams, but lest I weary the 

 reader with too much detail, I will say briefly, I went Irom La 

 Paz to Cape St. Lucas, San Jose del Cabo and other localities, 

 and added a few species to those already collected, as the San 

 Jose River supplied several not found elsewhere. 



This is the only river south of La Paz, and it is so small in 

 winter, in the dry season, that it hardly deserves the name of river. 

 In summer, the wet season, it is much increased in volume, as I 

 judged from traces of its deposits of drift. The wear and waste 

 of the granite rock is apparently very rapid in Southern Lower 

 California, as the canyons are full of granite sand, and much of 

 the surface of the coifntry is covered with it. 



While I was travelling alone across the peninsula, from the 

 Pacific Ocean to La Paz, in 1883, I saw enough to convince me 

 that the portion of the peninsula from La Paz south had, until a 

 comparitively recent date, been an island. 



This would in part account for the origin of the '' Cape Species.' ' 

 The distribution of species, and especially of fossils, will ever be 

 of great interest to the Naturalist. 



The distritution of reptiles is much more significant of geologi- 

 cal changes than that of birds and animals, and we may reason- 



