May, 1893.] REPTILES OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 1G7 



Crotaphytus wislizenii'B. & G. 



Evidently one of the commonest lizards in all the desert localities 

 visited by members of the expedition, as the subjoined list of speci- 

 mens will show. The relative distribution of this species, as compared 

 with C. silus, will be discussed under the latter. 



Some of the females when received showed strong traces on the un- 

 der side, particularly on the tail, of a vivid scarlet color, which had a 

 very curious superficial aj>pearance, as if caused by loosely adherent 

 particles of dry color. It has faded entirely out of all the specimens 

 in alcohol. Dr. Merriam has recorded detailed observations on this 

 point in the accompanying note. 



The ferocity and greed of this species is well illustrated by several 

 of the specimens caught. Thus the stomach of a young male (No. 18291) 

 was found to contain two full-grown lizards, Uta stansburiana, while an 

 adult female (No. 18276) when opened gave up one full-grown horned-toad, 

 Phrynosoma platyrhinos, besides remnants of a grown specimen of her 

 own species ! 



[The leopard lizard is abundant in most, if not all, of the Lower 

 Sonoran deserts of the Great Basin from southern California eastward 

 across southern Nevada to Arizona and southwestern Utah. While 

 properly belonging to the Lower Sonoran zone, it ranges up a certain 

 distance into the Upper Sonoran, occurring further north and higher 

 on the mountain sides than either Callisaurus or Dipsosaurns, and 

 usually a little higher even than Gnemidophorus. 



It was found in abundance in all of the Lower Sonoran deserts trav- 

 ersed, from the Mohave Desert, Panamint and Death Valleys, Ash 

 Meadows, the Amargosa Desert, Indian Spring, Pahrump, and Vegas 

 valleys to the Great Bend of the Colorado, and thence northerly through 

 the valleys of the Virgin and Muddy across the northwest corner of 

 Arizona to the Santa Clara Valley in Utah, and Pahrauagat and Meadow 

 Creek Valleys in Nevada. The upper limit of its range was not 

 reached except in a few places, as indicated by the following localities : 

 It was abundant throughout Antelope Valley, at the extreme west end 

 of the Mohave Desert, ranging thence northerly through the wash or 

 open canon leading to Tehachapi Valley. (It was not seen in Teha- 

 chapi Valley, which is not strange, as a sharp, cold wind blew the 

 only day we were there.) It ranges completely over "Walker Pass 

 (altitude of divide 1,550 meters, or 5,100 feet) and is common in Owens 

 Valley, ranging as far north at least as Bishop Creek, and as high as 

 1,980 meters (6,500 feet) along the west slope of the White and Inyo 

 Mountains (opposite Big Pine). On the east side of the White Moun- 

 tains it is common in Deep Spring and Fish Lake valleys, and was 

 found on the northwest slope of Mount Magruder (below Pigeon Spring) 

 as high as 1,980 meters (6,500 feet). It was seen at the same elevation 

 in Tule Canon, but does not reach the Mount Magruder plateau (alti- 

 tude about 2,450 meters, or 8,000 feet). Coming up through Grapevine 

 Canon from the northwest arm of Death Valley it spreads over Sarco- * 



