May, 1393.] REPTILES OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 215 



Catalogue of the Reptiles and Batrachians in the TJ. S. National Museum 

 (No. 5271). Dr. J. G-. Cooper has since enumerated G. tigris from the 

 California side of the 'Colorado Valley,'* but whether he based his 

 record upon specimens actually collected (in which case,' probably near 

 Fort Mohave), or only upon the general statement in the report of the 

 Mexican Boundary Survey, I do not know. 



It does not appear to have been collected by any of the many parties 

 of the Pacific Railroad Surveys, nor was it brought home by the herpe- 

 tologists of the Wheeler Expedition west of the one hundredth meridian . 



The extension of its known range by the present expedition is there- 

 fore very material, and is the more interesting since it was found 

 almost over the entire desert area visited. So far from being restricted 

 to the Colorado Valley proper, as surmised by Dr. Cooper, it seems to 

 be chiefly confined to the desert mountain ranges, in which it ascends to 

 a considerable altitude, as shown by the table below, while horizontally 

 its range has been extended over quite a considerable area of southern 

 Nevada. • 



A study of the present series convinces me that the nearest affinity 

 of the ' tiger rattler ? is with the true Crotalus confiuentus of the plains, 

 in spite of the rather striking and in many respects peculiar aspect of 

 the former. 



[The known range of this exceedingly rare rattlesnake has been 

 greatly extended by the expedition, specimens having been secured at 

 frequent intervals from Owens Valley in California to the Great Bend 

 of the Colorado on the boundary between Nevada and Arizona. It was 

 usually found in rocky places in the desert ranges — rarely in the inter- 

 vening valleys. 



When passing through Emigrant Canon in the Panamint Mountains, 

 in California, April 15, two large rattlesnakes of this species were 

 killed at one shot by Mr. Stephens, at an altitude of 1,400 meters (4,600 

 feet). They were on a ledge of rock, and were standing erect with 

 their heads near together, apparently playing. In Indian Spring Val- 

 ley, north of the Charleston Mountains, in Nevada, one was found in a 

 wood-rat's nest that was dug open to secure a large scaly lizard (Scelo- 

 porus magister) which had taken refuge there. Its stomach contained 

 a kangaroo rat (Dipodomys) and a pocket mouse (Perognathus), indi- 

 cating nocturnal habits. Others were killed in the upper part of Vegas 

 Valley (near Cottonwood Springs) and Vegas Wash, Nevada, and in 

 Owens Valley (on Independence Creek), Coso Valley, the Argus Range, 

 Slate Range, Panamint Range, and Grapevine Mountains, California. In 

 the Argus Range nineteen were killed in or near Shepherd Canon, dur- 

 ing the latter part of April and first week of May, by Dr. Fisher's 

 party.— C. H. M.] 



*Proc. Calif. Acad. Nat. Sci., iv, p. 6G (1870). 



