Late Quaternary Herpetofauna 99 



of a larger wasting mass from the adjacent hills. Because only two iso- 

 lated bones were found, it is unlikely that the mud slide killed and bur- 

 ied the individuals from which these specimens came. Using this reason- 

 ing, both Fowler's Toad and the Snapping Turtle appear to have been 

 present throughout the first 4,000 years of Lake Totten's history. 



All of the herptile taxa present in the Saltville faunules can be 

 found living in this area today. Based upon the presence of all 10 species 

 in the herpetofauna in units W2 (lower) and W3, it is reasonable to 

 conclude that this fauna has been in place for at least the last 13,500 to 

 15,000 years. Differences in the taxonomic composition of the faunules 

 are probably attributable to microhabitat changes associated with hydro- 

 logic changes in the valley and to different sampling biases of the var- 

 ious depositional processes represented. 



The most northern area where all members of the Saltville herpeto- 

 fauna may be found living together today is in extreme northeastern 

 Pennsylvania (Fig. 7) (Conant 1975: maps 3, 22, 99, 116, 119, 127, 149, 

 188, 198, 265, and 303). The Saltville herpetofauna, therefore, clearly is 

 not a "Boreal" herpetofauna. Boreal temperatures as we know them 

 today would not provide enough warm days for the eggs of Chelydra 

 serpentina, Chrysemys picta, and Elaphe cf. E. obsoleta to hatch. The 

 summers of ca. 15,000 to 14,000 B.P., and those since, must have been 

 warm enough for the eggs of these species to hatch (cf. Stuart 1979). 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.— The authors thank Clayton E. Ray for 

 reviewing an earlier draft of this paper, and Rosemarie Attilio for draw- 

 ing Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. Support for this research was provided by the 

 Town of Saltville and The National Geographic Society (grants 2512 

 and 2880). 



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Boyd, Julian P. (editor). 1952. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Vol. 6. Prince- 

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Brattstrom, Bayard H. 1967. A succession of Pliocene and Pleistocene snake 

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 Standard Common and Scientific Names for North American Amphibians 

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Conant, Roger. 1975. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern 

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Cooper, Byron N. 1966. Geology of the salt and gypsum deposits in the Salt- 

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