Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
37 
T o the north of Campo a score of miles or so is Cuyamaca Peak, 
the highest elevation between the San Jacinto Range and the 
Mexican line, reaching over six thousand five hundred feet above 
sea level. It was one of our objectives, and from Campo we headed 
in that direction, through beautiful broken country with fine oaks 
and some pine, interspersed with meadowy areas. Guatey (pro¬ 
nounced “Wah-tie”) and Descanso were good collecting stations, 
and a summer camp near the latter place afforded excellent night 
accomodations. Cuyamaca Peak lay but a few miles away, and 
an old wood road soon placed us at the foot of the east slope of the 
peak. The forest cover was quite heavy,—below splendid oak, 
then pine with much cedar, and finally near the top some fir 
(Abies). The upper slopes were quite steep, in some places at 
least forty-five degree inclines. The summit bears a forest rangers’ 
fire station, and the view from this well repays one for the climb. 
To the north, San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Peaks were clearly 
evident, and to the northwest could be seen Santiago Peak in the 
Santa Ana Range, although the Laguna Range to the east hid the 
Salton Sea and the Imperial Valley from view. The Lagunas 
were our next objective and we spent some hours travelling the 
narrow, sinuous, rocky and distinctly dangerous grade which 
leads into this high plateau of jumbled ridges, standing guard 
over the yawning desert to the east. Here a little tent camp 
among the whispering pines, which cover much of the Lagunas, 
afforded a good base. 
From the eastern escarpment of the Lagunas, with its cover of 
scrub oak, chamise and manzanita (a productive locality for us), 
one’s view extended far to the east over the distant Salton Sea 
and a portion of the Imperial Valley. The slopes below the view¬ 
point were very abrupt, resembling in a general way, although on 
a smaller scale, the eastern face of the Panamint Range above 
Death Valley. Just a short distance below the rim of the escarp¬ 
ment we could see pinyon, a tree unnoticed on the coastward or 
San Diegan side of these mountains. Here the contact of two 
markedly different life areas was evident,—the San Diegan to the 
west and that called the Western Desert Tract to the east. The 
insect life, as well as the plant forms, amply support the evidence 
which has been secured from the vertebrates, regarding the line of 
contact of these two life areas in the territory from the San Jacinto 
Range southward. 
