REPORT UPON THE REPTILES COLLECTED ON THE SURVEY. 
BY DR. EDWARD HALLOWELL. 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
California is divided into Upper and Lower, the latter a rocky peninsula, the natural history 
of which has not been explored. The recent acquisition of Upper California hy the United 
States has served to develop its vast mineral treasures ; and the various government expeditions 
have brought to the knowledge of scientific men much of its natural history, so that it may he 
said its herpetology, and, perhaps, its ornithology, are almost as well known as those of our 
oldest States. Previous to these hut little was known of the herpetology of California. 
We shall not, at this time, enter into any remarks upon the distribution of our species of 
reptiles, hut make a few observations upon the genera, some of which appear to belong to the 
fauna proper of California, and others common to both it and other parts of the Union. Of the 
former may he enumerated the genera Anota, Uro-saurus, Dipso-saurus , Amelia. The genera 
common to it and other regions more remote are Sceloporus, Phrynosoma , Crotapliytus , Pumeces, 
Cnernidophorus , Homalosaurus, Cycluraf, Gerrhonotus, among lizards ; Herpetodryas, Coronella, 
Tropidonotus , RhinocJieilus , Ablabes, Pityophis, Crotalus, among serpents ; and Hyla, Bufo, and 
Ambystoma, among Batrachians. The genera Dipso-saurus and Anota appear to delight in the 
sandy, barren parts of California, in its southern portion, much of which is a desert, where are 
to he seen hut a few lizards and horned serpents, and such plants as live only in desolate 
regions. Sceloporus is found in New Jersey, 2,500 miles distant; Gerrhonotus, Cnernidophorus , 
Pumeces, in Mexico ; Crotapliytus and Homalosaurus in Texas and New Mexico, the former also 
in Kansas ; Phrynosoma in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and the Creek and Cherokee countries, 
where it is very abundant; Tropidonotus exists in most parts of the Union ; Pityophis in New 
Jersey and New Mexico ; Herpetodryas in South Carolina, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and 
New Jersey; Coronella in South Carolina, New York, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, 
and Kansas ; Pana, Bufo, and Ambystoma are found in most parts of the United States. Of the 
genus Pmys, including the fresh water turtles, so numerous in North America, hut one species 
has been received from California, viz: that described in the following report: 
