ON THE
ZOOLOGICAL POSITION
TEXAS
WASHINGT07T
CONTENTS
ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS
4 ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS
Ha^ingfixedapproximately at somepointsthe southern boundaries of the Sonoran and Austroriparian regions of the nearctic realm, the mutualrelations of these divisions remain to be considered. If aline isdrawn through pointsalittlewestof the cities of Dallas and Houston, it will corre- spondnearlywiththestrikeof the eastern borderof themarine creta- ceous formation,which constitutes so large a part of the surface of Texas. To the eastward of this linea belt of the Laramie formation extendsfrom the northeastand terminates at the south, without con- tinuing immediatelyto thewest,accordingto Forshey.
Butthese formations alikedisappear tothe southward and are replaced by the western extension of the marine cretaceous.
6 ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITIOX OF TEXAS
West winds, of course, lose their rain on the Sierra Madre of Mexico; southwestwindscomeover thearid plains oftheplateau,while southwindscomedirectfromnosea, andhavegenerallylefttheirwatery freightonthehillsandforestsofEasternMexico. Here also, followingthe trend of the coast on the one hand and thelinesofelevationontheother, theprairie region turns to thewestward, extending to San Antonio and beyond. Thisprairieregiondiffersfromthe great l^lains of the Xortli in.not being covered by the buffalo-grass, but in supporting longer andcoarser species.
Especiallyis thenorth- ern observer struck with the greatnumberofleguminousplants onthe lower levels, as mesquite {Algarohia glandulosa),tlie Acacia famesiana,.
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MAMMALIA
ON THE ZOOLOGICAL
Those not directly in sightfledinto the thicket, but there was no retreat in the actions of the halfdozenthatI met fairly. They stoodin arow look- ingdowntheir noses, which were pointed to the earth, the longblack and white mottledbristlesof theirbacks rising andfalling. Itis rarelyforked to the same extent as inthatspecies, butI sawtwo or threespecimens whichI could nothavedistinguished fromthose of the C.macrotis.
This species I did not see, .. and Iwas informed by various persons that it did not rangesouthof theConchoEiver, or thelineof thesecond steppe ori)lateau.
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AVES
ZOOLOGICAL OF TEXAS. 13
EEPTILIA
TESTUDINATA
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ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 15
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ON THE ZOOLOGICAL 17
Uensliaw and YarroTV that the P. pUv.iiccps^ Hallow., is notdistinct. .. plateau country, fromtheEio Grande to the EedEiver. I saw, but did not succeed in capturing a lizard, whichI sui)pose to belongto this species, near the head waters of the Medina Eiver. It was of dark tints, with light spots on the sidesofthe head,like theyounger stages describedbyProfessorBaird.
It wasconcealed beneath thebark ofalog, andevadingforaconsider- able timemyattempts totakeit,finallyescaped. sTo postnasalplate; anterior lorealnot elevated, reaching interfrontonasal, its posterior border striking the middle of thesecondlabial; second loreal longer than high; twopre- oculars, between fonrth and fifth superiorlabials. Color plumbeous above, light olive below. along the upper lipto a short distance behindthe axilla, and another from theendofthemuzzleover the eyeto thecorresponding pointonthe side,separated bytwo longitudinal rows of scales. mthracinus and the U. tetragrammus of Professor Baird. Itwas dis- coveredbyG.W. Marnock nearHelotes Creek,onthefrontline ofhills, . twenty milesnorthwest of San Antonio, and was afterwards obtained by Mr. Bollfromnear FortConcho.
Postloreal as highas or higherthanlong; two preoculars between fourth and fifth superiorlabials; one postsymphyseal; twenty-six rowsof scales; tail large, nearly as stout as the body at the base, subtetragonal; legs, small, separatedbythelength of theanteriorlimbwhen apjiressed; the hindlegalittlemorethanone-fourth the length of the headand body.*. The elevated form of the loreals and undivided j»ostsymphyseal plate ally this species totheE.aiithracinus.
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ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS.. 21rows,allsmooth; ^periorlabials,seven; theorbitbounded by thethird rows,allsmooth; ^periorlabials,seven; theorbitbounded by thethird .. and morelargelybythefourth; loreal,small,quadrangular, longerthan high; oculars, 1-2 anterior short, covered abovebysui)erciliary; post- oculars resting on fourth labial; fifthand sixth labials equal, as high as long; pariotals,large, long; frontal, longer than wide; prefrontals, transverse. Atransverse black spotcommencing on the fourth scale behind theoccipitals,two scales long and includingthe fourth row of scalesfrom the gastrosteges on each side. Inonespecimen thethirdand fourth rows of scalesblack at theirbases, forminga doublelateral stripe, extending from the end ofthe half collartobeyondthe middleofthebody.
Therearefour specimens ofthis forminthe collection; intwo of them the ground color is ashy, in twored. Intwospecimens the top of the headis black; in another it is likethe general ground color.
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Eutccnia cp'topsis Kenn. may be defined as E. sirtalis, with eight superior labials, a red dorsal baud, and the black lateral and nuchal spotsvery distinct. It belongs to the Sonoran district, andoccurs as far south as Guanajuato, accompanying theE.sirtalis. From Helotes and theheads of theMedina andColorado.. wastakennear Dallas by Mr. Boll, in which the black groundcoloris .. varied bynarrowoblique yellowish lines which extend along one and . rarelytwo scales.
Another speciesof the Sonoran fauna found by Mr. Marnock near Helotes, marking its most eastern. From Helotes; also from near the Wichita Eiver, in Archer County, near the northern boundary.
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BATRACHIA
The toes have no dermal free margins; those of the hand are long, while those of thefootarerather short. The long diameter of the eye equals thelengthfromitsbordertothe external nostril,whichisvery near the end of the muzzle,and exceeds the long or vertical diameter ofthe memhranum tympaniby one-half of the latter.
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Thecolor of the upper surfaces is a light i)urplish brown, closely spotted with rather small closely placed and broadly defined, dark brown spots. The ostiapliaryngea are smaller than the small choana\ The vomerine patches are short and transverse; they are entirely within thelines ofthe innerborders of the choanfeand behindtheline of the posteriorborders of thesame.
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Not rare in the low country from Atascosa County southwestward, according to Mr. Marnock, to whom I am in- . debtedforspecimens.
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PISCES
PERCOMOKPHI
ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 31
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ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 33
HAPLOMI
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NEMATOGNATHI
This is a robust species of rather smallsize, whichisdistinguished,amongothercharacters,bythe short- ness of the spinousradii. The bodyis rather deep; depth atfrontof anal fin 4.-1 tines in the length exclusive of the caudal fin; the head enters the same 3.G times. external) eyesquite small,enteringthelengthofthe headseventimes, . andtheiuterorbitalwidth fourtimes. The maxillary barbelsextendto the mid- dle of the pectoral si^ine, and the nasals to above the middle of the operculum.
Thedorsal and i)ectoral spines are smalland acute and are not concealed in the skin, but have a rough surface. I took two specimens of this species inWallace Creek, one of the heads oftheMedina, in BanderaCounty. Theyarenearesttothe A.natalisLes.,butdifferin several features from all of the numerous varieties of that species recordedby Jordan.
Theydifferverymuch from the typicalA.natalis cupreus, and appear to comenearest theA. natalis in having arounded caudal fin, and twenty-five anal radii, and subequal jaws. The bodyismore slenderthan in anyof thevarieties, its depth entering the length minusthe caudalfin, 5 and 5Jtimes. natalis these proportions are as 1 to 4 and 4^. The form of the caudal fin.
PLECTOSPONDYLL
Other characters are as follows: Head flat,one-fifth longerthan wide; greatestgapeofmouthequal half length ofheadfromdorsalspine, omittingsoftupperlip.. fin; length of base of anal finthe same. Thediameter of the eyeislarge, alittlelessthan one-third the length of the head, and a little less than the interorbitalwidth. I maymodifythis bythe observation that thelateralbandisblacker in the present species, and there isno evidence that the finswereyellow.
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SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
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ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 41 edge of tbe same row is iuvolvecl in the superior edge of a wide band,
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GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS
ON THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF TEXAS. 43
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THE OF TEXAS. 45
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While coDsideriDg the boundaries of the Sonoran region I allude to
Alfredo Duges from Guadalaxara, at the southern extremity of the northern plateau of Mexico, includedfive dis- tinctive species of the Sonoran region,viz, Bufopunctatns, Hyla areni- color^ Spea hammondi,Eutcenia cyrtopsis, andHypsiglena ochrorhynchus. IntheCheckListof theKeptiliaand Batrachia of North AmericaI attemptedto define the Texan districtof the Austroripariau regionas distinctfromthetwo other divisions of thesame, the Louisianianand theFloridian, and gave a list of the genera and species, supposedto characterizeit. I remarked(p.80)that "the highiiortliwestern regions of theState should be assigned to the Sonoran fauna,"butnotbeing aware at thattime of thedistribution of many species, I did not give.
I selectfrom thatlist the following specieswhich are, so far as nowknown, i^eculiar to it: Testudo herlandieri,HolbrooMa propinqua, Enmcccs tetragrammus RliadinccaimperiaUs, Dlemyctylus meridionaUs. The Texandistrictwill then bedistinguishedbythepresence of these species, and the admixture of the following Mexican species: Uncia onca,Fellspardalis,Dasypuspcha, Bicotyles torquatus, Sceloporusscalaris, Sihonannulatns, Smiliscahaudina, BufovalUceps.
INDEX
50 INDEX
