The Amphibia and Reptilia of Colorado (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Amphibia and Reptilia of Colorado Comparatively little has been published concerning the reptiles and amphibians of Colorado. The limited literature consists of records of species scattered through a number of publications, some of which are inaccessible to the general public. Considerable unre corded material having accumulated, it seems opportune to publish this present report in order to place in the hands of naturalists and the general public such information as we have, bringing together into compact form the records heretofore published, and adding to them the unpublished material, so far as the same has come to our attention. Environmental Conditions. - Colorado has an area of about square miles, a latitudinal extent of about 276 miles and a longitudinal extent of about 375 miles. It is traversed from north to south, irregularly, by the continental divide - the backbone of the conti nent - its waters draining into two oceans. Its rock formations represent all the geological systems except possibly the Silurian. Though its average altitude is only approximately feet, it varies in altitude from less than feet to over feet above sea level, with consequent differences in climatic and other environmental conditions. The mean annual rainfall varies in a general way with altitude and topography, from less than 10 inches to 30 inches or more. Data as to temperatures in the larger and higher masses of mountains are as yet very meager, but it may be said that the temperature at elevations of from to feet drops to a point below freezing nightly even in summer time, while the mean temperature for the warmest months in some of the lower portions of the state is nearly eighty degrees. On the whole, the state is a cool one. The diurnal range of temperature is great over the entire state. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.