In their extensive travels through México, E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman made collections at three localities in the coastal region of Tamaulipas but did not reach the barrier island (Goldman, 1951). Goldman collected at Altamira, near Tampico, from April 2 to 24, 1898, and from May 15 to 20 of the same year both he and Nelson made headquarters at Altamira. Nelson and Goldman also collected in the vicinity of Soto la Marina, 25 miles from the coast, from March 1 to 10, 1902, and, from February 13 to 15, they visited Bagdad, described by Goldman (1951:260) as "a village at very low elevation on the Río Grande about 6 miles above the mouth of the river."
In March, 1950, C. von Wedel and E. R. Hall collected four species of mammals and one bird on the barrier island at Boca Jésus María (Eighth Pass). A report of this work published by Hall (1951) contains descriptions of three new subspecies of mammals from the island.
A few records of birds from the southern end of the barrier island and from other parts of coastal Tamaulipas were reported by Robins, Martin, and Heed (1951). In 1953, R. R. Graber and J. W. Graber made ornithological studies in the vicinity of Tampico and also reached the western edge of the Laguna Madre de Tamaulipas. Several papers on this work have appeared (Graber and Graber, 1954a, 1954b; Graber, 1955), but a comprehensive account of their observations and specimens was not published. Finally, J. R. Alcorn collected some sandpipers 20 miles southeast of Matamoros, on August 21, 1954, obtaining the first record of the Semipalmated Sandpiper (Ereunetes pusillus) in Tamaulipas (Thompson, 1958).
Accounts of Species
Catalogue numbers in the following accounts are those of the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas.
Reptiles
Gopherus berlandieri Agassiz: Texas Tortoise.—A pelvic girdle and complete shell with a few attached scutes (63494) were found in stabilized dunes at Camp 1 on July 7, and tracks were seen in the same area. Fragments of two other shells (63493, 63495) were found on sand flats between active dunes at Camp 1.
Holbrookia propinqua propinqua Baird and Girard: Keeled Earless Lizard.—This lizard was abundant on dunes and in pebble-strewn blow-out areas between dunes at Camp 2, but it occurred in smaller numbers in the less stabilized dunes of sparser vegetation at Camp 1. Breeding was in progress at both localities, as evidenced by the presence of eggs in the oviducts of several females, by the heightened coloration of both sexes, and by mating behavior.
The mating behavior of this species has not been described in the literature, and the following observations, made by Raun at Camp 2 on July 8, may be of interest. A male was seen to circle a female as the latter remained motionless with tail curved upward and to the side, exposing a patch of bright pink-orange color on the ventral surface of the tail. At times the male approached the female from the rear and slightly to the side, biting the dorsal part of her neck and simultaneously attempting to effect intromission. The female several times reacted to this approach by running forward a few steps, thereby freeing her neck from the grasp of the male. When the male did not attempt to approach again, the female appeared to invite copulation by moving in front of him with tail elevated and the colored ventral surface prominently displayed. At the time of copulation, the male mounted from the rear on the right side of the female, grasped her neck, and circled his tail beneath her tail; at the same time the hindquarters of the female were arched upward.