In the bookstore, I found a Peterson Field Guide for reptiles and amphibians of eastern and central North America. It's an awesome book with beautiful, full bodied plates of each subspecies and detailed paragraphs on each as well.
However, I had difficulty finding its western counterpart. Finally, I decided to order it off the net from Amazon and it arrived today. I was so excited!
It's such a letdown. It has one incomplete plate (picture) of each main species, with nothing of the many and varied subspecies. It doesn't even show the whole body of the snake it does offer! And when you read the information given on each species, they offer only a list of subspecies with maybe one or two lines offering vague indications of what makes that subspecies different. This book will be virtually useless in identifying animals, in my opinion.
Also, I was REALLY looking forward to a book that would give me as detailed a look at P. catenifer as the eastern volume gives me of P. melanoleucus.
Is there a field guide out there that does a better job with the western half of the country's herps??? Please let me know if you know of one.
Thank you...
Judy
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1.0 red cape gopher (Caesar)
