The purpose of the present study of the herpetofauna was to obtain additional information regarding the vertebrates of Denton County, and to produce a well-preserved, cataloged collection of the amphibians and reptiles for the Museum of Zoology, North Texas State University. An understanding of the vertebrate life of the county also involves an investigation of the habitats within the county that may, in part, count for the distribution of these animals. It is well recognized that the environmental areas of the county have altered vastly during the last one hundred years. This alteration is due largely to agriculture and industry. However, there are adequate numbers of natural environments, as well as newly created ones that may contribute to the distribution of the vertebrates at the present time. Therefore, the problem not only concerned the collection of specimens, but also the identification, abundance classification, general habitat classifications, and county distribution.

In this study organisms that can be subcultured from lake water, using a prescribed procedure, limit, to an extent, the population, or portions of the population, that can be monitored. In essence, what is taking place is that a set of conditions is set forth and a study is made of the bacteria that will grow under these prescribed conditions.

The purposes of this paper are 1) to determine the microbiotic cycles which occur in Lake Hefner in order to form a basis for ascertaining the effects of future additions of evaporation control chemicals on the biological life of this reservoir, and 2) to make a generalization as to the microbiotic cycles which might occur in Southwestern reservoirs.

The Amistad Reservoir in southern Val Verde County, Texas will impound a considerable amount of surface water in a semi-arid region in which natural surface water is scarce. Construction of the dam began in 1963 and the reservoir began to fill in the summer of 1968. This large impoundment could have a considerable ecological impact on the area. The purpose of this research was to study the ecological distribution and zoogeographic affinities of the herpetofauna and to establish an ecological baseline against which any future changes could be measured.

"As a means of defining the purpose of the problem, the following objectives were considered: (1) to list the species of birds observed in Denton and neighboring counties; (2) to assign a descriptive status to each species; (3) to estimate the relative abundance of each species (4) to annotate the list with data from other sources, when additional data provide a more accurate and complete description of the status of the species in Denton County; (5) to designate the section of the county in which each species was most frequently observed; and (6) to briefly summarize the changes in bird populations during the period 1950-1956, and to suggest some hypotheses which help explain these changes." -- leaf 6.