246 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



which the}^ offer concerning the origin, evolution and world relation- 

 ships of life in America, furnish very significant chapters in the his- 

 tory of the western side of the continent. 



Nearly twenty years ago several very fragmentary specimens from 

 the Mohave were forwarded to the writer by Dr. Stephen Bowers, the 

 material having been obtained in part by John T. Eeed. The earliest 

 material from definitely known localities coming to the writer was 

 received in the spring of 1911 from John E. Suman, then a student at 

 the University of California. The collection consisted of a small 

 quantity of loose bones and teeth obtained on the desert by H. S. 

 Mourning. These specimens furnished the basis for the first study of 

 the Upper Miocene fauna of the Mohave. In the following year C. L. 

 Baker, a fellow in paleontology at the University of California, visited 

 the localities reported by Mr. Mourning and secured a fine collection 

 of mammal material from the Miocene near Barstow, and a small 

 amount of material from the Pliocene at Kicardo. Other important 

 collections were made later by Mr. Baker, Mr. Mourning, Mr. J. P. 

 Buwalda and by many students in paleontology from the University 

 of California. Following his work on the Mohave in 1913, Mr. Buwalda 

 independently visited a locality in the eastern portion of this region, 

 and obtained a most interesting collection of Pleistocene remains in a 

 formation to which he has given the name Manix beds. This material 

 gave us for the first time a representative group of vertebrates from the 

 Pleistocene of the Great Basin. 



The collections brought together at various times have opened to us 

 a view of the mammalian life of the Mohave Desert in three periods: 

 the Barstow fauna of Upper Miocene age, the Eicardo fauna of early 

 Pliocene stage and the Manix fauna from the Pleistocene. 



•&^ 



The Mohave Desert of To-Day 



The Moliave Desert area of California has been generally recognized 

 as one of the least attractive portions of the southwest. It has been 

 described as a forbidding land of heat and thirst. The deception of its 

 mirages is a current example of the lure of unreality, and its great 

 stretches of sand and dust have appeared to function mainly as barriers 

 to human progress. The history of exploration has seemed amply to 

 justify current views concerning the desert, as year after year pros- 

 jDCctors or explorers, deceived by distances or miscalculating the posi- 

 tion of scattered water sources, have paid with their lives the penalty 

 for inaccurate judgment. 



In spite of seeming obstacles offered to one who would make its 

 acquaintance, those who have come to know the Mohave seem always to 

 cultivate the friendship. The prospector has cheerfully risked his life. 



