288 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Cactus Telephone Poles. 



BY H. E. ZIMMERMAN, MT. MORRIS, ILL. 



In some parts of the Southwest, giant 

 cacti are being used with success as tele- 

 phone-poles. One kind of cactus thus 

 used is the "giant" variety, a sturdy, non- 

 edible, fruit-bearing plant which some- 

 times attains a height of forty feet. The 



nated with sahuaras in the same propor- 

 tion, and from there to Soldier's Camp 

 the wires were strung on trees. 



TELEPIIOXE WIRES ON A CACTUS. 



sahuara, or cactus, is stron;g and tough, 

 and when it became necessary to build a 

 telephone line from the office of Super- 

 visor of Forests to the Soldier's Camp 

 Ranger Station, a distance of some thirty 

 miles, economy dictated that some use 

 should be made of the many sahuaras 

 growing along the proposed route. From 

 Tucson to the magnetic observatory, 

 about eleven miles, the wires were strung 

 on the poles of the Arizona Telephone 

 and Telegraph Co. ; to Lowell Ranger 

 Station, redwood poles alternated with 

 cacti, in the proportion of one cactus to 

 two poles ; to the Great Western power 

 damsite, second-hand boiler tubes alter- 



Another Tale of the Tail. 



Glen Ridge, New Jersey. 

 To the Editor : 



Nobody seems to have solved the 

 problem, "Why is a cat's tail?" al- 

 though a number of ingenious theories 

 have been suggested. Br'er Fox's 

 showy tail as a muffler for nose and 

 toes seems to be well accounted for, 

 l:)Ut, reasoning from analogy, Dr. Long 

 casts doubt on this plausible theory in 

 its application to the Persian cat. whose 

 flufify tail is not needed for this pur- 

 pose ; the probabilities however are 

 that primitive conditions were entirely 

 different from those which now sur- 

 round a highly prized pet. 



The fact that the Manx has no tail 

 eliminates him from this discussion. 



The cat's stealthy nature probably 

 derives valuable aid from the rythmic, 

 snake-like movements of the tail, by 

 means of which the cat attracts the at- 

 tention of its prey, especially birds, that 

 are apparently hvpnotized and thus fall 

 easy victims under the spell. 



T know of at least one well authen- 

 ticated instance in which a bird, perch- 

 ed on a clothesline, was overcome bv a 

 cat's power of fascination, the swaying 

 tail, the moving jaws and the intent 

 gaze, all plaving a part in paralyzing 

 the bird, which was rescued just as it 

 was tonpling over. After bein.g kept 

 in a safe place for a few minutes, it re- 

 covered from the swoon and flew^ away. 



It seems hardlv probable that any- 

 thing is ever created for purely orna- 

 mental purposes, but our sense of har- 

 monv bei"g better developed than our 

 faculty of analvsis, we tnke things for 

 granted without questioning their 

 raisnii ri'ct^'r ^A^^r't^ver a cat's tail 

 was made for, we can agree with Dr. 

 Long, and consider it an ornament to 

 this graceful animal that adds much to 

 its power of expression. When his 

 feline majesty is disturbed, ho\v clear- 

 Iv he makes vou understand his dis- 

 pleasure, or his haughty disdain, by 

 the movements of his tail, just as his 

 traditional enemv, the dog, our most 

 emotional friend, expresses the oppo- 

 site sentiment with a great variety of 

 wags, the joyful, the questioning, the 



