UNDER GENIAL SKIES 



large, purple-flowering variety is smooth-stemmed. 

 Mr. John C. Van Dyke in his work on the desert 

 expresses the behef that thorns and spines are 

 given to the desert plants for protection; and 

 that if no animal were there that would eat them, 

 they would not have tjiese defenses. But I believe 

 if there had never been a browsing animal in the 

 desert the cacti would have had their thorns just 

 the same. 



Nature certainly arms her animal forms against 

 one another. We know the quills of the porcupine 

 are for defense, and that the skunk carries a weapon 

 that its enemies dread, but I do not believe that 

 any plant form is armed against any creature whose 

 proper food it might become. Cacti carry formi- 

 dable weapons in the shape of spines and thorns, 

 but the desert conditions where they are found, 

 heat and aridity, are no doubt their primary cause. 

 The conditions are fierce and the living forms 

 are fierce. 



We cannot be dogmatic about Nature. From 

 our point of view she often seems partial and in- 

 consistent. But I would just as soon think that 

 Nature made the adobe soil in the arid regions 

 that the human dwellers there might have material 

 at hand with which to construct a shelter, as that 

 she gives spines and daggers to any of the vegetable 

 forms to secure their safety. One may confute 

 Mr. Van Dyke out of his own mouth. He says : 



145 



