wiinessinj; an invasion of territorial rights by another male, but 

 the second animal must have been a female because the two 

 went into a sort of game, approaching each other and almost 

 toudiing noses and then jumping aside at a tangent Later, they 

 started actually to jump over each other; and then we noticed 

 that we had fellow spectators to this performance in the form of 

 several other jacks. Soon other games were in progress, and we 

 clayed all aftcrmxin watching, thereby gaining an unusual insight 

 into the way these animals spend their time when not dashing 

 -iway from danger. 



DESERT LOW LIFE 



In addition to these lesser fry. the Sonoran Desert has a fine 

 ^election of reptiles First, there are the two species of the large. 

 Uow-walking. desert lizard known as the Gila Monster, with 

 pink spots on black, and the Spotted Lizard of Mexico, with white 

 or yellow spots on black. These can give deadly bites. That they 

 ever manage to do so is extraordinary because they live where 

 men do not. Yet year after year misguided persons (and they 

 never seem to be professional herpetologists) insist upon dallying 

 with or trying to handle one of these animals and get bitten. The 

 Gila Monster, when once it bites, hangs on and chews, while a 

 nasty venom pours from its teeth into the wound. The teeth are 

 grooved, and below those of the lower jaw are poison glands. If 

 one is properly bitten, the result is worse than that of a rattle- 

 snake bite; the poison is neurotoxic, speeding up the action of 

 the lungs and heart until, by gradual paralysis of the muscles 

 activating those organs, both stop working. 



Then there are the snakes. Of these there are the Coral Snake, 

 several species of rattlesnakes (there are thirty species and sub- 

 species recorded from the L'nited States, about two-thirds of 

 them in the Southwest), and the "back-fanged snakes" — the Lyre 

 Snake and Vine Snake, and three smaller genera. All these are 

 poisonous to one degree or another. The Coral is a crotaline 

 snake related to the deadly cobras, but it is a small and retiring 

 beast with such a small mouth that the danger of being bitten 



by one should be. but unfortunately is not. negligible It is ringed 

 with bright red. yellow, and shiny black The Lyre and Vine 

 Snakes are also small; their venom is borne by grooved back 

 teeth, and they would be hard put to it to mjcct their poison into 

 a human The only really dangerous snakes arc thus the rattlers, 

 since they are adept at concealment even in bright dayhghl. and 

 they delight in lying about on preheated open ground after the 

 sun has gone down so that the unwary may well step on them. 

 They strike fairly fast, directly outward; and they have huge 

 fangs that they automatically project almost straight forward so 

 that they gain the ultimate penetrative power. Their venom is 

 deadly. Despite all the playing down of the subject recently, 

 these animals are responsible for many deaths every year in this 

 country and many more in Mexico, where people do not wear 

 sudiheavy footwear and where they spend more time in the bush 



These snakes are really very interesting creatures— especially, 

 of course, one in this area that intrigues anybody who has 

 ever heard of it. This is the "Sidewinder." This term should be 

 confined to a small species of rattler named Crolalus cerastes, or 

 the Homed Rattler. It is a true desert inhabitant, and in traveling 

 over loose sand it casts a loop ahead with the fore part of its 

 body in order to get a grip against which it can haul its remain- 

 ing sidewise undulations forward. Its progress is fascinating to 

 watch — a sort of jerky, undulating, corkscrew motion. Some other 

 desert rattlers do something slightly similar in their otherwise 

 normal, snaky progression, and are sometimes likewise referred 

 to as sidewinders. 



The Sonoran Desert Province contains many other wonders 

 and mysteries. Despite its often austere appearance, especially 

 by day when the deedees whirl and even whole regions may be 

 blanketed by dust storms, its beauty can be almost unsurpassed 

 at sunrise, at sundown, and particularly at night under the 

 platinum iridescence of the moon. Its plant and animal life is 

 enormous, varied, and often beautiful in the extreme but can be. 

 at the same time, noxious and even dangerous. It is just as if 

 nature indeed did abandon the whole place, then changed her 

 mind — not once but several times — ending with perhaps the 

 most remarkable yet bewildering area imaginable. 



