UNDER GENIAL SKIES 



the nest again; but over and over she ran across 

 the open door without heeding it. In the novel 

 situation in which she suddenly found herself, all 

 her wits deserted her, and not till I took her between 

 my thumb and finger and thrust her abdomen into 

 the hole, did she come to herself. The touch of 

 that silk-lined tube caused the proper reaction, and 

 she backed quickly into it and disappeared. 



Just what natural enemy the trap-door spider 

 has I do not know. I never saw a nest that had 

 been broken into or in any way disturbed, except 

 those which we had disturbed in our observations. 



IV. THE DESERT NOTE 



I OFTEN wonder what mood of Nature this world 

 of cacti which we run against in the great South- 

 west expresses. Certainly something savage and 

 merciless. To stab and stab again suits her humor. 

 How well she tempers her daggers and bayonets! 

 How hard and smooth and sharp they are! How 

 they contrast with the thick, succulent stalks and 

 leaves which bear them ! It is a desert mood; heat 

 and drought appear to be the exciting causes. The 

 scarcity of water seems to stimulate Nature to 

 store up water in vegetable tissues, just as it stimu- 

 lates men to build great dams and reservoirs. 

 These giant cacti are reservoirs of water. But why 

 spines and prickles and cruel bayonets? They cer- 

 tainly cannot be for protection or defense; the 



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