34 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



spiny cholla joints, barricades more effectual 

 than barbed-wire entanglements in warding off 

 an enemy. Moreover, between all the runways 





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GROUND PLAN OF THE TRADE RAT*S NEST 



is a mat of the awful cholla material, and, as 

 Hornaday well observes, not the most foolish 

 coyote or skunk is so rash as to jump into that 

 spiny mass or run over the pavement of horrible 

 cholla joints for any rat. So no matter how 

 hard-pressed by the foe, when once the neo- 

 toma has reached her fortress she is as safe as 

 if she were a dozen miles beneath the surface 

 of the earth. 



You may call this unique utilization of spiny 

 cactus a matter of instinct if you wish, but it 

 seems to me to be a downright work of animal 



