WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



15 



plete and the insect freed from the case. Soon 

 after it would swim off actively and dart 

 around as if in enjoyment of the newly-found 

 life. 



Within two or three hours after I discov- 

 ered the hatching had begun I observed three 

 of the babies were lying dead on the bottom 

 of the jar. , 



In the next twenty-four hours about a 

 dozen more young Serphus made their appear- 

 ance in the jar, but soon after there were 

 eleven dead on the bottom of the jar. I put 

 an earth worm in the jar and very soon sev- 

 eral of the oldest babies were feeding on it. 



By the end of the third day the hatchings 

 had increased so much I could not count 

 them, but the fatalities were increasing as 

 well. Watching the actions of the young bugs 

 closely for an hour or so disclosed the cause 

 of the death of many, if not all, of the lifeless 

 forms in the jar. I saw one of the largest 

 or first hatched catch one of the younger ones 

 and sink its beak into the body of the un- 

 fortunate and proceed to feed upon it. Later 

 I saw one of the older ones seize upon a baby 

 just emerging from the egg case and swim off 

 with it. It was also on this day that the tissue 

 holding the empty egg cases as well as the 

 cases with the unborn sloughed off the back 

 of the parent. After this event no more eggs 

 hatched. 



I endeavored to supply the young bugs with 

 worms and insects, but they preferred to feed 

 upon each other, so the number daily grew 

 less and by the end of the week the last and 

 strongest of the young family were dead. 

 Though I was not a witness, I have reason 

 to believe these became the victims of the 

 appetite of the parent. 



Tahquitz Canyon, next north of Andreas Can- 

 yon, being only a couple of miles from the 

 Springs, was visited by us on several occasions. 

 No palm trees are growing there, but it has 

 many other kind of trees, shrubs and flowers, 

 as well as the beautiful waterfall. I do not 

 know which trip interested me most, but our 

 first visit was on a beautiful morning. The 

 delightful atmosphere, with the clear sky over- 

 head, the many singing birds, the genial air 

 and carpet of showy flowers under our feet 

 wherever we stepped, aroused one's enthusi- 

 asm and brought forth mutual expressions of 

 delight and pleasure. One flower that grows 

 in beds not unlike that of the cultivated gar- 

 den was a wild verbena. In fact, the flower 

 itself is very much like the garden verbena. 

 It has a beautiful shade of lilac and one never 

 tires looking at a bed of them. A flowering 

 shrub that attracted our attention was the 

 Parosela Californica. I could find no common 

 name for it. It was conspicuous on account 

 of the contrast of its little dark blue pea- 

 shaped blossoms with the pale gray foliage. 

 We also noted three specie of the Onagracae, 

 or Evening Primrose family. Another oddity 

 to us was a pale pink Evening Primrose. 



Along the creek that flows from the canyon 

 alders and cottonwoods grow quite profusely, 

 but, as stated, no palms have found a place 

 there. From the mouth of the canyon the 

 trail to the falls is cut into the mountain side. 



It was a little rough but on an easy grade. A 

 half-mile walk from the portal brought us to 

 the falls. At this time of the years the falls 

 present a pretty picture, consisting of a sheet 

 of water eight or ten feet wide with a sheer 

 drop of about 65 feet. The large pool formed 

 at the base of the falls looked like an ideal 

 spot for trout, but we were told there were 

 no fish in the stream. 



On the return home we came across some 

 pretty bluish purple flowers on a plant about 

 a foot in height. The bell-shaped corolla was 

 over an inch in length with exserted stamens 

 and pistil. We identified the flower as the 

 wild Canterbury bells. 



Around the grounds of the Inn and other 

 parts of the town visitors will find not a few 

 things to interest them in the gardens in the 

 way of strange trees and flowers and wild 

 birds. In the vicinity of the big hot spring 

 and bath-house, around which are numerous 

 large trees, many kinds of birds are to be 

 seen. Even the English sparrow had found a 

 congenial home there. In addition we also 

 noted a number of Blackbirds, Robins, 

 Swallows, Black Phoebys, Orioles and some 

 California Towhees. These latter birds dif- 

 fered from our northern Towhees in that the 

 lores and ear coverts were quite dark. Our 

 Towhees are not so marked. 



About a half-mile from town one morning 

 we came across a little "seven by nine" cabin 

 on the desert close to the mountain base, 

 which was housing Carl Eytel, the artist 

 spoken of in another place. In this cozy 

 and comfortable little domicile he has pro- 

 duced much work in art. He has furnished 

 illustrations for Smeaton Chase's books, as 

 well as executed many paintings and sketches. 

 He is credited with being an excellent author- 

 ity on all subjects relating to the desert. He 

 accommodated me with the botanical name of 

 a plant which I found growing near his place. 

 It was the plant commonly known as the 

 Devil's Claws, being given this name because 

 of the peculiar character of the seed pod when 

 matured and dried. This pod has two slender, 

 curled horns which are six to eight inches 

 long and as tough as rawhide. The points 

 being sharp, they are not a pleasant thing to 

 get tangled around your ankles, which seems 

 to be their only purpose; at least that is what 

 one is inclined to think when he meets with 

 such misfortune. The plant grows to a height 

 of 18 inches or more, with strong but rather 

 recumbent branches. Its leaves are broad 

 ovate in form and the flowers quite large and 

 attractive. Martynia is the botanical name by 

 which the plant is known. 



On the table in a lounging place at the inn 

 was a flower pot standing in a large brass 

 urn which was directly under a gas jet that 

 was always lighted at night. We had not 

 been seated very long near the table one even- 

 ing when I noticed Ed peering into the urn. 

 He had heard a fluttering noise there and 

 was inspecting the thing to discover the cause. 

 Lifting out the pot of flowers, he found an 

 immense moth had been imprisoned in the 

 urn. But there was something else there that 

 pleased him more, about a dozen large scara- 



