WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



11 



ward when we saw them near nightfall. It 

 was quite late in the night before the last of 

 the stragglers were found and brought into 

 town. 



It is in this canyon that the exceedingly 

 rare beetle, Dinapate Wrighti, is found. It 

 is one of the largest of the Coleoptera oc- 

 curing in the United States. The mature in- 

 sect measures from an inch and a half to 

 two and a quarter inches in length. It be- 

 longs to the Bostrichidae family. It has been 

 found so seldom that very few collectors 

 have taken it and but very little is known of 

 its life history. My son succeeded in collect- 

 ing several specimens and also found that the 

 female beetle deposits her eggs in the wood 

 of the native palm tree, where the larva o 

 hatch and live until they develop into mature 

 beetles. The holes in the palm wood from 

 which the beetles emerge are about three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter and look as 

 if bored with an auger. Ed. brought home 

 a piece of the wood which he thought con- 

 tained some larvae and placed it in the warm 

 attic of our house in Piedmont, and in the 

 fall of that year had the satisfaction of ob- 

 taining several mature beetles that emerged 

 from the log. Hubbard styled this beetle the 

 "Dodo" of Coleoptera, referring to its large 

 and ungainly form and the fact that the 

 specie is bordering on extinction. 



While out on a short trip of observation 

 one evening we met Dr. J. C. Bradley of the 

 faculty of Cornell University, on his way to 

 set a night trap in a favorable place for the 

 collection of insects. The doctor being one 

 of the most prominent entomologists of the 

 Eastern states, besides a most genial com- 

 panion, we were delighted to meet him. He 

 arrived at the springs the day before for the 

 purpose of spending two or three days here 

 collecting. The result of our meeting was an 

 arrangement for a joint trip on the following 

 day to the next canyons north of Palm 

 Canyon. 



As planned, after breakfast, m company 

 with Dr. Bradley, we started out on an all- 

 day trip to Murray and Andreas Canyons. We 

 engaged an automobile to take us out a dis- 

 tance of nearly four miles on the main road 

 to where the trail to the last-named canyon 

 began. Arriving at this point we dismissed 

 the machine and proceeded on our tramp. 

 We entered the canyon and went up between 

 its rocky walls for a distance of about three- 

 quarters of a mile. Our main purpose, of 

 course, was the collection of insects and plants 

 of interest. The Doctor paid particular atten- 

 tion to the wild bees and caught specimens of 

 a number of species. Ed made quite a collec- 

 tion of beetles, some of which were rare and 

 others that were new to him. We came across 

 a number of those attractive birds, the 

 Phainopeplas. They were not very shy, which 

 gave us opportunity to become better ac- 

 quainted with them. 



I met with a plant, the first and only one I 

 had seen on the desert, the yellow bladder- 

 pod, Isomeris Arborea, that belongs to the 

 Capparidaceae family. Though quite common 

 in some localities, the only other place where 



I had seen the plant was on Catalina Island. 

 It bears clusters of rather pretty yellow but 

 ill-smelling flowers, but is more interesting 

 by reason of the peculiar way it forms its 

 bladder-shaped seed pod on the top of its 

 style instead of at its base, as is usual with 

 other flowers. Wild apricot bushes were quite 

 numerous, but very few wild flowers were in 

 evidence. Ed found a couple of seedling 

 palm trees which he dug up without injury to 

 the little rootlets, with the intention of trans- 

 planting them in the soil of Alameda county. 



After our return to the mouth of the can- 

 yon, where there is a grove of the native palm 

 trees, by which runs a large stream of beau- 

 tiful clear, cold water, we had our lunch. We 

 passed a half-hour or more in eating and con- 

 versation and then started for Murray Canyon, 

 the entrance of which was about a mile away 

 to the south. Here we found another good- 

 sized stream of water, with more palms grow- 

 ing along the banks. The canyon is somewhat 

 smaller than Andreas and the walls of the 

 entrance are not so high and rugged. 



By 3 p. m. we were ready for the walk 

 home, five miles away. We had experienced 

 a most enjoyable day and were fuller of 

 knowledge of the strange things the desert 

 section possessed. We met some picnic and 

 romping parties in Andreas Canyon, the 

 members of which seemed to Se enjoying the 

 novelty cf the place as well as the beauties 

 nnd grandeur of the canyon. 



While working slowly along the upper part, 

 a lady passing me said: "Are you hunting 

 bugs, too? I just passed a man below here 

 who said he was trying to catch beetles. How 

 interesting." "Yes," I replied, "and if you go 

 a little farther you will see another man en- 

 gaged in a similar occupation, hunting for 

 wild bees." 



"How interesting!" she declaimed, and 

 passed on. 



On the way home, while we had stopped to 

 examine an ant hill or nest, we were witnesses 

 to a combat between a small spider (the body 

 of which was not larger than a duck shot) 

 and a rqember of this particular ant colony. 

 As the fight was in progress when we discov- 

 ered it, of course we had no way of deter- 

 mining how long it had been going on or how 

 it began. The ant, which was less than a 

 quarter of an inch long, was persistent and 

 aggressive, while the spider seemed more art- 

 ful and active. Finally the latter jumped at 

 the ant and then back like a flash, in which 

 act it apparently dealt a knockout blow or 

 bite, for the "model of frugality and industry" 

 was seen to be stunned. Its antennae quivered 

 and body swayed on its legs that were appar- 

 ently giving away from the effects of the 

 spider's poisoned blow. In less than ten sec- 

 onds the ant was "down and out." In that 

 swift and fatal movement the spider not only 

 inflicted the sting, or more properly the bite, 

 that decided the battle, but wrapped a thread 

 of its web around the ant, entangling it so 

 that when we lifted the dead ant with a pair 

 of pinchers the spider was raised from the 

 ground as well. 



