McoEE] FANGS AND VENOM OF THE DESERT 37 



systeuiatic studies have beeu made of special structures in tbe animal 

 bodies adai>ting them to retention of liquids, either by storage (as in 

 the stomach of the camel) or by diminished evaporation, though the 

 prevalence of practically nonperspiring mammals, scale-covered rep- 

 tiles, and chitin-coated insects suggests the selection, if not the devel- 

 opment, of the fitter genera and sjtecies for the peculiar environment. 

 Much more conspicuous are the characters connected with cooperation 

 in the ever severe but never elimiaative strife for existence in the sub- 

 desert solidarity; the mammals are either exceptionally swift like the 

 antelope, exceptionally strong like the local lion, exceptionally pugna- 

 cious and prolific like the peccary, or exceptionally capable of subsist- 

 ing on waterless sierras like the bura and mountain goat; the rei)tiles 

 are either exceptionally swift like the rainbow-hued lizards, exception- 

 ally armed like the sluggisli horned toads, exceptionally venomous 

 like the rattlesnake, or exceptionally repulsive, if not poisonous, like 

 the Gila monster; even the articulates avoid the mean, and arc excep- 

 tionally swift, exceptionally protective in form and coloring, excep- 

 tionally venomous like the tarantula and scorpion and centipede, or 

 excei)tionally intelligent like the farmer ant and the tarantula-hawk; 

 while there is api>arently a considerable class of insects com])letely 

 dependent on the cooperation of plants for the perpetuation of their 

 kind, including the yucca moth and (undescribed) cactus beetle. Among 

 plants the intense individuality (which is the obverse of the enforced 

 solidarity) is expressed in thorns and heavily lacquered seeds and toxic 

 principles; among animals it is expressed by chitinous armament, as 

 well as by fleetness and fangs and deadly venom. 



The larger land animals of Seriland proper are the mountain goat in 

 the higher sierras, the bura (or mule-deer) and the white tail deer on 

 the mid height plains and larger alluvial fans, with the antelope on 

 the lower and drier exjjanses. Associated with these are the ubiqui- 

 tous coyote, a puma, a jaguar of much local repute which roams the 

 higher rocky sites, and a peccary rajigiug from the coast over the allu- 

 vial fans and mid height plains of the mainland (though it is apparently 

 absent from Tiburon). Of the smaller mammals the hare (or jack- 

 rabbit) and rabbit are most conspicuous, while a long-tail nocturnal 

 squirrel abounds, its burrows and tunnels penetrating the plains of 

 finer debris so abundantly as to render these plains, especially on 

 Tiburon, impassable for horses and nearly so for men. The California 

 (juail and the small Sonoran dove are fairly common ; a moderate num- 

 ber of small birds haunt the more humid belts, and there is a due pro- 

 portion of Mexican eagles and hawks of two or three forms, with still 

 more numerous vultures. Ants abound, dominating the insect life, 

 while wasps and spiders, with various flies and midges, gather about 

 the vital colonies of the drier plains and swarm in the moister belts. 

 Horned toads and various lizards— bright-colored and swift, or earth- 

 tinted and sluggisli — are fairly abundant, while black-tail rattlesnakes 



