THEVOICEOFTHEDESERT 42 



In the case of the butterfly and the bird two quite dif- 

 ferent creatures learned to fly by inventing wings. In the 

 case of the ocotillo and the cactus two different kinds of 

 plants discovered the same methods of economizing on 

 water. Nevertheless, true cacti are common enough and 

 a number of species are growing within a few feet of my 

 door. The why and wherefore of their diverse shapes and 

 habits is an interesting subject, but at the moment we are 

 concerned rather with the general methods by which cacti 

 have learned to live in the desert. 



The question might be asked of any one of a dozen 

 sorts but we may as well address it to the giant saguaro. 

 For one thing, it is in many ways among the most re- 

 markable of all. For another, not even the most casual 

 visitor to the region where it grows can have failed to be 

 aware that it is unlike anything to be seen elsewhere. 

 There must be few Americans who are not at least vaguely 

 famiHar with drawings or paintings or photographs of the 

 saguaro towering starkly over the desert and stretching 

 out its grotesquely extended arms. As a matter of fact, 

 artists and cartoonists have established it as a conventional 

 symbol of location. When you see a saguaro that means, 

 "Scene: The Desert" just as the Eiffel Tower means 

 "Paris" or The Public Library lions mean "New York." 

 Actually it has been employed far too widely for even 

 reasonable accuracy. To many artists it seems to mean 

 not only "desert" but "any desert," though the truth is 

 that the saguaro's range is extraordinarily hmited. There 

 are some in northern Mexico; there are also a very few 

 in California just across the Colorado River from Arizona. 

 But, except for these, there are no others anywhere in the 



