ON ENVIRONMENT 



desert, other plants not so adaptable as the cactus, 

 plants which perished and of which man has no 

 knowledge or record. 



And so, we may assume, the cactus and those 

 other plants which adapted themselves to the new 

 conditions crowded out those which were unable 

 to fit themselves to survive, and covered the drying 

 plains with their verdure. 



But there came animals to the bed of this 

 one-time sea, attracted, perhaps, by the cactus and 

 its contemporaries, which offered them food of 

 satisfying flavor and easy access. 



Of the plants which had survived the evapora- 

 tion of the sea and the heat of the broiling sun, 

 there were many, quite likely, which failed to 

 survive the new danger — the onslaught of the 

 animals. 



Species by species the vegetation of the desert 

 was thinned out by the elements and by the 

 animals; and the animals, with plant life to 

 feed on, multiplied themselves in ever increasing 

 hordes, till perhaps the cactus was but one of a 

 dozen plants to survive. 



Then came the fight of the cactus to outdo the 

 beasts which sought to devour it — the fight as a 

 family, and the fight within the family to see which 

 of its individuals should be found fit to persist. 



Of a million cactus plants eaten to the ground 



[17] 



