124 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



ually retreating from their far-flung outposts to their native 

 habitats, where they are better able to defend themselves. 

 Even their strong armor cannot withstand the attacks of man 

 in his efforts to convert them into sordid cash. 



But the Opuntia, the Prickly Pears and the ChoUa, ad- 

 vance guards of the great cactus invasion from Mexico north- 

 ward, are the only members of the Fantastic Clan to with- 

 stand the inroads of civilization and the only cacti that have 

 prospered and increased in numbers, notwithstanding man's 

 activities. Man has cut them down, and they have grown up 

 again in greater numbers ; he has grazed them with his stock, 

 and they have spread over the prairies, mesas, foothills, and 

 bajadas; he has transplanted them to new environments and 

 transported them across the seas to new lands, and they have 

 driven him out of his own home and taken his fields away 

 from him, and have grown up to his very doorstep, almost 

 closing up his home. On the southwestern deserts his close 

 grazing of the ranges has made impossible prairie fires, the 

 great enemy of the cacti, and this has spread Prickly Pears 

 and Cholla over the ranges and carried them to the uttermost 

 parts of the desert, where they have taken root and created 

 new plants again. As a result of all this the Cholla have 

 increased a hundredfold on the deserts and foothills in less 

 than half a century, and in time they threaten to become a 

 menace to mankind. 



The Cholla have never retreated before man. They thrive 

 on trampling and grazing by stock; unlike the Sahuaro or 

 Giant Cactus they are defiant and challenge man! They 

 elbow themselves in where they are not wanted. They ask 

 nothing from man and have little to give in return. With the 

 least disturbance they break into many pieces, each part be- 

 coming a new plant. Not only the joints but also the fruit 

 of many varieties upon falling to the ground develop roots 

 and immediately grow anew. Drought has no ill effects on 



