154 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



till It reaches the mesas and valleys. Then lightly, gently, 

 comes the fading diminuendo, dimming the tones of the 

 desert song, faintly and sweetly with the swish of the eve- 

 ning zephyrs, and the land of the cacti Is again at peace. 



We are once more on our way to the desert land of flower 

 mysteries and weird plant phenomena. Along the dusty 

 highway one may notice from time to time many curious- 

 looking mounds which seem almost like monuments stand- 

 ing out in the great alone, in silent eulogy to some departed 

 world perhaps. In the hot dry heat of a desert day they 

 are just some more of Nature's plants and flowers, but In 

 the dusk of the desert twilight these fantastic growths look 

 like some immense graveyard, and we might fancy that we 

 can even read the epitaphs on their beautiful spiny shafts. 

 For in this fancied graveyard of the desert there are many 

 wonders, and now we shall invade their tomblike resting 

 place and get acquainted with still another group of the 

 weird Fantastic Clan. This is the VIsnaga Cactus or BIsnaga, 

 meaning "barrel," commonly known as the Barrel Cactus, 

 friend of the Indian or the lost traveler on the desert. 

 Science gives him the name Echinocactiis (derived from the 

 Greek echinos, ^'hedgehog," and kaktos, a kind of spiny 

 plant) followed by some less pretentious appendage to de- 

 note his species. 



GROWTH AND HABITATS 



The genus Echinocactiis is thought to have originated on 

 the great arid plateaus of Mexico and to have extended north- 

 ward to the southwestern borders of the United States, 

 where as many as forty species are known to grow. The 

 group is a large one, including as many as one hundred forty 

 species In the two countries where they are most abundant. 

 There are no varieties In Central America, but a number in 



