THE SCIENTIST. 
95 
times it stands oa its hind feet, clasps the 
stems with its foiepaws, and bites off the 
seed pod', distending its cheek-pouches 
enormously with the food. One fellow shot 
by Dr. Marriam, chief of the expedition,, 
had thirty-nine unbroken seed pods in his 
pouches. 
AXOTHitR MOST IXTKRESTING ANIMAL 
that inhabits Death Valley is the "kangaroo 
rat," which makes its way about by jump- 
ing. It has long and powerful hind legs and 
a surprisingly long tail. Its coloring varies 
from light gray to dark brown ^ according to 
whether it frequents the alkali or the lava, 
nature intending to protect it from capture 
by the likeness of its hue to its ^ sur oundings. 
The kangaroo rat lives in l^urrows, as does 
likewise a sm.-ller kind that is commonly 
called the "kangaroo mouse." But neither 
is in any true sense a mouse or a rat; they 
belong to families quite different. 
Nevertheless, there are plenty of real rats 
in Death Valley, as the expedition has found. 
One kind, that livcs in the chapparal, with 
bare tails and exquisite soft fur. is the staple 
food of the Digger Indians who dwell in the 
mountains thereabout. The latter catch the 
beasts with dogs, frightening them out of 
their nests, which is made like thoie of squir- 
rels, of great size, in the bushes or bunches 
of cactus. 
With respect to the kangaroo rat'^, one ex- 
traordinary pjint should be mentioned, re- 
lating to a certain development of their 
skulls, wl^ich bulge out at the side in a sur- 
prising way. In fact, no such big bulges as 
these, which contain the hearing apparatus, 
are to be found in any other known animals. 
One of the most curious sorts of rodents 
common in Death Valley is the "scorpion 
mouse," which lives almost wholly upon 
scorpions. By the "instinct" which means 
experince inherited through ger.erations, 
it has learned which, end to tackle its prey 
by. 
Only fifty miles west from Death Valley, 
which is 159 feet below the sea level, Mount 
Whitney, the highest mountain in North 
America, uplifts its mighty peak, covered 
with perpetual snow, three miles into the 
air. Thus, within a day's journey of each 
other, the lo\\est and highest points on this 
continent are found. Dr. Merriam wrote the 
other day that he had breakfasted on twenty 
feet of snow and was ccnipcsing bis letter to 
Secretary Rusk at 4 p. m in an altitude of 
rather less than nothing and a temperature of 
110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. 
In the region described, is to be found a 
mcst astonishing opj ortunity for the obser- 
vation of a traveler, inasmuch as within fifty 
miles he can 
PA.'-S THROUGH ALL THK LIFK ZONES 
of the earth, from the hottest tropic to the 
frozen Arctic, and view not only the vegeta- 
tion but the beasts and birds of the various 
climes traversed. 
It seem.s very .'trarge to find upon the 
sum mi's of IV^.ount Whitney, the San Fran- 
cisco m ' untain, and other peaks scattered 
over the warmer parts of the earth, small 
colonies of veritable Arctic life, both vegeta- 
ble and animal. But this is explained when 
it is realized that during a period immediate- 
ly preceding the present and known as the 
"glacial age" the entire northern part of the 
world was buried in ice, the icecap, which in 
p' aces was several thousand feet in thickness, 
extending southward as far as Philadelphia 
and below Chicago. When this vast cosmic 
glacier receeded, many Arctic plants and 
creatures were stranded on lofty mountains,, 
where at sufficiently lofty altitudes the tem- 
perature never becomes too high for the con- 
tinuance of their existence. For an example, 
the San Francisco mountain in Arizona is an 
extinct volcano, inhabited by plants and 
animals which could not possibly have reach- 
ed it since the glasical period. Though an 
isolated peak rising out at a vast and burn- 
ing de ert, its snowy top is a veritable Arctic 
colony. — Extract from Washington Gor- 
respondance Daily Tribune. 
A scientist says: "The chemist will domi- 
nate coming inventions. All our fuel will 
presently be lurnished in the form of gas. 
In a quarter of a century, more we shall won- 
der why man was ever such a fool as to 
carry coal into the house and burn it." 
