THE VOICE OF THE DESERT

This might almost be considered as a Postgraduate Course for those who revelled in Disney's Living Desert. It certainly is a Must for the readers of Mr. Krutch's own The Desert Year. Here again we meet his private discovery, the Sonoran Spadefoot Toad. We read avidly curious facts about other desert creatures,- the road runner, the scorpion, the yucca moth (Pronuba), the desert tortoise, the kangaroo rat, the Kaibab squirrel, the tarantula, and others. We learn something about the cactus and the mountain lichens and so on. But this is not Just another delightful memoir written by a sensitive and observant naturalist. He explores beyond the what to the why - and develops a philosophy that is more important to him than mere biology, He weighs the potentialities and the limitations of living matter On to considering the intentions and standards of value, the realm of emotion. It is this that makes Joseph Wood Krutch stand apart.