Lock - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

construction and furnishing of the
laboratory building. The National
Science Foundation also has given
sizeable grants.
Dr. Wilbur W. Mayhew and Dr.
Lars H. Carpelan, both of the Life
Sciences of UCR, worked with the
Bureau of Land Management to secure
additional land to complete the
laboratory building, and Lloyd P. Tevis,
Jr. also played a vital role in the
Center's genesis. His earlier work as
an associate with Caltech's mobile
desert laboratory proved invaluable
when he transferred his activities to
the Center.
Already in this great scientific preserve
zoologists, botanists, ecologists,
entomologists, herpetologists, and all
the rests' of the "ists," are art work.
Speaking of herpetologists, one of the
most astonishing sights to be seen
there is that of one of this ilk taking
the temperature of a husky rattlesnake—he
doesn't put the thermometer
under the reptile's tongue!
Of particular interest to many of
us are Lloyd Tevis' studies of the desert
bighorn, the most spectacular animal
found in our deserts. One of the
largest herds in California roams the
Deep Canyon region. Recent developments
in the general area have deprived
them of many of their old
waterholes, and a particular hillside
once favored by the ewes for lambing
has been despoiled by a commercial
development. Tevis sees reason for
hoping that the bighorn may be able
to adapt to these changing conditions
and will manage to survive because of
other waterholes and new lambing
places which have permanent protection
within the Research Area.
Dr. Philip C. Wells, Assistant Professor
of Botany at the University of
Kansas, made his headquarters at the
Center for several months while
studying ancient packrat nests. These,
he found, contained evidence of climatic
variation and ecological changes
in the nearby desert areas. Dr. H.
Saint Girons of the Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique of Paris,
France, collected here material for his
work on the comparative histology of
the endocrine gland of reptiles and
of the comparative ecology of reptiles
in arid zones. Graduate student Walter
R. Moberly came from the University
of Michigan to work on the
natural history of our fat old friend
the chuckwalla. Dr. Jose M. Cei,
Director of the Institute of Biology of
the University of Cuyo in Argentina,
has made a comparative study here of
the^ ecology of the Colorado Desert
anc\the deserts of western Argentina.
The list is almost endless. Indeed
it would be impossible to mention in
a short article all the scientific projects
that already have been carried
on in this research area. The necessary
need for desert research can be
readily comprehended when one considers
the arid regions of Mexico, India,
Tunisia, Iraq, Australia, Israel,
Egypt and South America.
In December 1963 Dr. Herman T.
Spieth, Chancellor of UCR, announced
approval by the Board of
Regents of the Universtiy of California
of the establishment of a Dry
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March, 1964 / Desert Magazine / 27