377 
Collected but once by Fendler, and 35 years later, near the same station, by Band- 
elier; reported by Marcus E. Jones in Zoe, iii, 301 as “scarce everywhere,” but 
with no further statement as to station. ‘“Spines silky-white, shining, of the con- 
stituency of stiff paper.” The generic relationship as yet rests only on the fact that 
the floral and spiniferous areolie join at the apex of the young tubere les; otherwise 
the whole appearance of the plant is that of a Cactus. 
50. Echinocactus simpsoni, Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. ii, 197 (1868), 
Subglobose or depressed, turbinate at base, simple, often clustered, 
7.0 to 12.5 em. in diameter: ribs 8 to 15, only indicated by the spiral 
arrangement of the prominent tubercles, which are 12 to 16 mm. long. 
somewhat quadrangular at base and cylindric above: exterior spines 
20 to 30, slender, rigid, straight, whitish, 8 to 12 mm. long, with 2 to 5 
additional short setaceous ones above; interior spines 8 to 10, stouter, 
yellowish and reddish brown or black above, erect-spreading, 10 to 14 
mm. long; no truly central spine: flowers 16 to 20 mm. long and nearly 
as broad, yellowish-green to pale-purple: fruit green and dry, 6 to 7 
mm. long and almost as broad: seeds black, obliauely obo rate, tuber- 
culate, 3 mm. Jong. (Ill. Cact. Simpson’s Exped. t. 1, 2.)—Type, H. 
Engelmann of 1859 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. 
In high mountain valleys and on rocky ridges, from the eastern slope 
of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado westward through Utah and into 
the mountains of Nevada. 
Specimens examined: COLORADO (Parry of 1860, 1862; Mall & Har- 
bour of 1862; unnamed collector in 1871; Greene 131; Palmer of 1877; 
Martindale of 1878; Patterson 211): Uran (H, Engelmann of 1859; 
G. Engelmann of 1874; Johnson cf 1883). 
51. Echinocactus simpsoni minor Kngelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. ii, 197 (1863). 
The whole plant, tubercles, spines, flowers, and seeds smaller,—Type, 
Hall & Harbour of 1862 in Herb, Mo. Bot. Gard, 
Mountains of Colorado, 
Specimens examined: COLORADO (Hall & Harbour of 1862; Wolf & 
Rothrock 54 of 1873; H. Engelmann ot 1374). 
52. Echinocactus simpsoni robustior, var. nov. 
Larger in every way: tubercles much larger: exterior spines 16 to 
20,18 to 23 mm, long; interior spines about 10, 20 to 28 mm. long.— 
Type, Watson of 1868 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. 
From the Humboldt Mountains of Nevada, northward to Washing- 
ton (2). 
Specimens examined: NEVADA (Watson of 1865): WASHINGTON 
(Brandegee 793; Tiveedy of 18382). 
While the specimens of Brandegee and Tweedy seem referable to this 
form, the oceurrence of an Echinocactus so far north calls for a more 
careful inquiry as to the really indigenous character of the material. 
A peculiar monstrosity of /. simpsoni and its varieties is that which is styled 
“snake cactus” or “brain cactus.” So far as it has come to my observation it is 
found among the mountains of Colorado, and is a modification of /. minor, It con- 
