were discovered in Mexico, M. echinaria, subcrocea, inter- 
texta, and the present one, all of De Canpotte, but these 
four, that able traveller, Dr. Counter, who had the oppor- 
tunity of studying them in their native soil, considers, con- 
trary to the opinion of De Canpo1te, as but forms of one and 
the same species, Indeed the M. densa of Linx and Orro, 
Hort. Berol. t. 35, (var. 8. of M. echinata, according to 
PreirFer,) can scarcely be distinguished from this, but by 
its rather large mamme, and longer and straighter spines. 
Be that as it may, the present plant is one of great beauty 
and of very curious structure. The aculei are so closely 
placed and so regular and delicate, that they seem to clothe 
the plant with a fine cobwebby substance. The specimen 
from which the present drawing was taken, flowered in the 
stove of the Glasgow Botanic Garden in the month of May. 
It grows freely, and is readily increased by offsets. 
Descr. Plant two to four inches high, and an inch or 
more in diameter, cylindrical, or a little tapering upwards, 
throwing out copious nearly globose offsets from the sides, 
especially at the base. The whole is covered with mam- 
mille of an hemispherical form, green, about a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, each tipped with a tuft of white down, from 
which diverges a cluster of about twenty slender, recurvo- 
patent aculei, nearly as long as the mammille, at first red- 
dish, then yellowish or pale tawny. From below the sum- 
mit and froin all sides indifferently, spring the flowers, 
solitary, small, and campanulate, they are pale straw- 
coloured, slightly externally tinged with red. 
g 
Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Pistil :—magnified. 
