VOL. 5] Short Articles. 35 
had occasion to study a dead example preserved by Cels. This 
species is absolutely identical with that which Engelman described 
in 1852 under the name £, cylindraceus and which has been rein- 
troduced in Belgium in recent years as /. Leopoldz. 
It would serve no good purpose to reproduce here the descrip- 
tion of this Echinocactus, today well known under the name given 
by Engelmann. It suffices to call attention to its synonymy and 
to show that Lemaire first made known this species characterized 
by its numerous and long spines, interwoven, recurved or flexu- 
ous. He called it acanthodes, because, said he, it is ‘undique 
aculeis praegrandibus, confertissimis, maximeque intricatis, om- 
nino horrens, unde nomen!’ ’’ 
SHORT ARTICLES. 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF RHAGADIOLUS HEDYPNOIS ALL. (HED- 
YPNOIS POLYMORPHIA Dc.) IN NORTH AMERICA. 
In the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, vol. XVIII, p. 110, Dr. Watson lists the above species 
as one of the plants collected by Dr. Edward Palmer at Corpus 
Christi, Texas, September, 1879-October, 1880. Dr. Be ie 
Robinson, to whom I am indebted for the above information, 
writes that the species is also represented in the Gray Herbarium 
by a specimen collected by Hon. J. W. Congdon at Hornitos, 
Mariposa County, California, April, 1884. Dr. Palmer’s plant 
was reported as a waif; that of Mr. Congdon as apparently 
naturalized, possibly native. 
‘he attention of the writer was called to this species, hereto- 
fore unpublished, as from California, by finding it abundant and 
luxuriant near Altruria in Sonoma County, growing along the 
roadside, in the fields and near the fluine that brings water to the 
Sanitarium. ‘This was in April of the present year. 
In De Candolle’s Prodromus, vol. VII, p. 81. Hedypnois poly- 
morphia DC. is said to occur through the entire Mediterranean 
region in roughly cultivated and ploughed fields. The species is 
represented in the Herbarium of the California Academy of 
