NOTE ON THE SPINES OF CACTUSES. 123 
LORANTHACEX. 
L. Viscum orientale, Willd.—DC. Prod. vol. iv. p. 278%. 
Upon trees in the Happy Valley. 
2. Viscum moniliforme, Blume.—Wight et Arn. Prod. vol. i. p. 380. 
Only once found in the Happy Valley. 
3. Loranthus Scurrula, Linn. Spec. Pl. p.472? non Roxb.—Z. 
Chinensis, DC. Coll. Mem. 6. Loranth. t. 7. Prodr. vol. iv. p. 301. 
Upon trees, Hong-Kong. The specimens agree well with De Can- 
dolle’s figure, as well as with Linnæus’s description, as far as they go. 
The full-grown leaves are smooth, the young shoots and leaves are 
clothed with a ferruginous or whitish, chaffy or farinaceous down, as in 
L. pulverulentus or L. graciliflorus, and can scarcely be said to be fer- 
rugineo-villosa, as in De Candolle’s character. The flowers are 7 to 8 
lines long, slightly farinaceous when young, nearly smooth when ex- 
panded. 
(To be continued.) 
— —— 
Note on the Spines of Cactuses; by BERTHOLD SEEMANN. 
It has been mentioned as something remarkable, that one of M. 
Ehrenberg’s Echinocacti had upwards of 2000 spines. By counting ay 
first the number of spines, then that of the bundles of each rib, and 
ultimately that of the ribs of every individual, I arrived at the follow- d 
ing result :—An Echinocactus Wislazenii, Engelm., in the possession of — 
Frederick Scheer, Esq., was found to have 8360 spines, and the E. - 
Visnagat, Hook. (E. platyceras, Lem.), in the Royal Gardens, 17,600. 
There was formerly at Kew a specimen of the latter, which was at least 
three times larger than the present, and which cannot have had less 
* Tam well aware that recent investigations have induced several botanists to - 
propose the generic separation of several if not the whole of the tropical Visca from — 
our European species, and that Mr. Miers, from a very careful examination and com- - 
parison of their structure, has been led to consider Viscum and its allies as totally - 
disconnected with the true Loranthacea. But the entering into this question 
would lead me too far from our present purpose ; nor is it necessary on this occasion, 
as I have no new species to propose, and consequently no new names to add, which 
by being recorded under wrong genera, might increase the number of useless syno- - 
"a lit Mitis, - 
+ The specific name, “ Visnaga” is the native appellation of the ; 3 
and means “ toothpick,” from the use made of these spines. If these could sell at — 
only one penny each, a nursery of such Cactuses would be a great treasure.—Ep. — — 
