CACTACE. 13 
’ On gentle slopes of the limestone hills on the Peeos, and at Leon spring, abundant at the 
latter place, (Charles Wright): fl. in June and July.—The globose heads are 14-2) inches in 
diameter ; tubercles in 13 spiral rows, lower ones 2-3 lines long, and somewhat broader at 
base, not grooved, or with a very short groove near the spines ; upper tubercles 5-6 lines long, 
and grooved all the way down. Spines on lower part of plant nearly equal in length on each 
tubercle, 3-43 lines long, as stiff and pointed and almost as closely and regularly set as in 
Cereus pectinatus, whence the specific name. On the flower-bearing tubercles the upper spines 
are elongated, mixed with a few stouter ones, and fasciculated ; lower ones 5-6 lines long, and 
upper ones, forming a tuft about the apex of the stem, 6-9 lines Jong. Flower over 2 inches 
long, and 2? inches in diameter when fully open, between 11 and 12 o’clock, closing already 
about 1 o’clock, though exposed to the full glare of the sun. Ovary 3-4 lines long; exterior 
sepals reddish-green, interior ones yellow, with a darker midrib; petals of a beautiful sulphur 
yellow, broadest in the upper third and obtusish. Filaments reddish, short, covering the 
whole base of the tube, leaving no naked space. Fruit about half an inch long, ripening on the 
vertex, and not pushed aside by succeeding young tubercles, as it seems that no new ones are 
developed till the fruit is fully ripe, or probably till the succeeding spring. This is the case with 
several allied yellow-flowering species, but not with other red-fluwering ones, hereafter to be 
described ; in these, though the flower (or at least the flower-bud) be vertical, the succeeding 
rapid growth pushes them aside , and still more the berries, which finally appear quite lateral. 
Seed 0.9 line long, elongated, compressed, rounded at the back, quite sharp at the anterior 
or ventral edge, on the lower part of which, in a slight curvature, the small and narrow hilum 
is situated. 
_ 16. M. Ecutnus (sp. nov.): simplex, globosa seu subconica; vertice dense tomentoso ; tuber- 
culis in planta adulta teretibus apice conicis supra sulcatis; areolis orbiculatis ; aculeis rectis 
seu paullo curvatis cinereo-albidis apice seepe obscurioribus, radialibus 16-30 pectinatis, supe- 
rioribus longioribus fasciculatis, centralibus 3—4 validioribus e basi bulbosa subulatis, superiori- 
bus 2—3 sursum versis et cum radialibus superioribus implicatis, inferiore validissimo subulato 
recto (seu rarissime paullo recurvo) porrecto; floribus verticalibus flavis; sepalis 20 lineari- 
lanceolatis mucronatis integris, petalis 20-30 angustis; stigmatibus sub-12 stamina longe 
superantibus ; bacca centrali oblonga viridi floris rudimentis coronata ; seminibus ut in prae- 
cedente. (Tab. X 
On limestone hills in the region of the Pecos, Wright, and from Presidio del Norte to Santa 
Rosa, Bigelow: fl. in June.—A very striking plant, characterized by the unusually stout and 
subulate lower central spine, which together with the globular shape, gives it the appearance of 
some Echinite, whence the name. Specimens before me 1}-2 inches in diameter, tubercles 5-6 
lines long, in 13 spiral rows. The numerous slender but very stiff whitish radical spines, later- 
ally compressed at the thickened base, are densely interwoven and closely adpressed ; lower 
ones about 5 lines long, lateral ones somewhat shorter, upper ones 6-8 lines long ; upper in- 
terior spines stouter and rather longer than the upper radial ones, but otherwise hardly distin- 
guishable from them; the lower central spine is also about 6 or 8 lines long, very regularly 
subulate from a thick base. Flowers between 1 and 2 inches long, to judge from the shriveled 
specimens seen, yellow ; fruit over half aninch in length ; seeds about 0.9linelong, entirely similar 
to those of the last species, to which this, perhaps, too closely approaches. All the specimens 
