CACTACES. 19 
mata; seminibus oblique obovatis compressis minutissime tuberculatis fuscis, hilo ventrali cir- 
culari magno. (Tab. XVII.) 
About Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande, Schott, Bigelow: fl. in April.—A most elegant little 
species, 14-2 inches in diameter and of the same height. Root long, terete, rather fleshy, white, 
about } inch in diameter, such as I have not seen in any other of our Cactacee, Tubercles 
more distinct and less plainly arranged in ribs than in the other species of this genus ; they are 
4 or 5 lines high, somewhat compressed, of the same transverse diameter, and a little longer in 
the other direction ; areola about 1} line long, a little less broad, extending upwards into a 
tomentose groove, 1-24 lines long, which terminates in the floriferous areola half-way down 
to the axil, as the transverse incision in the rib may be designated. This groove is much shorter 
or almost wanting onthe tubercles, which bear-no flowers. The exterior spines, with their 
bulbous compressed bases, are closely and regularly arranged all around the areola, and are 
strictly radiating ; ia younger plants I find 11-13, in older flower-bearing tubercles always 
15-18 radial spines, 3-5 lines long, of almost equal length, or the lateral ones a little longer 
than the rest ; the uppermost radial spine, however, is often somewhat stouter and longer, ranging 
rather as an upper central spine, when only 3 of these are present. The upper central spines 
(2 in my specimens from Eagle Pass, 3 in Salm’s original plant) are stouter, somewhat compressed 
and angled, brown or black on the upper and whitish or mottled on the lower surface, orthey 
are lighter throughout, with black tips; they are 8-12 lines long ; the lower central spine is 2 
or 3 lines shorter, black on the upper side, especially at base, and at the hooked point white o” 
the lower surface and again on the outside of the curvature. The green flowers are about an inch 
long, much less in diameter even when fully open. Fruit and seed not seen by our collectors ; 
the former is said by Dr. Poselger (who has sent me a good specimen of the plant, entirely 
agreeing with my specimens) to be a small green and almost naked berry ; his seeds are large, 
about one line long, 0.8 line in diameter, with very minute and flattened tubercles, brown (the 
only Echinocactus with seeds of that color known to me) ; hilum large and circular, surrounded 
by a thick rim ; albumen very small; embryo curved, but cotyledons small, connate, more like 
those of a Mamitaria, separating on the curvature and not at the end of the hook, as in all 
other hooked embryos of Cactaceew known to me. 
2, E. BREVIHAMATUS (sp. nov.): e radice turbinata fibrosa globoso-obovatus, atro-viridis ; costis 
13 compressis tuberculato-interruptis ; sulcis acutis profunde i incisis ; tuberculis supra ad basin 
usque tomentoso-sulcatis; areolis orbiculatis junioribus breviter albo-tomentosis; aculeis radial- 
ibus 12 teretibus rectis albidis seu sordide flavis apice adustis, superioribus longioribus ; centrali- 
bus 4 complanatis albidis apice atratis, lateralibus sursum divergentibus rectis seu paullo recur- 
vatis aculeos radiales superantibus, summo debiliore et infimo porrecto seu deflexo deorsum 
hamato robustiore: eos: subeequantibus ; floribus infundibuliformibus roseis ; sepalis inferioribus 
(ovarii) 5-7 reniformibus scariosis ciliatis, superioribus (tubi) S,ovato-oblongis mucronatis ob- 
tusisve ; petalis 13-14. lineari-lanceolatis acutis mucronatis: integris ; stigmatibus 10-11 radi- 
atis flavis stamina rubella paullo excedentibus. (Tab. XVIII, XIX.) 
On the San Pedro, Wright, and not rare about Hagle Pass, Bigelow: fi. Maxis and April,— 
The specimens sent by the gentlemen of the Boundary Commission were from 2 to 4inches high, . 
and 2-3 in diameter, of a very dark green color, and remarkable from the tuft formed on the 
‘apex by the upper central spines, in which the numerous flowers are almost entirely hidden ; 
the lower hooked central spines stand out from the mass of the other spines, the hooks turned 
