CACTACER®. 27 
in other specimens short, stout, and broad ; flower 24 inches long, of the same diameter, open 
only in bright sunshine, light purple or pink; tube lighter colored; ovary very short (3 lines), 
globose, tips of sepals dark purple, protruding from the dense white wool which envelops the 
whole flower ; stamens of a flower counted by Mr. Wright, 1266; berry juicy, but drying up 
very soon, and finally breaking off transversely, leaving the base with most of the seeds hidden 
in the thick wool. The seeds, even when fully ripe, look shrivelled, and are 1.21.5 line long ; 
the large circular (or rather truncate and transverse) hilum is deeply immersed ; embryo almost 
without albumen, and quite straight, with thick, very short, erect cotyledons, and a taper-pointed 
radicle.-—Our plant seems to be a variety of H. horizonthalonius, which is described as having 7 
straight radial spines, the lowest one a little longer than the others, and the flower pale rose- 
colored, with lanceolate-acuminate petals. Prince Salm’s var. 8. curvispinus seems still nearer 
to our plant, which has a decidedly central but no lower radial spine, just like the last and the 
next species ; the space for the lower radial spine is covered and filled by the strongly deflexed 
central spine. 
15. EK. Trxensts, Hoepf. Not observed farther west than the San Pedro and Pecos rivers. 
Fruit red and juicy, drying up very soon; seeds 1.2-1.4 line long, somewhat reniform, with 
a deep indentation including the circular hilum ; testa smooth and shining, rarely (in Berlan- 
der’s specimens from Matamoras, named by him Melocactus laciniatus,) indistinctly tuberculated ; 
embryo curved or hooked, with the foliaceous cotyledons buried in the large albumen. (Tab. 
XXXIHT.) 
16. E. srcotor, Galeotti, var. Scnorrit: simplex, ovatus vel ovato-cylindricus ; costis 8 obtusis 
tuberculatis interruptis ; areolis orbiculatis ; aculeis radialibus 15-17 rectis, inferioribus bre- 
vioribus teretiusculis basi bulbosis rubellis variegatis, summis 2-4 longioribus latioribus com- 
pressis albidis ; aculeis centralibus 4 albidis, summo latiore longiore supra plano infra carinato 
recto seu paullo sursum curvato, ceteris compressis seu subteretibus brevioribus rectis ; floribus 
magnis in vertice tomentoso subcentralibus ; ovario squamis sepaloideis 10-12 reniformibus 
margine ciliatis imbricato, sepalis tubi 40 sensim majoribus obtusis margine pallidiore ciliatis, 
summis oblongis ; petalis purpureis ; stigmatibus 8 suberectis. 
On cretaceous hills, covered with chapparal, (thorny bushes,) near Mier, on the lower Rio 
Grande, Schott: in flower in September.—Stem 4-6 inches high, 2-3 in diameter; grooves 
rather shallow ; floral areola close to the spiniferous one, without the intervening glands which 
are so conspicuous in LZ. longehamatus and others, and which I find also in the Mexican forms 
of £. bicolor. The 4 upper radial spines about an inch long and flat; all the others rounded, red, 
paler at both ends ; the lowest is the weakest and shortest one, and often somewhat curved ; 
upper central spine 15-20 lines long; the 3 others shorter; the lower one flat above, rounded 
below, often reddish like the lower radial spines; flower between 2 and 3 inches long ; petals 
bright-purple or rose-purple, gradually paler in fading ; filaments springing from the whole 
tube down to its base. The original Mexican JL. bicolor is distinguished by the more globose 
form, also by the smaller number of radial spines, (10-11,) and by the upper central spine not 
being carinate nor longer than the others. ; 
17. E. INTERTEXTUS, (sp. nov.): minor, ovato-globosus ; costis 13 acutis interruptis subobli- 
quis ; tuberculis supra breviter tomentoso-sulcatis; areolis ovatis (in planta juniore angustiori- 
bus) approximatis; aculeis brevibus rigidis e basi albida rubellis apice fuscatis, radialibus 
