534 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



cardon, Cereus queretarttisis (pi. 6, fig. 2), which is much planted in 

 southern Jalisco and Queretaro.* At Guadalajara the natives make 

 a distinction between the edible spiny fruit of the cardon, which 

 they call " pitaya," and that of the climbing triangular Cerei, which 

 they call " pitahaya." In the markets I saw a milky Mamillaria 

 offered for sale for medicinal purposes. Milky Mamillarias are pop- 

 ular remedies in many parts of Mexico. In Durango the milk is 

 used for healing cracks in the feet of the natives; elsewhere it is 

 administered internall}' for various purposes. 



At Guanajuato it was my privilege to meet the venerable Prof. 

 Alfredo Duges, so well known to the students of Mexican natural 

 historj' as an accomplished botanist and zoologist. Accompanied 

 b}^ his collector, I climbed about the hills surrounding the city and 

 collected several interesting cacti. In the hedges, beside the com- 

 mon columnar organ cactus {^Cereus marginatus) (pi. 11, fig. 2) and 

 the In-anching garambullo {MyriilJocactus geometrizans) (pi. 11, 

 fig. 1), I found Cereus qneretarensh^ to which I have already re- 

 ferred. Here it is distinguished from the organo under the name 

 pitahaj^a. Garambullo, the common name of MyrtUlocactus geo- 

 metrizans^ is applied to various small currant-like fruits in Mexico.'' 

 The fruits of this species (pi. 9, fig. 2) are eaten either fresh or dried 

 like raisins. On the steep dry hills of Guanajuato I collected two or 

 three interesting milky Mamillarias, including the long-spined M. 

 metrizans^ is applied to various small currant-like fruits in Mexico.'' 

 species resembling M. gigantea, but not flat, as that species is described 

 to be. In the hedges I noticed several slender-stemmed Cerei, includ- 

 ing Aporocactus -flagellifoimiis. The beautiful rose-colored flowers of 

 this species are zygomorphous instead of perfectly regular. They are 

 extensively used medicinally in Mexico under the name " flor del 

 cuerno," or "horn flower" (fig. 18, p. 555). 



While in the City of Mexico I was the guest of Mme. Zelia Nut- 

 tall, the archeologist, at her beautiful home, Casa Alvarado, an 

 ancient villa situated near Coyoacan not far from the celebrated 

 Pedregal, or lava beds. The garden of Casa Alvarado, which is 

 several centuries old, has a number of most beautiful and interest- 

 ing trees and shrubs, including a rose bush with a stem 10 inches in 

 diameter, several conifers, and lofty palm-like yuccas. On the terrace 

 grew beautiful cacti in pots, including cylindrical and triangular 

 Cerei and rare Mamillarias, and over the artistic jiergola spread 

 various climbing bright-flowered Bignonias. Accompanied by one 

 of her men I visited the Pedregal, a mass of broken angular blocks of 

 lava, here and there perforated by great bubbles or blowholes. Every- 



" See Mathsson in Monatsschrift fiir Kakteenkunde, Vol. 1, p. 2S, 1S91. 



'' lu Sonora the small yellow fruit of MomxsUi pallida is called garaiiihiilhi. 



