Dr. Engelmann on the Cereus giganteus of California. 335 
repay the obligation by affording the most ready and complete 
facilities by which those labors are, at the present time, safely 
and expeditiously conducted. 
uch are the general character and objects of the Nautical Al- 
manac ; but the American Nautical Almanac, besides sustaiffing 
this character and fulfilling these objects, will, it is expected, 
remedy some defects, and accomplish some special ends, which no 
similar work prepared in Europe is qualified to take into account. 
And what these ends are, may be gathered from a consideration 
-of the isolated position of this vast continent of North America, 
in respect to the other great divisions of the globe, the enterpris- 
ing character of the people, and the wide extent of territory that 
still remains to be explored, surveyed and settled. 
his consideration makes it apparent that neither the authori- 
ties nor standards of Europe can satisfy our demands. 
In the useful arts of life, the United States have no superior, 
and but one rival; in the successful application of the sciences to 
the useful arts the nation has already accomplished signal per- 
formances ; and in the pisent case of a Nautical Almanac, which 
has been regarded as a beneficial example of such application by 
every nation undertaking it, the very work which consults the 
practical wants of the community, has proved in a high degree 
subservient to the advancement of science and the diffusion of 
sound knowledge. 
Arr. XX XII.—Notes on the Cereus giganteus of South Eastern 
California, and some other Californian Cactaceae ; by Dr. 
Gro. Eycetmann, of St. Louis, Missouri. 
nown. Since then several travellers have met with this giant 
down the Gila river. Dr. C. C. Parry, who was connected with 
ention to the Cacti of that region, 
t carefully to examine the Cereus 
kindly communicated by 
ed the description of the plant, with 
