106 
condition and motor cars took us rapidly from one point of 
interest to another, enabling us to study many different hills, 
valleys, cliffs and plains. Cacti\exist here in almost — 
numbers of individuals, but i nee than a dozen spec 
larger are great much-branched columnar kinds (nave of 
ee reaching 30 feet in height and formidably armed all over, 
bearin —. fruits, and extensively planted for hedges and 
fences. ich are essentially impenetrable. The smallest is a 
sae little prickly pear inhabiting the surface of rough 
limestone rocks (ne curassavica), ane known only 
from here, but it has relatives in Porto Rico and in the Virgin 
Islands. The rarest, and the plant which we most panes to 
nd, is the one described by Linnaeus under the name Cactus 
mamillaris, which has been lost to science for ets many years; 
it is a small, nearly uae noe the type of Haworth’s 
genus Mamillaria, of which over 100 species ie been described 
mostly from Mexico and ae pecans United States; to 
recent botanists it has been unknown except from old descrip- 
tions, and illustrations, and where it came from has been un- 
certain, but after reading pre-Linnaean authors I was convinced 
that Curacao was its home, and so it proved, for on March 23, 
in the late afternoon, on scaling a steep craggy limestone hill, 
we found the plant growing in large numbers in and among the 
rocks at the level summit. Our excitement and our satisfaction 
were great, for at last we knew the type species of Mamillaria, 
and it bore both its little cream-colored flowers and its bright 
red little pear-shaped fruits at the same time, to welcome 
eo rapidly moving to different parts of the island we were able 
ain a general knowledge of its botanical features and to 
collect herbarium specimens of about 250 species, and two large 
boxes of living plants, including a representation of all the cacti 
found; these I considered of sufficient importance to send Dr. 
th, and he therefore pro- 
ceeded north on the ‘‘ Philadelphia,” sailing March 27. Iaccom- 
panied him to San Juan and spent the afternoon of March 29 at 
the Experimental Station of the Sugar-growers Association at 
