188 
nearly cylindric, about half as long as the limb, bearing a few 
broadly triangular-ovate acute scales with tufts of wool in their 
axils ; petals white, short, widely spreading and somewhat reflexed 
when fully expande ; ovary spineless, oblong, with similar scales 
very small, numerous, black and shining. The genus consists 
only of the species. 
Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.). 
Cereus giganteus Engelm. Rept. Emory’s Recon. 159. 1848. 
The genus is dedicated to Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The Desert 
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, at Tucson, 
Arizona, is surrounded by typical specimens of this unique plant. 
N. L. Britton, 
J. N. Rose. 
LETCHWORTH PARK AND THE FALLS OF THE 
GENESEE.* 
The Genesee River rises in the northern part of Pennsylvania, 
in the Allegheny plateau, and during its course of one hundred 
and twenty-three miles in the state of New York it has a fall of 
fifteen hundred and fifty-three feet, finally emptying into Lake 
Ontario at Rochester. This river is unique in two particulars: 
It is the only river in New York which flows entirely across the 
state; and it is the only river crossing the southern boundary 
which flows to the north. Fora part of its course it forms the 
boundary line between the counties of Wyoming and Livingston, 
and it is to a short distance of this boundary portion, some three 
miles in length, that I wish to call your attention. Here, in a 
strife which was begun in ages past, but which is still continued 
between the waters and the land, this river has cut for itself a 
deep bed, known as the Portage or Glen Iris gorge, and in this 
short three miles is comprised some of the most striking and mag- 
nificent scenery in the eastern United States, being second only to 
* From a lecture delivered at the New York Botanical Garden, October 31, 1908. 
