148 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



from the Grossulariacese (the species of Ribes), and, viewed 

 as it is by Kunth (Handbuch der Botanik, S. 609), we may 

 well regard it as belonging exclusively to America. I am 

 aware that Roxburgh, in the Flora Indica (iiiedita), cites 

 two species of Cactus as belonging to South Eastern Asia ; 

 Cactus indicus and C. chinensis. Both are widely dissemi- 

 nated, and are found in a wild state (whether they were 

 originally wild or have become so), and are distinct from 

 Cactus opuntia and C. coccinellifer ; but it is remarkable 

 that the Indian plant (Cactus indicus) has no ancient 

 Sanscrit name. Cactus chinensis has b^en introduced 

 in St. Helena as a cultivated plant. Now that a more 

 general interest has at length been awakened on the subject 

 of the original distribution of plants, future investigation 

 will dispel the doubts which have been felt in several quar- 

 ters respecting the existence of true Asiatic Opuntiacese. 

 In the animal kingdom particular forms are found to occur 

 singly. Tapirs were long regarded as a form exclusively 

 characteristic of the New Continent ; and yet the American 

 tapir has been found as it were repeated in that of Malacca 

 (Tapirus indicus, Cuv.) 



Although the species of Cactus belong, generally speaking, 

 more properly to the tropical regions, yet some are indi- 

 genous in the temperate zone, as on the Missouri and in 

 Louisiana, Cactus missuriensis and C. vivipara ; and Back 

 saw with astonishment the shores of Rainy Lake, in north 

 lat. 48 40', covered with C. opuntia. South of the equator 

 the species of Cactus do not extend beyond the Rio Itata, 

 in lat, 36, and the Rio Biobio, in lat. 57 15'. In the 



