ECH1NOCACTUS. 



47 



remarkable plants known. Its spines are 3 inches long, almost as 

 firm a*s steel, being used by the Mexicans as toothpicks, and they are 



Tig. 2O. Echinocactus Visiiaga. 



borne in great numbers all over the massive stem. The following 

 account of a large specimen introduced to Kew in 1845, was given 

 by Sir Wm. Hooker in the Gardeners' Chronicle of that year. It 



