MA.MILLABIA, 17 



of which indicate the leading characters, but seedlings seem to vaiy so much 

 that these names are not of much value. 



The engraving (fig. 2) is a reduced representation of a plant of M. 

 communis, showing one of the conical type, and one-sixth the natural size ; a 

 flower is also given of the full size. 



MAMILLARIA, Haivorth. 

 (The Nipple Cactus.) 



It would he very diificult to find any plants in the whole vegetaWe 

 kingdom which present such beautiful examples of symmetry as the 

 ManuUarias, and in their own family they are also unique in this 

 respect, for though many of the grotesque Opuntias, Cereus, and Eohi- 

 nocactus possess larger and more brilliant flowers, and thoy are sur- 

 passed in horticultural value by PhyUocactus and Epiphyllum, yet for 

 delicacy of design they are unrivalled. A large number of them resemble 

 exquisite pieces of mechanism finished with the greatest minuteness 

 and accm-acy. Others, again, might be imagined to have undergone 

 a kind of crystallisation, their whole surface being frosted over with 

 star-like spiculse arranged with geometrical precision ; and stUl others 

 appear as if covered with the finest gossamer. The graphic remarks 

 of Dr. Lindley which accompanied the figure of M. tenuis in the 

 " Botanical Eegister " in 1832 might well be applied to several species 

 with even more accuracy than in that case : — " Gentle reader, hast thou 

 never seen in a display of fireworks a crowd of wheels all in motion at 

 once, crossing and intersecting each other in every direction, and canst 

 thou fancy those wheels arrested in their motion by some magic power, 

 their rays retained, but their fires extinguished and their brightness gone. 

 Then mayst thou conceive the curious beauty of this little herb, a plant 

 BO unhke all others that we would fain believe it the re-animated spirit 

 of a race that flourished in former ages with those hideous monsters 

 whose bones alone remain to tell the history of their existence in the 

 quarries of our sandstone, slate, and clay." Strangely beautiful indeed 

 are most of the MamUlarias, and in contrast with their neat rosettes or 

 stars of spines are the rosy, yellow, and white flowers, which are generaBy 

 followed by smaU berry-like coral-coloured fruits, that, dotted amongst 

 the spines, add another phase to the attractions of these plants. With 

 so much to recommend them it is not surprising that they have become 

 great favourites with cultivators of Cacti, and with that portion of the 

 public who have obtained any knowledge of them. 



The genus Mamillaria was founded by Haworth upon the Cactus 

 matX'Slaris of Linnseud, one of the oldest cultivated species, and this 

 was ;e-named by the first-mentioned author M. simplex. Two others 



