HINTS TO PLANT COLLECTORS. 



189 



seeds of these are mostly imbedded in a soft downy matter, which is 

 thrown up fi'om their top, even long after they are dead, and may also be 

 discovered by cutting the plants transversely across ; but so far as we 

 know, this is a discovery to the credit of which Mr. Harris and his 

 gardener are alone entitled. Mr. Harris has in his herbarium one species, 

 Cereus senilis^ measuring three feet in circumference, and by far the finest 

 specimen ever brought to Europe, from which Mr. Beaton originated 

 above one hundred seedlings by the above means. 



