- 3 - 



us,helped. and lightened our labors, they just as often have filled 



an 



it with rubbish, which to clear away is as necessary as it is un - 

 pleasant and often difficult task.- The horticultural collectors 

 and travellers, the ^reat horticultural establi shments, and - pTo 

 pudor - the botari st s, who worked in their inte^est, have made the 

 task of the scientific botanist qu.it e a difficult one. t 



If I knew, h ow to send you books,I would yake the pleasure to pre- 

 sent you with copies of all my publications, though, as you justly : 

 remark, you are stationed in a country, where the species knowi to me 

 scarsely occur,~I must add. , that with my present views, I would can- 

 cel quite a number of species, which I have fornerly adnitted; but, 

 to my excuse be it said, I never had an o-oportunity of studying a 

 ff-reat many specimens - a^d never saw them growing in their native 

 homes II wish this good fortune was yet in. störe for me* 



Though the sheet is at an end.I ca^not close this letter yet- 

 however fearful that your patience may have become exhausted. 



Not only the species of Cactaceae are in p-reat conf usi on, but" 



eve -10 the genera are by no means well known or well determined. Two 



sre^era. only seem to be perf ectly well characterized and that is 



■ f ' i a and Fei re scia ; the former esrecially; Pein e sei a is not so 



well distinguished by its seeds,as Opuntia is; Rhiusa lis is per - 



haps also well di stingui shed , and perhaps Heloc actus , of which I 



have very little; but the transition. from the most humble Hami Ilaria 



to the Giant Cereus and Pilocereus through Pelizocacti (? cannot read 



LP, ) , Echinopsis ,etc. etc. are so gradual that sati sf aetory Ii- 



mits will be difficult to fiind. I had formerly relied a good deal 



on the strueture of the seed and the direction of the cotyledon, but 

 racters* 



find that the cha;r derived from them are not quite constant; I 



must aeeept this unpleasant discovery,as we must aeeept many facts, 

 not in aecordance with wishes and preconeeived opinions. The fact 



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