St. Louis, Mo. Feb, 23.1877 



Dear Dr. Weber 



Your long a^.d interesting letter of J anuary 30 gave ne mich 

 pleasure. You see this from the t In ick letter-paokaß-e, which I nail in 

 rerly. First, I should wait for your pronised letter, but as I have 

 so much raaterial, I pronise a secon.Ä letter. 



First, I return to you the seeds of Cpuntia with thanks inclu- 

 ding notes. The seed is iraperf ect, without embryo f and with very soft 

 coating; it must have beer quite young. The shape nay have been al - 

 ready that of the ripe seed, and reeds further Observation, but not 

 the base for definitive conclusions. The plant itself I had in my 

 section of Ovatae , of which I know only 0 vestita and. - d.on f t laugh - 

 0 . cylindrica . Both have alnost the sane seeds. Do you. know them, or 

 shall I send you. sone ?. The Ovatae join the Clavatae as subd.ivision 

 of C y l i n d r a o e a e ; - The fürst south-anericar , the latter north-anerican 

 a.^d all the way to cur territory. 



That the so-called Bchin ocacti are thus ^ecxraphically sepa- 

 rated, you know. Are the^e not h c , ?n e"~ica ? Those, 



which I" desi^nate as Rhodostifma are a separate d i vi sion» which be - 

 long rather nore with Echinocereus to Cereus . What is your opinion ? 

 Likewise is Gymno^l^CO. . . . a northern tribe, which lines also up with 

 Cereu s. 



The southanerioan Cerei constitute their own line of forns, 



which I do not und erstand well due to lack of raaterial; I called them 

 W 



Eulych^ la a f4 "er Philippi , who • se original I examined at Kew. Should not 

 C. strlgosus and mul tamulari s belor?* he^e ? Are flowers and fruit s 

 known ? I have either the same or a similar one of the Galapos Islands 

 fron A,<rassiz,but, unf ort -nately , wi thou.t flower or fruit M With out 

 doubt,what Darwin compared with C. peruvianus (solely on account of the 

 columnar shape) ! 



Now, those Opuntias o^ Galapagos. The^e I an able to n-ive you 



