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countries. The large species near the shore consisted of short, 

 main stems dividing into numbers of closely arranged, angled, 

 leafless branches reminiscent of Cereus and its allies. The genus 

 is widely distributed in Africa; and, with the succulent, tree-like 

 euphorbias, figures as cacti in newspaper accounts of hunting 

 trips, or more fortunately they are given local names. Incidentally 

 it is to be said that the cultivation of cacti in Egypt and the Sudan 

 is very limited. Many travelers report that a few species are ex- 



Fig. 2. Coralluma; a succulent asclepiad on the slopes near shore of Red Sea, 

 Port Sudan. 



tensively planted in the countries west of Eg^'pt, Tripoli, Tunis and 

 Algeria; but in no place did we see any serious use being made of 

 any of these plants; and the total amount encountered in two 

 thousand miles of land travel would not have covered an acre. 

 The Indian fig (Opuntia ficus-indicd) is planted around dwellings 

 occasionally, even in the remote oases, and a second species of 

 Opuntia inermis was seen near a group of native houses along the 



