editor should not have noticed the obvious discrepancy. < 
Taking the coloured plate and the clause in English 
as being correct, one wonders whether the erect Torch - 
Thistle Cacti may have been evolved from the (in two 
senses) lower forms, such as C. flagelliformis or C. i 
serpentinus, in which case my terminal flower and | 
fruit may present an instance of reversion or atavism, 
although by bud, not seminal variation. Mr. F. W. 
Stansfield, so well known to many of your readers, 
has, like myself, watched the case from the very first, 
and in further proof of bona fides I forward a stereo- 
graph taken by myself in May last, showing A the 
day before the bud opened grouped with sundry other 
plants. H. B, Biden^ Sale^ Cheshire^ yan, 29. [The 
terminal blooming of Cacti has now been often 
recorded, as by Zuccarini, Ernst, and others. Such 
cases are interesting as showing the share which the 
axis takes in the formation of the fruit. Ed.] 
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