ridges, all armed with sharp formidable spines ; but in the greater number of species the stems are columnar or elongated, some of the latter creeping on the ground or climbing up the trunks of trees, rooting as they grow. One of the former group, C. pcctiiuttus, produces a purplish fruit resembling a gooseberry, which is very good eating ; and the fleshy part of the stem itself, which is called Cabeza del Viego by the Mexicans, is eaten by them as a vegetable after removing the spines. To the latter group belongs C. gigan- tcus, the largest and most striking species of the genus, a native of hot arid desert regions of New Mexico, growing there in rocky valleys and on mountain sides, where the tall stems with their erect branches have the appearance of telegraph poles. The stems grow to a height of from 50 feet to 60 feet, and have a diameter of from 1 foot to 2 feet, often unbranehed, but sometimes furnished with branches which grow out at right angles from the main stem, and then curve upwards and continue their growth parallel to it ; these stems have from twelve to twenty ribs, on which at intervals of about an inch are the buds with their thick yellow cushions, from which issue five or six large and numerous smaller spines. The fruits of this plant, which are green oval bodies from 2 to 3 inches long, contain a crimson pulp from which the Pimos and Papagos Indians prepare an excellent preserve ; and they also use the ripe fruit as an article of food, gathering it by means of a forked stick attached to a long pole. The Cereuses include some of our most interesting and beautiful hothouse plants.
Pilocereus the Old Man Cactus, forms a small group with tallish erect fleshy angulate stems, on which, with the tufts of spines, are developed hair-like bodies, which, though rather coarse, bear some resemblance to the hoary locks of an aged man. The plants are nearly allied to Ccreus, differing chiefly in the floriferous portion developing these longer and more attenuated hair-like spines, which surround the base of the flowers, and form a dense woolly head or cephalium. The most familiar species is P. scnilis, a Mexican plant, which though seldom seen more than a foot or two in height in greenhouses, reaches from 20 feet to 30 feet in its native country.
Echinopsis is another small group of species, separated by some authors from Gereus. They are dwarf, ribbed, globose, or cylin drical plants ; and the flowers, which are produced from the side instead of the apex of the stem, are large, and in some cases very beautiful, being remarkable for the length of the tube, which is more or less covered with bristly hairs. There are about thirty species known, their geographical range extending from Mexico and Texas to Brazil, Bolivia, and Chili.
Phyllocactus, the Leaf Cactus family, consists of about a dozen species, found in Mexico and Brazil. They differ from all the forms already noticed in being shrubby and epiphytal in habit, and in having the branches compressed and dilated so as to resemble thick fleshy leaves, with a strong median axis, and terete woody base. The margins of these leaf-like branches are more or less crenately notched, the notches representing buds, as do the spine-clusters in the spiny genera ; and from these crenatures the large showy flowers are produced. As garden plants the Phyllocacti are amongst the most ornamental of the whole family, being of easy culture, free blooming, and remarkably showy, the colour of the flowers rang ing from rich crimson, through rose-pink, to creamy white. They are often called EpiphylluM, which name is, however, properly restricted to the group next to be mentioned.
Epiphyllum.—This name is now restricted to two or three dwarf branching Brazilian epiphytal plants of extreme beauty, which agree with Phyllocactus in having the branches dilated into the form of fleshy leaves, but differ in having them divided into short truncate leaf -like portions, which are articulated, that is to say, provided with a joint by which they separate spontaneously; the margins are crenate or dentate, and the flowers, which are large and showy, magenta or crimson, appear at the apex of the terminal joints. In E. truncatum the flowers have a very different aspect from that of other Cactccc, from the mouth of the tube being oblique and the segments all reflexed at the tip. The short separate pieces of which these plants are made up grow out of each other, so that the branches may be said to resemble leaves joined together endwise.
Rhipsalis, a genus of about thirty tropical American species, con tains some of the plants once referred to Cactus. It is a very hetero geneous group, being fleshy-stemmed with a woody axis, the branches being angular, winged, flattened, or cylindrical, and the flowers small, short-tubed, succeeded by small, round, pea-shaped berries. Jlhipsalis Cassylha, when seen laden with its white berries, bears no inconsiderable resemblance to a branch of mistleto. All the species are epiphytal in habit.
Opuntia, the Prickly Pear, or Indian Fig Cactus, is a large typical group, comprising some 150 species, found in North America, the West Indies, and warmer parts of South America, ndmg as far as Chili. In aspect they are very distinct n any of the other groups. They are fleshy shrubs, with 3 woody stems, and numerous succulent branches, composed oi the species of separate joints or parts, which are much compressed, often elliptic or suborbicular, dotted over in spiral lines with small fleshy caducous leaves, in the axils of which are placed the areoles or tufts of glochidiatc or hooked spines of two forms. The flowers are mostly yellow or reddish-yellow, and they are succeeded by pear-shaped or egg-shaped fruits, having a broad scar at the top, furnished on , their soft fleshy rind with tufts of small spines. * The sweet juicy fruits of 0. vulgaris and 0. Tuna, are much eaten under the name of prickly pears, and arc greatly esteemed for their cooling properties. Both these species are extensively cultivated for their fruit in Southern Europe, the Canaries, and Northern Africa ; and the fruits are not unfrajucntly to be seen in Covcnt Garden Market and in the shops of the leading fruiterers of the metropolis.
The cochineal insect is nurtured on a species of Opuntict (0. coccinellifera), separated by some authors under the name of Nopalca, and sometimes also on 0. Tuna. Plantations of the nopal and the tuna, which are called nopaleries, arc established for the purpose of rearing this insect, the Coccus Cadi, and these often contain as many as 50,000 plants. The females are placed on the plants about August, and in four months the first crop of cochineal is gathered, two more being produced in the course of the year. The native country of the insect is Mexico, and it is there more or less culti vated ; but the greater part of our supply comes from New Granada and the Canary Islands.
Pereskia Aculeata, or Barbados Gooseberry, the Cactus Pcreskia of Linnaeus, is the only remaining generic type ; and this differs from the rest in having woody stems and leaf-bearing branches, the leaves being somewhat fleshy, but otherwise of the ordinary laminate character. The flowers are subpaniculate, white or yellowish. This species is frequently used as a stock on which to graft other Cacti. There are about a dozen species known.
CADAHALSO, Jose de (1741-1782), a Spanish poet and writer, was born at Cadiz in 1741. He was educated at Paris, and before completing liis twentieth year had travelled through Italy, Germany, England, and Portugal, and had studied with care the languages and literatures of these countries. On his return to Spain he entered the army, and rose to the rank of colonel. He was killed at the siege of Gibraltar, 27th February 1782. His first published work was a tragedy after the French model, Don Sancho Garcia, printed in 1771. In the following year he published his Eruditos d la Violeta (Fashionable Learning), a satire on superficial knowledge, which was very successful. In 1773 appeared a volume of miscellaneous poems, and after his death there was found among his MSS. a series of fictitious letters, somewhat after the style of the Lcttrcs Persanes, or the Citizen of the World, which were published as Moorish Letters, and have been frequently reprinted. The complete edition of his works, with life by Navarrete, appeared at Madrid, in 3 vols., 1818.
the English), the capital of a province of the same name in Spain, is built on the extremity of a tongue of land projecting about five miles into the sea, in a direction N.W. from the Isla de Leon, in 36 31 N. lat., G 18 W. long., 94 miles by rail south of Seville, and 13 from Xeres. The city, which is six or seven miles in circumference, is surrounded by a wall with five gates, one of which communi cates with the isthmus. Seen from a distance off the coast, it presents a magnificent display of snow-white turrets rising majestically from the sea : and for the uniformity and elegance of its buildings, it must certainly be ranked as me of the finest cities of Spain, although, being hemmed in on all sides, its streets and squares are necessarily con tracted. Every house in the city annually receives a coating of whitewash, which, when it is new, produces a disagree able glare in the streets. The most characteristic feature of Cadiz is the marine promenades, fringing the city all round between the ramparts and the sea, especially that called the Alamcdaon the eastern side, commanding a view of the shipping in the bay and the ports on the opposite shore. The principal square is the Plaza dc San Antonio, sur rounded by handsome houses with elegant facmles, the centre pleasantly shaded with trees, and furnished with numerous seats of marble. Communicating with it is the principal street (Calle lAncha), in which are the exchange
and houses of the nobility. The houses arc generally lofty