"Amateur" writes: "I notice in the September number of the Gardeners' Monthly Mr. Blanc's interesting paper on Cactuses. In speaking of the Astrophytum he says he believes it to be the only cactus without spines. I expect this was rather a slip of the pen on the part of Mr. Blanc, because in so large a collection as his he can scarcely fail to have some of the Epiphyllum truncatums which are without spines. Likewise, the common Rhipsalis salicornioides, Pelecyphora aselliformis, at least has no visible spines, if it has any at all. Among my own small collection I have an Echinocactus Williamsii, which is entirely devoid of this usual characteristic - looking not unlike an unripe tomato.