_Bergorocactus Emoryi_, as he is sometimes called, is a little fellow to have such a long name. He is odd and rather humble, and very much resembles the Hedgehog Cactus, another group of Cereus, entirely. He grows well on the arid hillsides near the southern coast in San Diego County, California, and in Lower California; perhaps we should call him the “Prohibition cactus,” for he likes his home place dry. A foot or two high, he grows in thick impenetrable masses ten to twenty feet across, and covered with a dense spiny coating; fifteen to thirty slender, yellowish, needlelike but stiff thorns, half an inch to an inch long or longer; pale yellowish brown flowers, quite small and clustering toward the tips of the stems. As we stop a moment here in Lower California to view him, we see that he is somewhat interesting, but though a member of the noble tribe of Cereus not attractive to us as a weird cactus, having little to suggest the dignity and grandeur of the giant Sahuaro, the uniqueness of the Pipe Organ with its finest of fruit, or the exquisite blossoms of _la Reina de Noche_, queen among desert flowers. Old Man Cactus (_Cereus senilis_) _Mexico_ Next in line of our fashion parade comes the _Cereus senilis_, sometimes called by the botanists _Cephalocereus senilis_ (a polite way of saying “old man”). For a long time he has been one of the most popular of the Cactus Clan. He grows well in cactus gardens and conservatories, here and in Europe, and is greatly in demand on both continents; his habitat is the limestone foothills and mountains in northern and central Mexico, and is rather inaccessible. We find that the radial spines of the young plants are transformed into coarse white translucent hairs from four to twelve inches long, and, being deflexed like long gray hairs, suggest the name of “Old Man Cactus.” In the varying conditions and locations where he grows, he is sometimes called the “Bunny” or the “White Persian Cat” cactus. All the spines are fragile and break easily, and hence the Old Man cactus should not be handled more than is necessary. In maturity he grows around his head a dense mass of tawny wool, sometimes longer on one side suggesting a hat cocked to left or right, which gives the tall plant a most grotesque and rakish appearance. This cactus is columnar and little branched; in some instances he grows to a height of forty-five feet, and is a very imposing sight in the landscape. The stems and branches are pale green or yellow-green with a scurfy waxy coating over the surface, are not tough, and sometimes a large tree can be cut down with a small pocketknife! The rose-colored flowers are bell-shaped or funnel-shaped and night-blooming, appearing only on the older plants. The inch-long fruit is rose-colored and covered with scales and tufts of hair or short wool! How strangely at times Nature does her work! Pipe Organ Cactus (_Cereus Thurberi_)