For several years a "thin-shelled black walnut" has been offered by at least two nurserymen, in whose catalogues they are described as "with unusually thin shells, the kernels coming out whole." I have endeavored to ascertain the origin of this variety, but failed, for both of the nursery firms who advertised the frees for sale admit that they do not know from whom they obtained the nuts planted, or where the original tree is growing. As the trees offered are only seedlings, there is no certainty that they will produce nuts with "thin shells." We can safely drop this supposed variety from the list until something definite is known about it. JUGLANS CALIFORNICA, Watson. California Walnut.--Leaflets in from five to eight pairs, more or less downy, but sometimes smooth, oblong-lanceolate, sharp-pointed, narrowing upward from near the base, two to two and a half inches long. Male catkins much larger than in our Eastern species, or from four to eight inches, often in pairs. Fruit round, slightly compressed, three-fourths to one inch and a quarter in diameter; husk thin, slightly dotted or roughened; shell dark brown, very faintly sculptured (Fig. 83), almost smooth, thick, the kernel filling two broad cavities upon each side; edible and fairly good. A tree or large shrub in the vicinity of San Francisco and along the Sacramento (where it is sometimes cultivated), growing to the hight of forty to sixty feet, and two to four feet in diameter; ranging southward to Santa Barbara, and eastward through southern Arizona to New Mexico and Sonora (Thurber, "Botany of California"). This species has been considered by some botanists as only a variety of the next, or _Juglans rupestris_, var. _Major_, Torrey. Scarcely hardy in the latitude of New York city, except an occasional seedling from nuts gathered along the northern limits of the species, or from the cooler elevated regions of the Pacific slope. It is of no special value, only adding one more edible nut tree to the list. [Illustration: FIG. 83. JUGLANS CALIFORNICA.] [Illustration: FIG. 84. JUGLANS RUPESTRIS, SHOWING SMALL KERNEL.]