ae a Se aah < : > peel ~ ates _ MeCN < = He Sen one SS nics ‘ . ae ~ = iri: v “S tomes > re Se oS rn aN ~ meee Miley oe ' of Mexico are settled contiguous to them. THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY, LIMIT ED ee CALLS ATTENTION TO THE FACT, THAT: IT IS THE ONLY Standard Guage Route from the United States Frontier to Mexico City. IT IS THE ONLY Line-in Mexico that can offer the Traveling Public the conveniences and comforts of Standard Guage Pullman Drawing Room Sleepers, lighted by Pintsch Gas. IT IS THE ONLY line by which you can travel WITHOUT CHANGE from St. Louis, Mo., to Mexico City. IT IS THE ONLY line from El Paso, Texas, to Mexico City. If 1S THE SHORT line from San Francisco and Pacific Coast Points to Mexico City. The lines of the Mexican Central Railway pass through 15 of the 27 States of the Republic. Hight million of the thirteen million inhabitants | The principal mining regions receive their supplies and export their products over it. Chihuahua, Sierra Mojada Mapimi, Fresnillo, Parral, Guanacevi, Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Sombrerete, Pachuca, etc. WHEN YOU TRAVEL FOK Pee GO WHERE BUSINESS IS There are only five cities of over 35,000 inhabitants in the Republic | of Mexico that are not reached by the Mexican Central Line. | The following ten cities are reached only by the Mexican Central Railway: Chihuahua 30,098 inhabitants; Parral 16,382; Zacatecas 34,438; Gua- | najuato 40,580; Leon 63,263; Guadalajara 101,208; Queretaro 38,016; Za- | mora 12,533; Agu: ascalientes 31, 816; Irapuato 19,640. i It also reaches the Cities of Torreon 13,845; San Luis Potosi 60,858; | Tampico (Mexican Gulf Port) 16,313; Celaya 25, 565; Pachuca 31, 487. § City of Mexico 368,777. Daily Pullman service beetween St. Louis, Mo., and Mexico City, «also | between Hl Paso, T'ex., and Mexico City, and vice versa. ; C. R. HUDSON, a. fF. & Pp. a. J.T. WHALEN, G. w. P. A. § W.D. MURDOCK; a. a. & p. 4. Mexican Central Ry., 209 House Bldg; St. Louis, Mo. |} Mexico City. 28 APR 1937 Sample copy free—please oS J > -stibscribe. The West American Scientist Vol. XII. No. 73. June, 1902. Whole No. 114 INTO MEXICO WITH THE EDITOR. Gleanings from private letters of the editor-in-chief who is three thousand miles away, will assist us in a brief trip into Mexico. ‘There are many things of interest to be noticed on our the speed-loving American is the time the way. Perhaps first of note to trip requires. Wight years ago, from HI] Paso to Mexico City, required four days. Now we can accomplish the same in little more than half that time —two and one-half days. Outside our car window as we leave Hi] Paso, we see only grassy plains and sand hills. Miesquite trees are in leaf and form the chief verdure of the coun- try. The Living Rock cactus is found on the hills in this vicinity, but very difficult to distinguish as it is so iden- tical in color with the rocks on which it SrOWS. | Agaves abound in the moun- tains, one of these, a pulbous variety, is especially beautiful. Further south we pass fields of young eotton plants. Yuccas are used for fence posts. Everything is dry—a de's- ert. In some parts of the trip the mes- larger still. quite trees give promise of being in reality what they are in name—trees. As we reach the valley of Mexico we find ourselves in a region of broad cul- tivated fields, dry, The train winds around much like Califor- nia in aspect. low hills, up, up. A reservoir of water with green fields of corn beneath its influence, and thousands of acres of maguey fields—a curse to Mexico; stone walls, tiled roofs, cathedral towns, the wooden plow, thirteen modern houses (huts of cast-off corrugated iron), big hats on barefooted and on sandaled men, a eucalyptus tree among the cac- ti; such are some of the sights as the landscape speeds behind. Mexico City is reached at last. It has grown remarkably since a visit eight years ago and is destined to be No vacant lots in the city. Solid stone and other evidences ofgreat wealth displayed—and of great poverty, as well. 500,000 people are living here, it is said. They are people of all sorts. The free music and plaza promenade in one of the nearby towns brings them their best. Among them all in some are very pretty, white, barehead- out 171 The West American Scientist. 172 ed girls in black lace mantillas over pink dresses, others wear Parisian hats and shoes, and the children are as pretty and as prettily dressed as the average in the United States. But this trip into Mexico is far more comfortable than the real thing can be. In that are many trials to be met and conquered or endured. There is the dust. It is very trying at this season of the year, just before the rains set in. One night the train encountered a sand storm and in the morning the beds were covered with dust and the car was full of it. Not less trying than the dust is the heat. Activity of any sort must be suspended and the time of the greatest heat spent in the shade of trees and houses or within doors. Our Scientist, in a fit of absent-mindedness, one day, laid two plants and a snail in the sun, while with true scientifie zeal he went for something else. When he returned he found them literally baked. The condition of the people of Mex- ico is pitiful. Many of them are both poor and extremely ignorant. One In- dian brought his little boy one evening,- as bright a child as need be found, and the pride of his father’s. heart. A box with a dime in it was given to him. He shook the box as he went and was as happy in the music of that coin as if the home he was going to was a palace instead of a hut of mud and brush. What a future is before him! His fa- ther had worked all day for about thirty cents. He spoke in poor Span- ish, had evidently never heard of the postoffice. He was looking wistfuily toward the United States, but with neither energy nor knowledge will prob- ably never reach it. It is pathetic to see the burdens these men will carry, a hundred pounds a mile at a time. And still more pathetic is their patience and their plaintive voices which are re- minders of the middle ages. Established 1884, THE WEST AMERICAN SCIENTIST. Published monthly. Price 10c a copy; $1 a year; $10 for life. Charles Russell Orcutt, Editor, Number 365 Twenty-first Street, San Diego, California, U. 8. A. ADVERTISEMENTS. Twenty-five cents a line, nonpareil, each insertion. ORCUTT, San Diego, California. Insurance Agent and Notary Public. DODSON, A. E.: No. 909 Fourth St., San Diego, Cal. West American MOLLUSCA Descriptions, notes, synonymy, bibliog- raphy, etc., collected and published in 4-page 8° numbers, at $1 for Vol. 1. (0@F We also offer many species for sale —including over 2000 varieties. ORCUTT, San Diego, California. WADE & WADE Analytical Chemists and Assayers, 115% North Main st. (Tel. Green 1704), Los Angeles, Cal. Chemical Analysis, Assaying, Milling, Concentration and Cyanide tests, etc. FINTZELBERG, THEODORWD: Real Estate, Insurance, Commission, Notary Public. P. O. box 694. Express block. 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To EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:— We will give toany college or school, while present supply lasts (and we have 100,000 duplicate specimens), a collection of 100 varieties of shells, minerals, fos- _sils, etc.—mostly Californian, named and _ mainly with printed labels, on the fol- _ lowing conditions:— ] 1—That the school shall provide a suit- able cabinet for its permanent preserva- tion and-display. 2—That the school shall subscribe for T year to CALIFORNIA ART & NATURE, _ and pay transportation on specimens. Estimated value of collection is fro. Kindly cooperate with us in creating a greater interest in the study of nature _ 1 our schools. 7 REAL ESTATE. SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. _ Residence and business property. im ' proved or unimproved. Ranches, and lands for colonization, for sale or trade. _ Mining property a specialtv. ' Oil lands in large or small tracts Investments recommended. Loans negotiated. Taxes, paid etc ORCUTT, San Diego, California. 5 The West American Scientist will " be sent to new subscribers for one year ‘for only 25 cents—payable in cash o» ‘anything of value for our library or “museum. The West American Scientist. 174 ATTORNEYS. CONKLIN, N. He Practices in all courts of the state and United States. No. 920 Fifth street. HAMMACK, N. S.: Real Estate and Loans. Lawyer Blk. Purchase your FOOTWEAR at LLEWELYN’S, 728 Fifth street. FOSSILS. 40 named tertiary fossils, $3 ORCUTT, San Diego, California. Botany of California! i This work, in 2 large volumes, may be had for $12—$1 extra for transportation. S&G@- Botany of Southera California’ is a pamphlet of about 70 pages, by Charles Russell Orcutt, editor of the West Am- erican Scientist, San Diego, California, containing a provisional check-list of the known species, with descriptions and economic notes concerning many. $1 ORCUTT, San Diego, California. Review of the Cactacesz By Charles Russell Orcutt. Original descript- ions carefully compiled and reprinted, with synonymy, and bibliographical references as complete as the author’s library will permit. Illustrated. Copious excerpts, with fleld and garden notes. Vol. I is devoted to the species of the United states, and issued in 4 parts at% “Wery valuable....-. aboveall works that come tomy table I want a complete set of this.”"—Thomas Meehan, Edition limited to 200 copies. ORCUTT, San Diego, California. ART & NATURE COMPANY, No. 868 Fifteenth street, San Diego, California. CACTI—Orcutt’s list for stamp. An excellent opportunity for the right man to engage in a _ profitable occupation. Correspondenee solicited. 17 SEP. 1902 ae THE MEXIGAN CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY, LIMIT ED CALLS ATTENTICN TO THE FACT, THAT: | IT TS THE ONLY Standard Guage Route from the United States Frontier to Mexico City. IT IS THE ONLY Line in Mexico that can offer the Traveling Publie the conveniences and comforts of Standard Guage Pullman Drawing Room Sleepers, lighted by Pintsch Gas. It IS THEONLY line by which you can travel WITHOUT CHANGE from St. Louis, Mo., to Mexico City. IT IS THE ONLY line from El Paso, Texas, to Mexico City. If IS THE SHORT line from San Francisco and Pacific Coast Points to Mexico City. The lines of the Mexican Central Railway pass through 15 of the 27 States of the Republic. Hight million of the thirteen million inhabitants of Mexico are settled contiguous to them. 3 The principal mining regions receive their supplies and export their products over it. Chihuahua, Sierra Mojada Mapimi, Fresnillo, Parral, Guanacevi, Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Sombrerete, Pachuca, ete. WHEN YOU TRAVEL FOR ie GO WHERE BUSINESS IS There are only five cities of over 35,000 inhabitants in the Republic of Mexico that are not reached by the Mexican Central Line. The following ten cities are reached only by the Mexican Central Railway: Chihuahua 30,098 inhabitants; Parral 16,382; Zacatecas 34,438; Gua- najuato 40,580; Leon 63,263; Guadalajara 101,208; Queretaro 38,016; Za- — mora 12,533; Aguascalientes 37,816; Irapuato 19,640. ‘ It also reaches the Cities of Torreon 13,845;San Luis Potosi 60,558; Tampico (Mexican Gulf Port) 16,313; Celaya 25,565; Pachuca 37,487. City of Mexico 368,777. : : Daily Pullman service beetween St. Lowis, Mo., and Mexico City, wlso © between El Paso, '[ex., and Mexico City, and vice versa. ©. R. HUDSON, c. F. & Pp. aA. a. J.T. WHALEN, G. Wee. AC : W. D. MURDOCK; a. G. & p. A. Mexican Central Ry., 209 House Bldg; ~ St. Louis, Mo. | Mexico City. and fruit unknown: “somewhat twisted, _ fruit reddish (7%), long: seeds reddish, oblique-obovate, 1.2 _ Type in Herb. Coulter. Vol. XII. No. r4. July, CACTUS NOTES. The following have been described by Coulter under the generic name Cactus— those which prove to be valid species we will name as Mammillarias, but will not yet make the transfer, known to be synonyms only of old spe- as some are cies: CACTUS ALTERNATUS Coulter. “Subglobose, 10 cm. in diameter, simple: tubereles long (15-20 mm) and spreading, with woolly axils: radial spines 3, rigid and| recurved, 5 mm long; central spines 3, very stout and much recurved, 20-30 mm long, alternating with the radials; all ashy colored and often twisted: flower Type, in Herb. Coul- ¢er. San Luis Potosi (Eschauzier of 1891).’—Coulter Cont U S Nat Hb 3:95 CACTUS ESCHAUZIERI Coulter. “Depressed-globose, 3 cm in diameter, simple: tubercles broader at base, 6-8 mm long, with naked axils: spines all pubes- cent; radials 15-20, with dusky tips, the lateral 10-12 mm long, the lower weake:, shorter and curved, the upper shorter, solitary central spine reddish, slender, usually hooked up- wards, 15-20 mm long: flowers red (7%): ovate, about 10 mm mm long, pitted, with subventral hilum. San Luis Potosi (Eschauzier of 1891).’"’—Coulter Cont US 1902. Whole No. 115 Nat Hb 3:104. CACTUS PRINGLEI Coulter. r “Globose (?), 5 em in diameter: tuber- cles short-conical, about 6 mm long, with very woolly axils: radial spines 18-20, se- taceous-bristly and radiant, 5-8 mm long, central spines 5-7 (usually 6), stout ana horny, more or less recurved, spreading. 20-25 mm long; all straw-colored, but the centrals darker: flowers deep red (dark er, even brownish outside), 8-10 mm long: fruit unknown. Type, Pringle of 1891 1a Herb. Gray.’’—Coulter, Cont U S Nat Hb 3:109. CACTUS MACULATUS Coulter. em, simple: t “Obovate-cylindrical, 6 by 8 em, some- what cespitose: tubercles ovate, terete, 10 mm long, grooved to the base, with na- ked axils: radial spines 10 or 11, straight and spreading, rigid, blackish (becoming: ashy with age), black-tipped, 12 mm long; central spine large, more or less spotted. erect, 25-35 mm long: flower 13 mm long, pinkish: fruit unknown, Type in Herp. Coulter, San Luis Potosi (Eschauzier of 1891).’""-—Coulter Cont U S Nat Hb 3:117. CACTUS BRUNNEUS Coulter. “Obovate-cylindrical, 3 by 6 em, simple. tubercles ovate, grooved to the base, 5-6 mm long, with woolly axils: radial spines 11-15, spreading, rather rigid and brown- ish (lighter with age), 8-10 mm long; cen- tral spine much larger, 20 mm long, hooked: flower and fruit unknown, Type in Herb. Coulter. San Luis Potosi (Hs- chauzier of 1891),’’"—Coulter Cont U S Nat Hb 3:117. CACTUS DENSISPINUS Coulter, “Globose, 7.5 em in diameter, simple: tubercles short, with woolly axils: radia, aa ea vag yartnn ee eS Ss ea SS near : . eas a « Sy ‘ ey : : es eceee Serta Ss wees Aang on Sema ERAS res, . a a SS ~ STS a a Sens p finery) : Ps — Say = x » wha nu Ry, ~ ny so ie >i . ene =, “s “ . “ Rete, ae Ne Fein TiS y ‘ f : Patsy eee eS Obes (uk Clean coryapey ae aS PaVilieN signe asic Sa . te eh 2 dhe PE eS Te oe oa : < ar et Syne SS * atc naece