2 :’, 26

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART HI.

2235

lighter green than the rest of the leaves.

The leaves, on branches at some distancefrom the ground, and on the leadingshoot, as compared with those of otherpines and firs, may be described as dagger-shaped, or as resembling miniature bay-onets. They are equally and closelydistributed over the branches ; and, beingalmost without footstalks, and broad atthe base in proportion to their length,they give the branches which are clothedwith them a good deal of the appearanceof Araucaria brasiliensis. The leaves, onthe branches which are close to theground, are rather more two-row cd, inthe manner of the silver fir, than those onthe higher branches; as may be seen inJig. 2236., which represents a portion ofthe lowest branch of the young tree inthe pinetum at Dropmore. The colourof the bark of the young shoots is adecided brown ; which, contrasting withthe light colour of the petioles, and thedark green of the upper surface of theleaves, and their silvery lines below, gives the plant at once a rich and a livelyappearance. The buds are prominent, somewhat square-sided, pointed, andslightly covered with resin. In plants kept under glass, they have muchmore resin than in those kept in the open air. The branches are very nume-rous ; and, though originating at the main stemin regular tiers, yet, at a short distance fromit, they divaricate in all directions; and, inplants in pots, from 3 ft. to 4 ft. high, whichare the largest that we have seen, they form abush broader than it is high. This is also saidto be the case with the plants in the open groundat Luscombe and at Hampton Lodge. Thegeneral resemblance which the plant, in thisstate, has to an araucaria is very remarkable ;and, if the cones should prove to be as dif-ferent from those of other species of d'bies andPicea as the leaves, this tree will form a con-necting link between the firs and the arau-carias. The cones have not yet been seen in Britain ; but General Napierthinks that they are sometimes pointing upwards, and sometimes turneddown; and Mr. Curling, who was superintendent of the Colonial Farm mCephalonia at the time that General Napier was governor of the island, andwho is now steward to Sir Henry Bunbury, at Mildenhall, Suffolk , thinksthat he recollects that the cones were soft and pendulous, like those of thespruce fir. This point, through the kindness of General Napier, now (Janu-ary, 1838,) residing at Bath, who has promised to procure cones for us, and aspecimen of the wood, we hope soon to be able to determine.

Geography. The only known habitat of this remarkable fir is in Cepha-lonia , on a ridge of mountains, the highest point of which was anciently calledMount Enos ; but the general name of the ridge is now the Black Mountain.This ridge is between twelve and fifteen miles in length, and between 4000 ft.and 5000 ft. above the level of the sea. Dr. Holland, who saw it in 1813,describes it as the most striking feature in the general aspect of the island.On the summit of the highest point of this ridge, the Mount Enos of antiquity,stood, according to Strabo , an altar dedicated to Jupiter iEnesius; and Dr.