562 DR. M. T. MASTERS: GENERAL VIEW 
case, for classificatory purposes, they are said to be ‘“sub- 
terminal.” In other species the shoot lengthens beyond the 
insertion of the cones, so that the cones then spring from 
the sides of the shoot at some distance from the apex, when 
they are spoken of as “lateral.” As an exceptional occurrence, 
I have seen the cones of P. sylvestris erect and apparently, 
if not really, terminal; and a similar position was observed by 
Sir Charles Lemon in the ease of P. maritima (Pinaster) : see 
Trans. Hort. Soc. London, 2nd series, vol. i. pl. 20 (1833). 
In the var. terthrocarpa of P. cubensis the growth of the axis is, 
according to Engelmann, entirely arrested after producing an 
ament, and does not even elongate in the following season; the 
maturing cone, therefore, remains erect near the top of the 
branch (“ Revision of the Genus Pinus,” Trans. Acad. St. Louis, 
iv. 1880). 
The characters offered by the ripe cone and seed are of special 
importance ; but as they are dealt with by all writers on these 
plants, it is not necessary to enter into detail here concerning 
them. The form of the apophysis or swollen end of the cone- 
scale is very important ; that of its terminal portion, or umbo, 
not less so. In the young cones, for instance, of P. virginiana 
(znops) the apex of the scale is thickened and ends in a recurved 
point. As growth goes on, the apophysis becomes more 
flattened on each side of the terminal point, and thus the 
‘“‘umbo” becomes more distinctly marked out. 
The cones which are formed in one year generally ripen in the 
following season, or, in some cases, not till the third year. 
The characters derived from the seedling plant, the varying 
number of the cotyledons, the anatomy of the caulicle or hypo- 
cotyl are treated of in a former communication, Journ. Linn. 
Soe., Bot. vol. xxvii. (1889) pp. 236 et segg.; see also Freiherr 
von Tubeuf, ‘Samen, Friichte und Keimlinge’ (1891), p. 82. 
Without alluding to other characters mentioned under the 
head of particular species, it may be said that the genus, as 
now defined, is easily distinguished from the Spruces (Picea), 
the Silver Firs (Abies), the Cedars (Cedrus), the Larches 
(Larix), the Hemlock Spruces (Tsuga)—indeed, from all the 
genera which, at one time or another, have been included 
under Pinus. The nearest affinity appears to be with the 
Cedars and Larches, which have dimorphic shoots and tufted 
leaves produced on ‘spurs ;”? but in the Cedars the leaves are 
