266 APPENDIX. 



records "Pinus occidentalis " (=P> montezumce, Lamb.) as very common in the equi- 

 noctial parts of Mexico at altitudes of 580 to 2020 toises, or about 3500 to 12,000 

 feet ; but it is apparently rare at the lower elevation. Galeotti collected one species 

 in the cordillera of Oaxaca as low as 4000 feet, and two others at 5000 feet ; and 

 Liebmann states that pines begin to mingle with oaks on the eastern Cordilleras of 

 Vera Cruz at 6000 to 7000 feet. Against this, in the much lower latitude of Nicaragua, 

 and, so far as is at present known, the southern limit of pines in America *, (Ersted f 

 fixes the pine-region on the Volcan el Viejo in about 12° 30' N. lat. at 3000 to 4200 

 feet. What species this is we have not ascertained ; but Seemann J mentions passing 

 through a forest of Pinus tenuifolia at Ocote, north-east of El Viejo, and probably 

 at a lower altitude. In Cuba and the Isla de Pifios, where pines are abundant, 

 as observed by Humboldt §, and also in British Honduras, they grow down to 

 the sea-level, and this, be it remembered, within the tropics. Yet pines are absent 

 from Jamaica, notwithstanding the considerable elevation of the Blue Mountains. 

 Humboldt was of opinion that the Cuban pine was the same species so common in 

 Mexico (here referred to P. montezumce), where it ranges between 3000 and 12,000 

 feet ; but this does not appear to be so. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, much 

 remains to be done in the definition of the Mexican species. At all events the common 

 pine of British Honduras, collected by Mr. D. Morris, is undistinguishable from 

 P. cubensis, Griseb., which may or may not be the same as P. occidentalis of Swartz. 

 It is estimated that about one-third of the area of British Honduras is composed 

 of "Pine ridge" country, where Pinus cubensis is the principal tree, and which, 

 according to Morris ||, is probably the most abundant tree in the colony. With 

 regard to the upper limit of pines in Mexico that seems to vary as much in 

 different localities as the lower. As already mentioned, Humboldt gives the vertical 

 range of " Pinus occidentalis " at 3500 to 12,000 feet, the whole range of the genus. 

 Linden and Galeotti, on the labels accompanying their specimens, record P. montezumce 

 and P. patula from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, on the Peak of Orizaba, and the latter from 

 4000 to 5000 feet on the cordilleras of Oaxaca. Liebmann collected P. oocarpa at 

 Chinantla, Puebla, at an elevation of 7000 to 8000 feet ; and Roezl P. hartwegii on 

 Popocatepetl at an elevation of 13,000 to 14,000 feet ^f. Liebmann, as cited elsewhere 

 (p. 150), states that P. montezumce reaches 13,600 feet on the eastern side of Orizaba, 

 and even 14,000 feet on the western side, where it is dwarfed, but never either 

 shrubby or prostrate. This considerably exceeds the altitude attained by the alder. 



* Grisebach, ' Gesammelte Abhandlungen,' p. 260, records Pinus occidentalis from Costa Eica ; but this was 

 perhaps a slip of the pen ; and Polakowsky (Peterm. Mittheil. 1877, p. 221) states, erroneously as we believe 

 that (Ersted found Pinus occidentalis and Abies religiosa at the southern end of the Lake of Nicaragua. 



f Botanische Zeitung, 1848, p. 881. 



t Bedford Pirn and Berthold Seemann, ' Dottings on the Boadside in Panama, Nicaragua, and Mosquito,' 

 p. 55. § Belation Historique, iii. p. 377. 



|| The Colony of British Honduras, p. 57. % Parlatore in DeCandolle's ' Prodomus,' xvi. 2, p. 400. 



