1853.] OPINIONS ON THE THEE AND SOIL. 3S1 



remaining traces of what might, at some distant period, 

 have been a forest. All the surrounding earth and tufts 

 of grass indicated this spot to have been the bottom of 

 some lake or marsh.* 



On my return, this evening, I had scarcely sighted 

 the ship, when I discovered that the ' Hamilton' and a 

 tent had returned : at first I feared disaster, but it turned 

 out to be the return of Dr. Lyall. Lieutenant Osborn, 



* Through the kindness of Sir W. J. Hooker and his son, Dr. 

 Hooker, I am enabled to furnish the following interesting remarks, 

 which I think better placed here than in the Second Volume : 



" The piece of wood brought by Sir Edward Belcher from the shores 

 of Wellington Channel belongs to a species of Pine, probably to the 

 P/iins (Abies) alba, the most northern Conifer. This, the " White 

 Spruce," advances as far north as the 68th parallel, and must be often 

 floated down the great rivers of North America to the Polar Ocean. 



" The structure of the wood of the specimen brought home differs re- 

 markably in its anatomical characters from that of any other Conifer 

 with which I am acquainted. Each concentric ring of wood (or an- 

 nual growth) consists of two zones of tissue ; one, the outer, that to- 

 wards the circumference, is broader, of a pale colour, and consists of 

 ordinary tubes or fibres of wood, marked with the circular discs com- 

 mon to all Couiferfp. These discs are usually opposite one another, 

 when more than one row of them occur, in the direction of the length 

 of the fibre, and, what is very unusual, present radiating lines from the 

 central depression to the circumference. 



" Second, the inner zone of each annual ring of wood is narrower, 

 of a dark colour, and formed of more slender woody fires, with thicker 

 walls in proportion to their diameter. These tubes have few or no discs 

 upon them, but are covered with spiral stria;, giving the appearance of 

 each tube being formed of a twisted baud. 



" The above characters prevail in all parts of the wood, but are 

 -lightly modified in different rings; thus the outer zone is broader 

 in some than in others, the disc-bearing fibres of the outer zone are 

 sometimes faintly marked with spiral stria?, and the spirally-marked 

 fibres of the inner zone sometimes bear discs. 



"These appearances suggest the annual recurrence of some special 



