54 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



store to the red squirrel and other small quadrupeds which do not 

 hybernate. These seeds consist of farinaceous matter impreg- 

 nated with resin and oil. They are thence very nutritious. In 

 some instances they may be eaten without preparation, as is 

 the case with those of the stone pine of the South of Europe, 

 in several countries of which they form a not unimportant arti- 

 cle of food, and those of the Araucarian pine * of South America. 

 In other cases the acridity of the oil must be previously removed 

 by roasting. 



The tenacity of life of the seeds is remarkable. They will 

 remain for many years unchanged in the ground, protected by the 

 coolness and deep shade of the forest above them. But when 

 the forest is removed and the warmth of the sun admitted, they 

 immediately vegetate. When the first leaves make their ap- 

 pearance above the surface, some of them, as those of the true 

 pine and of others of that section, exhibit several seed-leaves, 

 showing that their seeds are apparently provided with several 

 cotyledons. They thus form an exception to the nearly univer- 

 sal character of the division of plants to which they belong. 

 Some physiologists consider the exception only apparent, and 

 regard the cotyledons as two, very deeply lobed. 



Insects on the Pines. — With the exception of the oaks, the 

 pines furnish sustenance to a greater number of insects than 

 any other family of trees. The several parts of the tree, the 

 leaves, the bark, the shoots, and the trunk, have, each, their 

 peculiar inhabitants and enemies, terms which in this case are 

 synonymous. 



The leaves of the pines feed the " curiously checkered cater- 

 pillar of the Sphinx coniferarum ;" those of the pitch pine, 

 and, more especially, of the fir, are destroyed by swarms of the 



* The Indians make use of the fruit of this tree, the Araucaria imbricata, as a 

 very nourishing food. They eat it raw as well as boiled and roasted ; with it they 

 form pastry, and distil from it a spirituous liquor. There are stated times to col- 

 lect the fruit, which they preserve to make use of as required. — Lambert's Genus 

 Pinus, p. 108. 



The seeds of the Brazil pine, Araucaria Braziliana, are sold as an article of food 

 in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. — Id. 111. 



