466 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IS. 



considerable celebrity. Lindley described it, in 1853, as Wel- 

 lingtonia gigantea ; and, in the following year, Decaisne and 

 Dr. Torrey proved that it belonged to Sequoia, and that it 

 accordingly should be called Sequoia gigantea. But Endlicher 

 had already employed that name for another species, in 1847, 

 and the prodigious size which he ascribes to that tree makes it 

 probable that he had in some w^ay received information respect- 

 ing this Californian giant before it was made known by Lindley. 

 It therefore remains doubtful whether his Sequoia gigantea is 

 identical with WelUngtonia gigantea or not. 



While the Sequoia sempervirens, in spite of the destructive- 

 ness of the x\merican lumbermen, still forms larsie forests aloncr 

 the coast, the Sequoia gigantea is confined to the isolated clumps 

 which are met with inland at a height of 5,000 to 7,000 feet 

 above sea level, and are much sought after by tourists as one of 

 the wonders of the country. Reports came to Europe concern- 

 ing the largest of them which were quite fabulous, but we have 

 received accurate accounts of them from Prof. Whitney. The 

 tallest tree measured by him has a height of 325 feet, and in 

 the case of one of the trees the number of the rings of growth 

 indicated an age of about 1300 years. It had a girth of 50 to 

 60 feet. 



We know only two living species of Sequoia, both of which 

 are confined to California. The one (^S. seinpervirens) is clothed 

 with erect leaves, arranged in two rows, very much like our yew- 

 tree, and bears small round cones ; the other (iS'. gigantea^ has 

 smaller leaves, set closely against the branches, giving the tree 

 more the appearance of the cypress. The cones are egg-shaped, 

 and much larger. These two types are therefore sharply defined. 



Both of these trees have an interesting history. If we go 

 back into the Tertiary, this same genus meets us with a long 

 array of species. Two of these species correspond to those living 

 at present : the S. Langsdorjii to the S. sempervirens, and the 

 S. Sternhergii, to the S. gigantea. But whilst the living 

 species are confined to California, in the Tertiary they are spread 

 over several quarters of the globe. 



Let us first consider the Sequoia Langsdorjii. This was first 

 discovered in the Lignite of Wetterau, and was described as 

 Taxites Langsdorfii. I found it in the upper Rhone and in 

 Monod, and there lay beside the twigs the remains of a cone, 

 which showed me that the Taxites Langsdoi-fii of Brogn... be- 



