326 REMARKS REGARDING ARAUCARIA RULEI. 
LVI.— REMARKS UPON ARAUCARIA RULEI. 
By J. Өмїтн, Nurseryman, St. Nicholas Street, Aberdeen. 
IN A LETTER ADDRESSED. TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 
Тнвоссн your kind permission, I have the honour of presenting to the 
Royal Horticultural Society the enclosed small plant of Araucaria Rulei. 
The best information I can give of this new Conifer is an extract of the in- 
formation sent to us (Smith and Adamson, Nursery and Seedsmen, Melbourne) 
by Mr. William A, Duncan, the collector and finder of this species, when 
collecting seeds and plants for us in 1861. Thus, * The altitude of the 
Araucaria Rulei may be placed at from 50 to 55 feet, extending its branches 
to about 24 feet, feathered from about 9 feet from the collar, partaking of the 
habit of Araucaria imbricata, very distinct in its foliage, being of a darker 
green, larger, more imbricated, and brilliantly nitid. It is undoubtedly 
the finest and most beautiful species of the genus or of any known coni- 
ers. It has only been found on one mountain on an island of the New 
Hebrides, though not marked as one of that group. It is in the same 
parallel of latitude as А. Bidwillii, but double the elevation of that plant. 
The mountain itself exhibits evidence of having been greatly convulsed; no 
indication of a volcano, however, is traceable near it. A. Rulei is found on 
its сар; on a declension of 200 feet it magically disappears entirely. There 
is no soil but what has been formed by the decomposition of the rock, in : 
which iron greatly prevails. No Cryptogram has been found; it is alone ex- 
cepting one congener, which is not yet determined and very scarce. 
geographical range does not exceed the radius of half a mile. A. Bidwillit is 
very limited, so also is 4. excelsa ; А. Cunninghamii changes as it advances 
northwards. Thus, in reference to habitat, all the genus appear compa- 
ratively equal, being all limited. ‘The seminal leaves of all the other 
species of Araucaria are followed by permanent foliage, but in Rulei its 
foliage passes through six stages before fully elaborated, and those stages 
resemble the foliage of all the others of the genus from Cookii to 
imbricata,” 
countered when on the route to this island from Porte de France, 88 
encountering heavy gales when sailing in a small boat, conducted by 
a few blacks, and on one occasion was nearly killed among them. This 
