po s t e I s ia 143 



the ridges facing the ocean show no signs of 

 glacial action, and there appears to be no reason 

 why such ridges may not have been forested during 

 the entire glacial period, just as the hills of the 

 Alaska coast are forested now, while the valleys 

 are often filled with glaciers. 



In this way fragments of the forests probably 

 survived at many points along the coast of Brit- 

 ish Columbia, Washington and Oregon, and 

 perhaps also at points in the interior, and from 

 these remnants the present forests have evident- 

 ly been formed. 



In Vancouver Island the conifers are, with 

 a few exceptions, widely distributed. The two 

 Junipers are local, one in the dry southeastern 

 district near Victoria, and the other as an alpine 

 shrub on the high mountain summits. Abies 

 Mertensiana is sub-alpine and apparently does 

 not descend appreciably below three thousand 

 feet. 



The forest of the lowlands of the west coast 

 is composed chiefly of spruce, western hemlock, 

 and cedar, with a smaller proportion of Abies 

 amabilis, yew and white pine, while Pinus con- 



