NOTES ON THE DOUGLAS FIR. 21 



winters less severe. The mean annual temperature recorded at 

 stations in the southern parts of the Interior Wet Belt is 44° F., 

 with a winter mean of 27° and a summer mean of 61°. The 

 highest recorded temperature in this region is 100° and the 

 lowest - 17°. 



The Douglas fir in the Interior Wet Belt is a much larger and 

 finer tree than in the Dry Belt, sometimes attaining 120 feet 

 and upwards in height, with a diameter at breast-height of 3 to 

 5 feet. The forests at Craigellachie, which may be taken as 

 fairly representative examples of Interior Wet Belt forests at 

 moderate altitudes (1500 feet), are composed of a very uniform 

 mixture of Douglas fir, Thuya gigantea, Pmus moniicola, Tsuga 

 heterophylla (the last three species being absent from the Dry 

 Belt), along with a small proportion of Engelmann's spruce. 

 This is the kind of forest that is typical of the lower western 

 slopes of the Cariboo and Monashee ranges. 



At higher altitudes and on eastern slopes Engelmann's 

 spruce enters more largely into the composition of the forest, 

 and is frequently the dominant tree at elevations of 2500 feet. 

 At Glacier (3000 feet), where the forests may be regarded as 

 typical of Interior Wet Belt forests at higher elevations, the 

 forest on the eastern slopes are Engelmann's spruce and on the 

 western slopes a mixture of Thuya gigantea and Tsuga 

 heterophylla. 



The Craigellachie cones answer to Henry and Flood's descrip- 

 tion of the cones of the Caesia variety. They are about 2-2^- 

 inches in length, of a dark muddy greyish-brown colour and 

 have about 35-40 scales, which are pubescent on the exterior 

 surface. The bracts, which are erect, are slightly shorter 

 than the scales in the lower half of the cone, and slightly 

 longer in the upper portion. They have short, blunt, lateral 

 lobes, the inner edges of which meet at an obtuse angle, and 

 long, slender awns. The seeds and wings are similar as regards 

 shape and size to the Kamloops seed, but are much darker in 

 colour. 



The seedlings ripened off their shoots early in the autumn. 

 The end buds are shorter, stouter and less prominent than the 

 buds of the Kamloops seedlings, and are of a lighter brown 

 colour. The cotyledons and primary leaves are shorter than the 

 leaves of the Kamloops plants, being rather less than half an inch 

 in length. They are also softer, and of a lighter green colour, 



