CONES 5 



the tail-lock fringe, and the other the upright mane 

 of the specimens of a prehistoric age represented 

 by Prjevalsky's ponies, from the Gobi desert of 

 Siberia. 



Many of them are not of sufficiently pronounced 

 habits either way to give our identifying faculties 

 a little first aid in their directions. We must seek 

 inspiration elsewhere. 



Of the fifty-two different species (without counting 

 what are classed as varieties) as enumerated by 

 Elwes and Henry, twenty of these have five leaves in 

 a bundle. 



We have not so far mentioned perhaps the most 

 complete of all clues to identification — we allude to 

 the cones. These fruits of coniferous trees give a 

 maximum of information for a minimum of study. 

 Unfortunately they are not always so forthcoming as 

 they might be; more often, to put it mildly, very 

 much the contrary. To make a collection of them 

 is an interesting pursuit, and they act as a useful 

 reminder on many an identification question. This 

 perhaps, is a remark that it may be said goes without 

 saying, but at the same time it is not a task accom- 

 plished without some doing. 



Perhaps few cones are obtained with more 

 difficulty than those on the commonest of trees in 

 our midst, the Silver Fir (Abies Pectinata). In the 

 first place these cones have a way of appearing only 

 on the topmost height of what is generally the highest 

 tree in the district. In the second place they have 

 a way of dehiscing and falling to pieces at the precise 

 moment you think you can secure them. It is a 

 task that calls for a towering ambition on the part of 

 someone concerned, and usually for a forthcoming 

 coin of the realm to the simian acrobat who performs 

 the crowning feat and gathers the forbidden fruits. 

 These difficulties surmounted, and the psychological 



