320 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



two years to ripen, instead of one year, as in all the 

 conifers which I have hitherto mentioned. The cedars 

 form the genus Cedrus, and three species are dis- 

 tinguished, namely: (i) C. Libani, the cedar of 

 Lebanon ; (2) C. Atlantica, the North African cedar of 

 the Atlas mountains; and (3) C. deodara, the Hima- 

 layan cedar or deodar. They are now considered to 

 be geographical varieties of one species. They differ 

 chiefly in the set of the branches and foliage. The 

 cedar of Lebanon has the trunk forked, and gives rise 

 to large, unequally disposed branches, spreading horizon- 

 tally ; it may have a spread of 100 feet and a height of 

 70 feet. In this country it is often uprooted by the wind, 

 or its branches are broken by a weight of snow, when it 

 has attained nearly full growth. The deodar cedar is 

 more Christmas-tree-like in shape, the trunk rarely is 

 forked, and it attains, in its native mountains, a height 

 of 250 feet. The Atlas cedar is in many respects inter- 

 mediate in character between C. Libani and C. deodara. 

 The cedar of Lebanon is undoubtedly the most majestic j 

 of the conifers grown in English parks. It was intro- 

 duced in the year 1665. There are specimens growing 

 in this country of which the trunk has a girth of 25 feet. 



The third section of the family Abietins is formed 

 by the genus Pinus, of which the Scots fir, or Scotch 

 pine (Pinus sylvestris), is the type. The Abietinse of 

 this genus are distinguished by their foliage. There 

 are two kinds of leaves — the primitive ones, which are 

 little, scale-like, green up-growths closely scattered on 

 the young branches ; and the secondary ones, which are 

 long needles carried as a tuft or fascicle on a very 

 stumpy branchlet. These tufts of needles are persistent 

 (that is to say, are not shed yearly), and differ from 

 those of the larches and cedars in consisting of but few 



