Capt. S. E. Cook on the Genus Pinus and Abies. 167 



We may take the P. sylvestris, the hardiness and good 

 quaUties of the timber of which are so well known, as a point 

 to commence from. Two Europaean species only of Piniis to 

 my knowledge claim to live at a higher elevation than the 

 Scotch fir ; these are the P. Cembra and P. uncinata. The 

 Cembra grows in the very highest of the northern and central 

 Alps, and, wherever I have seen it, above the other forests. 

 There are a few remaining on the Montanvet at Chamouny, 

 apparently because they were not worth removing, nearly all 

 the good specimens in that locality being extinct. It grows 

 in the coldest parts of Siberia. The timber is superior to that 

 of the sylvestris. 



In like manner the P. uncinata forms a complete zone in the 

 high Pyrenees, where it is placed above the sylvestris. The 

 timber is of higher value than that of its less hardy congener. 



The sylvestris itself is found from Norway to the south of 

 Spain, where I found two ranges of forest ; one in the Sierra 

 de Guadarrama, or great central chain of Spain, where it forms 

 the upper zone; the other in the Sierra de Cuenca (lat. 41°), 

 of which it occupies the northern summits, and is floated down 

 by the western arm of the Tagus to supply Madrid with build- 

 ing materials. This is, as far as I know, its southern habitat. 

 Its place in hardiness and value consequently is nearly but not 

 quite the first. 



The next in rank are two species which I shall place toge- 

 ther, because their geographical site and elevation as well as 

 quality seem to indicate the propriety of doing so, although 

 they are whoUy distinct fi'om each other, the P. Laricio and 

 P. Jiispanica. The P. Laricio is found, as far as any authen- 

 tic information we possess goes, exclusively in the central 

 parts of the lofty island of Corsica, in lat. 43°, where it grows 

 at a moderately high elevation, and does not descend to the 

 shores of the Mediterranean. 



The Pinus hispanica, which as yet has been found only in 

 Spain, I found to range from the Sierra de Segura, in lat. 39°, 

 to the foot of the Pyrenees, in lat. 43°. It grows generally 

 at an elevation of 2000 to 3000 feet, and not to my knowledge 

 higher nor lower. It has erroneously been represented by 

 some writers to extend into France. The fact is, in the local- 

 ity where the forests of the hispanica are placed, between the 



