119 



These fossil plants bore man}' resemblances to the 

 pines that then grew, and also to the ferns ; and even now, 

 were I to point out all the curious and wonderful processes 

 that the little ovule and pollen grains go through, before 

 the seed is perfected, you would see at once that all the 

 resemblances are not lost yet, between the pines, ferns 

 and club mosses as they are now found. Even the out- 

 ward appearance of one of our Lycopodiums, or club 

 mosses, is so much like a pine tree, that one of its com- 

 mon names is "Ground Pine." But in the old geologic 

 time, before the different members of the vegetable king- 

 dom had grown so far away from each other, so to speak, 

 these resemblances between the Conifers and Cryptogams 

 were much stronger than we find them now. 



The nearest relations to the Pines we have in Essex 

 county, are the Spruce and Larch ; but all the members 

 of the family Couiferoe have so many striking character- 

 istics in common, that any of our native species would 

 at once be recognized as belonging to that family. 



They are as follows : 



Pinus riyida, Pitch Pine. 



Pinus rexinosa, Red Pine. 



Pinus Strubus, White Pine. 



AM'-s niyra, Black Spruce. 



Ahies Canadensis, Hemlock Spruce. 



Larix Americana Larch, or Hackmatack. 



Cupressus thyoides, White Cedar. 



Juiiiperns communis, .... Common Juniper. 



Jnniperus Virgiuiana, .... Red Cedar. 



Taxus baccata, var. Canadensis, American Yew, 



or Ground Hemlock. 



These are all the Conifers we have growing naturally 

 within the limits of Essex county. Beside these there 

 are quite common in cultivation (and rarely some of them 

 are found to have sprung up from scattered seeds), the 

 following : Scotch Pine, Austrian Piue, Norway Spruce, 



