278 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



out strongly the fact of its having grown /// 

 situ. 



" ' The piece of wood brought by Sir Edward 

 Belcher from the shores of Wellington Channel 

 belongs to a species of pine probably the Finns 

 (Abies) alba, the most northern conifer. 1 The 

 structure of the wood of the specimen brought 

 home differs remarkably in its anatomical character 

 from that of any other conifer with which I am ac- 

 quainted. Each concentric ring (or annual growth) 

 consists of two zones of tissue ; one, the outer, that 

 towards the circumference, is broader, of a pale 

 colour and consists of ordinary tubes of fibres of 

 wood marked with discs common to all conifer, r. 

 These discs arc usually opposite one another when 

 more than one row of them occur in the direction 

 of the length of the fibre ; and, what is very 

 unusual, present radiating lines from the central 

 depression to the circumference. Secondly, the 

 inner /one of each annual ring of wood is narrower, 

 of a dark colour, and formed of more slender 

 -woody fibres, with thicker walls in proportion to 

 1 Quarterly Journal Geological Society, Vol. XI., page 540. 



