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I. Introduction. 
n the course of an excursion undertaken in 1922, the 
I eldest among us saw some larch plantations in Roden 
Forest, in the south-east of the Danish island of Lolland; in 
most respects they resembled the Japanese Larch (Larix 
Kaempferi), but differed, nevertheless, from it in several 
respects, and therefore aroused my interest’. This was the 
cause of my endeavouring to obtain information regarding, 
and material from, various larch plantations in this country, 
for the purpose of ascertaining which forms and species 
we had taken into culture during the course of the past 
decades. Arising out of these enquiries, my interest became 
extended to embrace the whole genus Larix, one result 
being the present treatise, which considers only the larch 
in the wild state, and its geographical distribution. It is 
founded upon a comprehensive study of material from 
various parts of the globe, as well as of the very copious 
literature extant upon the subject. Duties of many kinds 
make heavy demands upon my time, and I have taken as 
collaborator Mr. C. SYRACH LARSEN, Graduate of Forestry, to 
whose interest and industry I am indebted, that this paper 
could be presented in such detail. 
We have received assistance from many different quarters ; 
we have had material on Joan from the Arnold Arboretum in 
Massachusetts, where the East-Asiatic species are very well 
represented. Moreover, the Larix material in the museums 
at Washington, New York, Ottawa, Kew and London, as 
well as that in the Gray Herbarium of Cambridge, Mass., 
* It is L. Gmelini, var. olgensis. See p. 55. 
1* 
