Foreign Notices : — Spain. 



SOY 



has peculiarly large buds and shoots, and an ill-shapen leaf, and grows also in 

 Asturias. Below towards Bayonne, and, I believe, on the opposite flank, in 

 Languedoc and Roussillon, the Q. Suhev (cork tree) abounds, but no ever- 

 green oak is seen on the northern side of the High Pyrenees. On the Spanish 

 side, high up, in the Pena de Ventimilia, and at the village of Andorre, are 

 found the first evergreen oaks. In Aragon they are termed the alcina, and 

 are of the species which will be more particularly described hereafter as the 

 Spanish oak. The elm described by La Peyrouse as a variety of montana, 

 under the name of m. pyrenaica, if it be a variety, grows on the Malvern Hills, 

 where are two SkYices, which are also common in the Pyrenees. 



20 



Forest Section across the High Pyrenees. 



L, Plain of Languedoc. M, Mediterranean. N, North side. S, South side. a. Lower 



region, oak, chestnut, lime, &c. b. Beech and yew, holly, elder, &c. c, Silver fir and Scotch 

 pine. d, d, Piiius uncinata. e, Scotch pine.; /, P. pyren4ica of Lapeyrouse, sui)posed to 

 be identical with P. hispanica of the Sierra de Segura. g, P. halepensis. 



" Sierra de Cuenca. — The section is now carried across the Ebro, and the 

 treeless plains of Aragon, to the Sierra de Cuenca. The lower zone of that 

 range, on the south side, is the P. halepensis ; above which, and mingled with 

 it, but now nearly extinct, is found the P. Pinaster ; and above that, occu- 

 pying the highest part of the range, I found the P. sylvestris. I have every 

 reason to believe that there is no species at a higher level than this, which 

 supplies Madrid with building timber, floated down by the Tagus to Aranjuez. 

 This species is named by the woodmen alvar, and I saw it in the Val de 

 Cabras, about three leagues from the city of Cuenca; the whole intervening 

 pines, on the route from the city, being now exclusively the P. halepensis. 

 Travelling to the west from this, we again cross the plains of La Mancha, 

 and reach the Sierra de Segura, which is described in a visit to it. The 

 upper zone of this vast district is covered by a tree, undescribed by any 

 Spanish or other author, to my knowledge, unless it be the same as that 

 noticed by Roxas de San-Clemente, as growing on the Sierra de Baza, which 

 is a detached fragment of this range at its southern end, and called by him 

 Pinaster hispanicus. 



" The description of this tree is so exactly identical with that of Aragon, that 

 I am quite convinced they are the same, and they grow at similar elevations. 

 The cones of both these species are now in England; and, as they have vege- 

 tated at the garden of the Horticultural Society, and other places, it will be 

 known certainly whether they are identical, of which I have not the smallest 

 doubt, from ample examination and opportunity of judging. The height of 

 range of this species, in the localities mentioned, may be taken at from 

 2000 ft. to 4000 ft., and in the Sierra de Segura somewhat more. One pecu- 

 liarity is to be observed in the cones of this species. A quantity I brought 

 from the spot were packed amongst geological specimens, and opened at 

 Somerset House during the heat of summer, when a delicious perfume, a per- 

 fect " Sabsean odour " exhaled from them, but was quickly lost in the gases 

 of an atmosphere very unlike that of its native Sierra. 



From a variety of concuri'ent and cross testimony, I have no doubt what- 

 ever that this same species exists in the Sierra de Cuenca, in that part of it to 

 the south, where are the sources of the Gabriel, the chief subsidiary of the 

 Xucar. This district is called the Marquesado de Moya, and the timber of it 

 is floated down to Valencia, where it is known in the timber-yards by the 

 same of pino bianco. As the species is peculiar to the country, and is thus 



