LARCH AND FIR 89 



in the forests of the north. The European species 

 (Larix europeea) grows in the extreme west on the 

 confines of the Carpathians and in the southern portion 

 of the basin of the Vistula ; the Siberian species (L. 

 sibirica) is widely spread in the forests of Western 

 Siberia and is also found in the north-east of Russia 

 in the forests of Archangel, Vologda, Perm, and in parts 

 of Viatka and Kostroma ; in Eastern Siberia the 

 L. daurica replaces the other species of larch. This 

 conifer only occurs pure over small areas. It is chiefly 

 found in mixture with other conifers, chiefly pines. 

 The common silver fir (Abies pectinata) occurs in fine 

 extensive pine forests in the Western Vistula basin, 

 the tree here growing very fast and reaching a great 

 size with a high quality of timber. In the north-east 

 of European Russia it is replaced by the Siberian fir 

 {A hies sibirica), which here stretches into the larch zone, 

 crossing the Urals and spreading into the Siberian 

 forests, where it is usually found in mixture with 

 spruce covering extensive areas as yet little exploited. 

 The well-known Nordinann's silver fir is found in the 

 wooded mountain 3 of the Caucasus, where it forms pure 

 woods in which the tree is found of large size with re- 

 markably fine timber of high value. The beech occurs 

 in the south-west of the Vistula as also in the Crimea 

 and the Caucasus. In the Vistula basin it is usually 

 found mixed with fir, but it occurs as extensive pure 

 woods in the Crimea and especially in the Caucasus. 

 The tree reaches great size with a fine timber greatly 

 sought after for furniture making. The old beech of 

 the Vistula is disappearing, but the Caucasian forests 

 are still almost intact. The black alder is fairly widely 



