! ?4 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFER*. 



The specific name Menziesii was given by Douglas in complimenf 

 to Mr. Archibald Menzies, the indefatigable Scotch botanist, who 

 accompanied Vancouver on his voyage of discovery in 1790, during 

 which this tree was first discovered. Although Mr. Menzies' scientific 

 labours were not especially directed to the investigation of the Coniferee, 

 his name has become prominent in connection with them as the in- 

 troducer of Araucaria imbricata into British gardens; he was also one 

 of the first who made known the existence of the gigantic Coniferous 

 vegetation of north-west America, and thus led the way to the im- 

 portant discoveries of Douglas, thirty-five years later. The following 

 is a brief sketch of his life : — 



Aechibald Menzies was born at Weims, in Perthshire, on the 

 15th of March, 1754, and died in London on the 15th of February, 

 1842. He was early placed in the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, 

 and, through the assistance of Dr. John Hope, Professor of Botany, 

 he was enabled to prosecute his studies so as to take the diploma 

 of surgeon. In 1778, he made a tour through the Northern Islands 

 for the purpose of collecting plants for the Botanic Garden. He then 

 went to Carnarvon to assist a medical man, and he finally became 

 assistant-surgeon in the Navy. He visited Halifax, Staten Island, 

 the Sandwich Islands, China, and north-western America. In 1790, 

 he accompanied Vancouver on his celebrated voyage ; he visited King 

 George's Island, the south coast of New Holland, and part of New 

 Zealand, Otaheite, and the north-west of America. He returned to 

 England in 1795. He made large collections of plants, as well as 

 of other objects of Natural History during these voyages. Many of 

 them were new, and have been described by Smith, Brown, Hooker 

 (Sir W.), and others. He afterwards served in the West Indies. 

 About the beginning of the century he quitted the Navy, and passed 

 the remainder of his days in the vicinity of London. His collection 

 of plants was left to the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; it consists 

 chiefly of cryptogamous plants, Grasses, and Cyperacese. (J. H. B.* 

 in Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography). 



Abies nigra. — The Black Spruce in its native forests usually 

 attains a height of from 50 to 80 feet, and has a trunk small 

 in proportion to its height, the diameter at the base ranging only 

 from 12 to 24 inches. f The branches are drooping, like those of 

 the European species, and are clothed with foliage of a dark sombre 

 green, with a bluish-glaucous hue, unlike any other Conifer. The 

 leaves are short, stiff, thick-set, and cover the stems all round. 



* John Hutton Balfour, 

 t It is covered with a thin greyish bark, slightly roughened with small scales. 



