50 PINES 
reader of descriptions be disturbed at the similarity 
of this Pine and the previously described one, as it 
appears on paper, we offer this crumb of comfort. 
There is a cone difference that gives a clue. The 
prickles on the P. Pungens are incurved by tendency, 
and the prickles of the P. Muricata’s cones are de- 
cidedly recurved. We might further add that the 
prickles on the P. Pungens are of a more substantial 
‘appearance than those of the Muricata, nor have the 
cones of the Pungens, at least the ones that I have 
seen, the thicker scales on the outer side of the base 
alluded to in the description of the Muricata. 
Only some half-dozen or so, including two at Kew 
and two.at Bayfordbury, seem to be the result of the 
attempt to grow them, and this limited little lot seems 
to impersonate the summum bonum of their success 
in England. ; 
Consensus of opinion among the magnates on the 
subject concurs in the opinion that where the tree 
has been attempted the result has been an inglorious 
failure. Few have survived, and in those few places 
that they have, in their older stages of life have 
turned out the reverse of ornamental.. In all pro- 
bability they will be encountered in even lesser 
numbers in the future than they have been in the past. 
P. Virciniana, or INops.—The word “ Inops ” is a 
Latin one, and signifies indigence and want of wealth. 
There is a ring of poverty about the name, that is 
more usually connected with the indigent fate of a 
workhouse bratling than the idea of a desirable tree to 
plant out in the interests of ornamentation. We 
must presume, too, that it earned its name, as the 
uncomplimentary remarks made about it by writers 
ever since have endorsed this view. 
It is also credited by the same writers with only a’ 
brief span of life in our collections, and perhaps that, 
