CONES 5 
the tail-lock fringe, and the other the upright mane 
of the specimens of a prehistoric age represented 
by Prjevalsky’s ponies, from the Gobi desert of 
Siberia. 
Many of them are not of sufficiently pronounced 
habits either way to give our identifying faculties 
a little first aid in their directions. We must seek. 
inspiration elsewhere. 
Of the fifty-two different species (without counting 
what are classed as varieties) as enumerated by 
Elwes and Henry, twenty of these have five leaves in 
a bundle. 
We have not so far mentioned perhaps the most 
complete of all clues to identification—we allude to 
the cones: These fruits of coniferous trees give a 
maximum of information for a minimum of study. 
Unfortunately they are not always so forthcoming as 
they might be; more often, to put it mildly, very 
much the contrary. To make a collection of them 
is an interesting pursuit, and they act as a useful 
reminder on many an identification question. This 
perhaps, is a remark that it may be said goes without 
saying, but at the same time it is not a task accom- 
plished without some doing. 
Perhaps few cones are obtained with more 
difficulty than those on the commonest of trees in 
our midst, the Silver Fir (Abies Pectinata). In the 
first place these cones have a way of appearing only 
on the topmost height of what is generally the highest 
tree in the district. In the second place they have 
a way of dehiscing and falling to pieces at the precise 
moment you think you can secure them. It is a 
task that calls for a towering armmbition on the part of 
someone concerned, and usually for a forthcoming 
coin of the realm to the simian acrobat who performs 
the crowning feat and gathers the forbidden fruits. 
These difficulties surmounted, and the psychological 
