THUYAS AND FLAT-LEAVED CYPRESSES 175 
that is to say, over-lapping, like tiles on a building 
roof—the cones of the. Cypress are peltate, formed 
like a shield. This is a question already discussed 
at length here and efforts at explanation adduced. 
If we referred to it here further, and again, we might 
(and rightly, too) fall under the shadow of super- 
fluous wordiness. So much are their habits alike, 
their leaves in frondose arrangement on one plane 
and flattened, that the botanists of a previous day 
lumped them both together into the same family 
circle.. 
At this date the importance of the cone differences 
has over-ridden the importance of the leaf arrange- 
ment, and they are placed en famille, as we have 
placed them here. 
The fact that many of them are credited with a 
smell of their own must really be left to the delicate- 
nosed independence and taste of the variously con- 
stituted nasal organs of the aspirant assayers to work 
out the scent for themselves. Quot homines tot 
sententie@ ; so many men, so many opinions, or shall 
we translate it so many sensibilities ? 
Some seem to think them all more or less agreeable ; 
others that some are agreeable, others disagreeable. 
For instance, the C. Nootkatensis has a reputation 
for being far more evil-smelling than the C. Lawsoniana. 
Among the Picee and Abies the Amabilis has a 
reputation for agreeableness. Its smell has been com- 
pared to that of a citron or tangerine orange, a reputa- 
tion that many think ought to be equally shared by 
several, especially the glaucous-coloured trees—to 
wit, the Pungens, Arizonica, Nobilis, and Concolor 
Violacea. The particular perfume ascribed to them is 
generally spoken of as like that of the citron or tan- 
gerine orange. But let all these high-scented ideas, 
as we have intimated, be settled according to the 
perceptions of the individual. We only add that 
