THE STONE PINE 189 
resinous excretion. The needles are of a dark 
green, but brighter than those of P. Pinaster, 
semicircular in section, with finely serrulate edges 
and sub-acute points, but soft to the touch. They 
remain on for two or three years. Internally they 
exhibit a row of resin-canals all round the leaf 
at some depth below its surface, each surrounded 
by a layer of hard tissue or “sclerenchyma.” 
The. stomata occur on both the flat and the con- 
vex surfaces, and are deeply sunk in the epidermal 
tissue. The scale-leaf or “basal-sheath” is whitish 
and half an inch long the first year, but is reduced 
to half its length, much lacerated, and darkened 
in colour during the second year. The dwarf 
shoots, or leaf-spurs, are so arranged as to form 
a triple spiral series round the branch that bears 
them. 
The catkins of staminate flowers are yellowish, 
and are grouped in bunches near the apex of 
slender shoots of the current year, surmounted 
by some slightly developed leaves. Each catkin 
is about half an inch long, cylindrical, and very 
short-stalked, having a number of  scale-like 
bracts at its base. Each stamen has a prominent 
“connective” or “crest” projecting between its 
anther-lobes, which in this species is rounded 
and toothed. The female catkins are placed, two 
or three together, at the extremity of the 
strongest shoots; they are oval and about half 
an inch long, are short - stalked, and enveloped 
in reddish membranous scales. The cone-scales 
themselves are at first whitish-green; but they 
