22 THE TUEES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



places, attaining to a great height, and serviceable 

 for timber, would have been included by them 

 under the name of Abies. 



Thus when Caesar r , in describing the productions 

 of Britain, says, " Materies cujusque generis, ut in 

 Gallia est, prceter fa gum atque abietem" he must 

 have alluded to the Scotch Fir, the only species 

 of the tribe indigenous in this country. 



Palladius s , however, may refer to the Spruce Fir 

 under the name of the Abies gallica ; the timber of 

 which, he says, is smooth and hard, and is of 

 a character especially durable for buildings, except 

 under water, provided only that it be not exposed 

 to wet just after it has been felled. 



Now the Spruce, though indeed not found in 

 Italy, is indigenous in Dauphiny and throughout 

 the Pyrenees (Flora Gallica}, and its resemblance 

 to the Silver Fir might easily lead to its being 

 confounded with it, although the specific name of 

 Gallica would seem to shew that the ancients 

 recognised the distinction between the two. 



A difficulty, indeed, arises from the distinction 

 set up by Theophrastus between the male and 

 female 'EAar?;. 



From this recognition of the distinction of sexes 

 in these and other instances, it has been inferred, 

 that the ancients possessed some glimpse of the 

 modern doctrine on the subject which has been 

 established so fully by the researches of botanists 

 of this and the preceding century. 



r Bell. Gal., lib. v. c. 12. Novenlris xv. 11. 



