1052 The American Naturalist. [December, 
rises only 500 feet above the level of the ocean, I noticed forty- 
six species and varieties of trees, Within five miles of this hill 
also grow sixty-two species and varieties, or more than a 
quarter of all the trees of the Empire, which are crowded into 
an area a few miles square, in the latitude of northern New 
England, in which, north of Cape Cod, there are only about 
the same number of trees.” 
Upon the question of the similarity of the flora of Japan to 
that of eastern North America, Professor Sargent makes a full 
discussion, and it is not too much to say that it will compel a 
change in some of the prevalent notions as to the vegetation of 
these regions. 
“Travellers in Japan have often insisted on the resemblance 
between that country and eastern America in the general fea- 
tures of vegetation. But, with the exception of Yezo, which is 
still mostly uninhabited and in a state of nature, and those 
portions of the other islands which are over 5,000 feet above 
the level of the ocean, it is difficult to form a sufficiently ac- 
curate idea of the general appearance of the original forest- 
covering of Japan to be able to compare the aspects of its vege- 
tation with those of any other country, for every foot of the 
lowlands and mountain valleys of the three southern islands 
has been cultivated for centuries. And the foothills and low 
mountains which were once clothed with forests, and could be 
again, are now covered with coarse herbage, principally Eula- 
lia, and are destitute of trees, except such as have sprung up 
in sheltered ravines, and have succeeded in escaping the fires 
which are set every year to burn off the dry grasses. Remote- 
ness, bad roads, and the impossibility of bringing down their 
timber into the valleys, have saved the mountain forests of 
Japan, which may still be seen, especially between 5,000 and 
8,000 feet above the level of the sea, in their natural condition. 
But these elevated forests are composed of comparatively few 
species, and if it were not for the plantations of conifers, which 
the Japanese for at least twelve centuries, it is said, have been 
making to supply their workers in wood with material, and 
for the trees preserved or planted in the temple grounds in the 
neighborhood of towns, it would be impossible to obtain any 
