THE SEQUOIA. 
A HistoricaL REVIEW OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 
By Georce H. SHERwoop, A.M., 
Assistant Curator, A. M. N. H. 
THE Sequoia constitute a group of trees which in past ages 
was abundant in temperate climates of Europe, Asia and America, 
but which during the glacial period were all but exterminated, 
only two living species, the “Redwood” (Sequota sempervirens) 
and the “ Big Tree”’ (Sequota gigantea), surviving to represent the 
genus. Both are very limited in numbers and in distribution. 
The Redwood is found only in a narrow tract of land extend- 
ing from the southern border of Oregon to Monterey Bay, while 
the Big Tree is still more restricted, being confined to but ten 
isolated groves situated between the altitudes of 4ooo and 8000 
feet above the sea, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada 
mountains (see accompanying map). This area is bounded on 
the north by the American river, and on the south by Deer Creek, 
and the total distance from the most northerly group (North 
grove) to the most southerly (Tule River grove) is only 260 
miles. The King’s River and Kaweah River grove is the largest 
both as to area and number of trees. The extent of this district 
is four or five miles in width, and eight or ten miles in length. 
It has a variation in altitude of 2500 feet. It is an interesting 
fact that as one proceeds from north to south the Big Trees 
flourish at higher and higher altitudes. 
Quoting from Bulletin No. 28 of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture (1900): ‘““The Big Trees are unique in the 
world,—the grandest, the largest, the oldest, the most majesti- 
cally graceful of trees,—and if it were not enough to be all this, 
they are among the scarcest of known tree species and have the 
extreme scientific value of being the best living representative of 
a former geological age.”” Professor Sargent describes the wood 
as follows: “The wood of the Big Tree is very light, soft, not 
strong, brittle, and coarse-grained, but very durable in contact 
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