THE BOTANICAL GALLERY. 221 



zanthoxylum with large prickles; and stems of 

 the cactuses 8 inches in diameter, covered with 

 long bundles of thorns. We may also remark 

 a section of a tree with the impression of 

 letters traced in iy5o still visible on the bark 

 and in the interior of the wood, though no ves- 

 tige of it appears in the intermediate layers ; and 

 the horn of a stag projecting from a trunk in 

 which it had been arrested while the tree was 

 young. 



The three following compartments contain the 

 species of North American wood, assembled by 

 M. Michaux, author of a valuable history of the 

 forest-trees of that country. This collection, the 

 most complete in its kind in existence, is the more 

 interesting, as all the species may be cultivated 

 in France, and as many of them are eminently 

 proper for cabinet-making and joinery : the wood 

 of the black walnut, the red maple and the 

 sugar-maple, is as beautiful and susceptible of 

 as high a polish as the trees of India. All the 

 samples are from middle sized stocks, and the 

 bark has been preserved wherever it offered 

 interesting or peculiar characters. 



Beyond the arch the first compartments are 

 reserved for monocotyledon trees, and contain 

 trunks and sections of the palm, the baquois, 

 the yucca, the arborescent ferns, the bamboo, 



