238 



OBSERVATIONS OX HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



with leaves in pairs, of the length of P. sylvestris (i. e. to 

 2 inches), and very persistent ovate cones, about If inches long-, 

 the scales furnished with a straightish or somewhat upcurved 

 prickly beak. Mr. W. could not learn whence it came, but it 

 would appear to be P. pinaster, var. Nepale?isis. The cones, 

 however, were not in whorls. 



On the mountains between Moulmein and Zimmay, N.N.E. of 

 the former place, in lat. 18t°, long. 98^, Dr. Richardson {J. A. S., 

 October, 1836, pp. 612, 621) mentions a species of pine forming 

 fine open forests, and, like P. longifolia, allowing no other tree 

 in its neighbourhood. Some of the specimens measured 8 or 9 

 feet in circumference, and were " much taller and straighter 

 than the same trees in Europe." Though no clue is afforded for 

 its identification, there is every reason to believe it to be the 

 species at present known as Pinus Latteri, of which a short 

 notice appeared in the J. A. S. for January, 1849, from a speci- 

 men obtained on the Thoungyeen river on the Mergui frontier, 

 in ]at. 17% at an elevation above the sea of 1,000 to 1.500 feet. 

 Drs. Falconer and McClelland possess specimens from the same 

 district ; Dr. McClelland's being supposed by Mr. O'Reilly, who 

 transmitted them, to come from an elevation of between 3,000 

 and 4,000 feet. It apparently belongs to the Pinaster section : 

 and the striated leaf, described by Mr. Masson, may be observed 

 on P. pinaster , and still more prominently in P. Lambertiana, 

 as figured in Loudon's Supplement. P. Latteri has the leaves 

 in pairs, from 5 to 7 or 8 inches long, with sheaths of half an 

 inch. The cones are short-stalked, oblong-ovate, 3 to 3£ inches 

 long ; the scales thickened and rhomboidal at the end ; beakless. 



Dr. Falconer informs me that the timber has been pronounced 

 by Mr. Seppings to be equal to the best Norway spars for light 

 yards. 



IV. Abies Smithiana. — Under the name of A. spinulosa 

 {Journals of Travels, pp. 259, 265, 275, with Journal of Asiatic 

 Society, March, 1839, p. 223), Dr. Griffith describes this spruce 

 as growing abundantly on the northern ranges of B ho tan, from 

 7,800 to 11,600 feet above the sea (J. A. S., but only to 10,500 

 in the Journals) ; — preferring north faces, and in mass occurring 

 next below A. Webbiana (densa). Dr. Griffith's specific name 

 is a translation of " Kundrou," a common vernacular term about 

 Simlah. It is rare in Sikhim ; and confined to valleys of the 

 inner range at 8,000 to 9,000 feet, mixed with Abies Brunoniana, 

 and seldom exceeding 50 feet in height. In the Lachen valley 

 alone did Dr. Hooker find it abundantly, but never large. The 

 Bhotiya name is Tee. Loudon {Supplement to Encyclopedia 

 of Plants} gives Kumaoon as its habitat, but I have been unable 

 to detect a trace of it in the province ; it occurs nowhere in 



