OBSERVATIONS ON HIMALAYAN CONIFERS. 



247 



characters and limits well suited to include both ; the Pindrow 

 generally commencing at about 8,000 feet, and P. Webbiana, 

 exclusively, attaining 12,000 or 13,000. It is possible, however, 

 that the Pindrow may be absent from Bhotan ; Dr. Hooker has 

 not detected it in Sikhim (perhaps because that country is almost 

 wholly devoid of Coniferce in the zone 8,000-10,000, proper to 

 the Pindrow) ; and he leads me to suppose that Dr. Thomson 

 does not recognize them as really distinct species.* There can, 

 however, be no doubt that in habitat and several marked pecu- 

 liarities there are constant differences ; and between what we 

 term a species and a variety thus characterized, the distinction 

 seems sufficiently wide to entitle the latter to be so classed also. 

 They are indeed very generally confounded by the natives of the 

 N.W. Himalaya ; the mountaineers of Rol, a district south of 

 the Shatool Pass, insisting that the short white leaves of the 

 silver fir are due solely to the cold and boisterous nature of the 

 climate in which it flourishes. This persuasion of the force of 

 circumstances in the transmutation of species is by no means 

 uncommon in the Himalaya: and, though some of the examples 

 are extravagant enough, it is possible that, in this case, the 

 naturalists of Rol may be right, without having enjoyed the 

 advantage of studying the theories of Lamarck or the Vestiges 

 of the Natural History of Creation. I shall consider it as 

 distinct. 



Picea Pindrow forms dense forests on all the great spurs of 

 the Kumaoon Alps, towards the heads of the Pindur, Surjoo, 

 Ramgunga, and Kalee rivers, where (as in Gurhwal) the Khu- 

 siya name is " Ragha T the Bhotiyas of Byans call it " Woo- 

 ?nun." In central Kumaoon it is confined, so far as I have 

 observed, to the great mass of Bhutkot and Boora Pinnath, from 

 about 7,500 to 9,000 feet, where it clothes the sources of the 

 Kosilla in a forest of unusual gloom and thickness. The name 

 here (and on Doodootolee) is " Raistdla." This level of 7,500 

 feet is one at which the tree will never be found on a detached 

 mountain of that elevation, or even a thousand feet higher ; 

 Cheenur, for instance, at INynee Tal ; but, under proper condi- 

 tions, it will descend from greater heights to establish itself in 

 this zone. The direct distance of Bhutkot from the plains of 

 Rohilkhund is 35 miles, about 5 less than that of Muhasoo 



I found the people distinguish P. Pindrow as " Telia" or " Chilee" 

 Ragha, from P. Webbiana, " Bung " or " Dodhma " Ragha. 



Since the text was written, I have seen Dr. Griffith's figure (56) of Abies 

 densa ; it is that of Picea Webbiana. 



* According to Dr. Thomson, the specimeus of Gobria-sulla collected by 

 Dr. Hooker in Sikhim, represent far wider differences both of cones and 

 leaves than do the Picea Pindrow and Webbiana of the N.W. 



