ft., terminating in a succession of spreading branches given off in tiers from the main trunk. The thick narrow lanceolate leaves, with several parallel veins, reach a length of 2 to 3 inches. The female shoots have the form of small and almost spherical cones consisting of a central axis bearing overlapping spiral series of broadly triangular scales (Fig. 16). Each scale carries a single seed with a large wing attached to one side which facilitates disposal by wind. Other species of Agathis occur in the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, in Queensland, in the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, and elsewhere. With the exception of the Australian Kauri (_Agathis robusta_), with leaves larger and broader than those of the New Zealand Kauri, the genus is essentially an island type. With the exception of some species of the southern hemisphere genus Podocarpus, there are no Conifers with foliage like that of Agathis. It is, however, the broad and thin single-seeded scales and the spherical cones, in some species six inches in length, which furnish the most trustworthy means of identifying the genus. [Illustration: Fig. 16. A. _Agathis robusta_ Muell. (much reduced). B. _Agathis Moorei_ Lind. (1/2 nat. size).] [Illustration: Fig. 17. _Araucaria excelsa._ The upper part of a small tree in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. (Much reduced.)] The allied genus Araucaria, with the exception of two South American species, the familiar Monkey Puzzle, _Araucaria imbricata_, and a Brazilian tree, _Araucaria brasiliana_, is confined within the geographical area occupied by Agathis. The name Araucaria was first used by de Jussieu in 1789 for a plant previously referred to the genus Pinus and described as one of the most beautiful trees of Chili. This species, _A. imbricata_, introduced into England in 1796, grows on the southern slopes of the Andes and, as in the case of the Kauri forests of New Zealand, buried stems point to a wider extension of the forests in earlier days. The sharp and thick leaves of the Monkey Puzzle distinguish it from all other Conifers; its large almost spherical seed-bearing cones, more than half a foot in length, which may occasionally be seen on well-grown British trees, are unlike those of other genera. Each of the deep and narrow scales bears a single seed embedded in the substance of the scale and terminates distally in a narrow upturned process. Some species of Araucaria, differing considerably in the form of the leaves and in the shape and structure of the seed-scales from the Chilian species, are conveniently placed in a distinct sub-division of the genus Araucaria. Of this type the Norfolk Island Pine, _Araucaria excelsa_, is the best-known example (Fig. 17). It was introduced to Kew by Sir Joseph Banks in 1793, soon after its discovery by Captain Cook, who describes the stems of the Norfolk Island trees as resembling basaltic columns, and relates how on