166 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



III. Natural History, ^c. 



1. Antiquity of Trees. — In "Major Rooke's Sketch of the 

 Forest of Sherwood " it is stated, that in cutting down some 

 timber in Berkland and Bilhaugh, letters have been found cut or 

 stamped in the body of the trees, denoting the king's reign in 

 which they were marked. It seems that the bark was cut off, and 

 the letters cut in, after which the next year's wood grew over it, 

 "but without adhering where the bark had been cut. The ciphers 

 are of James I., of William and Mary, and one of King John! 

 One of those with James's cipher was about one foot within the 

 tree, and one foot from the centre : it was cut down in 1786. The 

 tree must have been two feet in diameter, or two yards in circum- 

 ference, when the mark was cut. A tree of this size is generally 

 estimated at 1 20 years growth, which number subtracted from the 

 middle year of James's reign, would make 1492 the date of the 

 planting of the tree. The tree with William and Mary had the 

 mark about nine inches within the tree, and three feet three inches 

 from the centre ; cut down also in 178S. The mark of John was 

 eighteen inches within the tree, and something more than a foot 

 from the centre: it was cut down in 1791 ; but the middle year 

 of John's reign was 1207, from which, if we subtract 120, the 

 number of years requisite for a tree of two feet diameter to arrive 

 at that growth, it will make the date of its planting 1085, or about 

 twenty years after the conquest. The tree, therefore, when cut 

 down in 1791, must have been 706 years old; a fact scarcely 

 credible ; for it appears from the trees whose marks are better 

 authenticated, that those exactly of the same size, when marked, 

 had increased twelve inches in diameter in 173 years, whilst this 

 tree had increased no more than eighteen inches in 584 years. 

 Major Rooke says that several trees with this mark had been 

 cut down, so that deception or mistake is scarcely possible. — 

 N. M. Mag, 



2. Red Snow of the Alps. — The notice, of which the following 

 is part, was read to the Society of Natural History of Geneva, by 

 M. Peschier : " I received in September, from M. Barras, Canon 

 of the Convent of St. Bernard, a small bottle of water collected 

 from the melting of this snow. The note accompanying it stated, 

 that the spots of red snow assumed a deeper tint as the season ad- 

 vanced ; that the portion from whence the water was procured had 

 a coffee colour on its surface, but on removing two inches in 

 depth, had a red colour. A deposit of the colour of moist earth 

 occupied the bottom of the bottle, but on inclining it, it was found 

 that the deposit reflected a red tint, like that of the snow ; and 

 having, in company with MM. de Candolle and Prevost, examined 



