Section of Zoology and Botany, 499 



that prevented its adhesion to that of the preceding year, was as 

 thick and sound as any of those that were near it, though it must 

 apparently have been formed wholly by the liber. 



Notice of a Yew found in a Bog in Queens County. By Charles 

 William Hamilton, Honorary Secretary of the Horticultural 

 Society of Ireland. ( Communicated by Mr. Mackay.) 



In this tree Mr. Hamilton was able to count annual rings or layers 

 indicating a growth of 54>5 years. Yet so compact was the wood, or 

 so close the layers, that the diameter of the trunk did not exceed a 

 foot and a half, or its circumference three feet and a half. The 

 growth had been very slow during the last three centuries, for near 

 the exterior there were about 100 rings within the space of one 

 inch. 



Many years ago Mr. Mackay measured a yew tree, growing on 

 the island of Innisfallen on the Lower Lake of Killarney, of nearly 

 double the dimensions of the one described by Mr. Hamilton, or be- 

 tween six and seven feet in circumference. 



Notice of the Yeto at Mucruss. By Dr. Litton. 



Dr. Litton had tried the age of the celebrated yew tree at Mu- 

 cruss by Decandolle's test, and found that the result nearly agreed 

 with the tradition. He exhibited a specimen of an oak tree bearing 

 the impress of letters on the inner concave surface. 



Mr. Saunderson noticed a passage in an old Scotch history, 

 which stated that the northern part of Ireland was so much infested 

 by yew trees that a great emigration of Irish took place in conse- 

 quence, who, with their families and cattle, went over to settle them- 

 selves in Scotland, the yew trees every year destroying their cattle 

 in Ireland. 



On Bog Timber. By the Rev. Archdeacon Vignoles. 

 The bogs of Westmeath are numerous, covering a considerable 

 extent of the county. They almost invariably present the same 

 natural appearance, only some are much more thickly imbedded 

 with bog timber than others. In some of them there are three 

 layers of trees to be found ; and alternating with them as many 

 layers of peat from three to five feet in depth. The trees in each 

 layer appear to have arrived at maturity, and could not have been 

 coexistent. The specimen of bark exhibited was taken from a tree 

 56 feet long; squaring from 2 feet to 18 inches: it lay upon a 

 heathy bed ; consequently where it fell the surface was heath. It 

 was charred from top to bottom. With very few exceptions, all the 

 timber found in the neighbourhood bears the marks of fire. The 

 roots are rarely found attached to the tree, but likewise bear evident 

 traces of having been burnt. They are of enormous size, 



3 82 



