PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSUEM. (3 



triiuk of this species, oue tree was seeu whose silvery shaft yieamed 

 amoug the surrouudiug tree-tops iu a wood where the snmuuit level was 

 considerably more than 100 feet aloft, and though only ten feet iu cir- 

 cumference m-ust have been upwards of 90 feet to the first liiub, which 

 grew not more than 25 feet from the extreme summit of the tree. 



The following tape-line measurements of prostrate specimens have 

 been made in the vicinity of Mount Carmel : 



52. (189.) Mortis rubra. Mulberry. 



Very common on rich lands. The largest specimens measured were 

 the following: 



53. (191.) Platanus occidentalis. Sycamore. 



This" very abundant tree is unquestionably the largest hard- wood of 

 North America, though there are several which it does not excel in 

 height. The largest specimens are 140 to 100 feet high, with an am- 

 bitus of 100 to 130 feet, the diameter of single trunks averaging 5 to 7 

 feet, but of compound trunks (i. e., those which fork comparatively 

 near the ground), 8 to 10 feet. The chief superiority of the Sycamore 

 over other trees, in point of size, consists, however, in the massiveness 

 of the branches, each of the principal limbs of a very large tree of this 

 species fully equaling an average forest tree in bulk. Twelve trees 

 measured the same day in the bottoms of Gibson County, Indiana, be- 

 low the mouth of Patoka Creek, averaged 127 feet spread of top and 23| 

 feet in circumference, the extremes being 100 to 135 and 14 to 30 feet; 



