PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. iO 



great bulk of tlie broadly spreading top beiug elevated above 90 feet 

 from the ground. 



h. This tree, though slightly less iu diameter and spread of top, is a 

 more symmetrical, aud iu this respect a decidedly finer tree than the 

 preceding. Although the trunk first ramifies at a distance of about 18 

 feet from the ground, both forks extend straight upward, the larger 

 striight as a column, aud averaging about C teet in diameter, for 53 

 feet, the smaller 70 feet or more (but the upper portion curving grace- 

 fully outward). The top constitutes, when in full leaf, a compact dome 

 of foliage, the great bulk of which constitutes the upper third of the 

 total height. The tree is in perfect vigor, without a single dead branch, 

 and showing no signs of decay about the base. Its trunk is wreathed 

 with vines of the Virginia Creeper, which, extending upward for more 

 than 100 feet, show in beautiful contrast to the smooth snow white bark 

 of the larger branches and upper portion of the trunk. 



c. Trunk divides at about 10 or 12 feet from the ground, where the 

 circumference is much greater than at the ground. 



r. Probably the handsomest trunk of any sycamore which I have ever 

 seen. It rises like a huge column, 8 feet in average diameter, without 

 any perceptible diminution for at least 40 feet, from a widely expanded 

 base, measuring 17 feet in diameter and ignore than 50 feet in circum- 

 ference, from which spring four "sprouts," the largest of which is 

 nearly three feet in diameter, and all extending nearly straight upward, 

 to almost the height of the main tree. The base is covered with dark 

 green moss, and the trunk ornamented with the Virginia creeper. The 

 trunk is hollow, and has recently been disfigured on one side by the axe 

 of some vandal. 



u. Not a handsome tree, the three main forks widely diverging. 

 y and z. Solid trees, newly felled, growing only 11* feet apart! 

 a'. 84 feet to second limb. 



The decaying prostrate remains were found iu the bottoms of Gibson 

 County, Indiana, a short distance below Mount Carmel, of a huge syca- 

 more, which must have been much larger than any tree that I have 

 measured. The space covered by the crumbled base was 60 feet in 

 circumference. The three upright forks, found lying near together, 

 two of them still united, the other broken off, were each 5 feet iu 

 diameter, and careful measurements of them indicated a circumference 

 of about 63 feet, below their ramification, which took place some 20 

 feet from the ground, and the base of the tree. Each of the three 

 trunks, which were still intact, though much decayed exteriorly, was 

 70 feet long, but the branches were, of course, entirely decayed. When 

 standing in its full vigor, this tree must have been a grand one, indeed. 

 There is said to be still standing, near Worthington, Greene County, 

 Indiana, a tree of this species which has a solid trunk measuring 48 feet 

 in circumference, and dividing at 25 feet into three or four main branches, 

 the largest of which is more than 5 feet in diameter. — (See Case\s Bo- 

 tanical Index, April, 1880, and Botanical Gazette, June, 1880, p. 70.) 



