Periodical Literature. 211 



celebrated Chestnut at Tottworth, Gloucestershire, measures at 1.23 

 m. even more than any of the oaks, namely 15.2 m. in circumference. 

 A tree at Donnersberg, Germany, with an estimated age of 700 

 years, has only 9 m. circumference at a height of 1 m. The chest- 

 nuts on Mt. Etna, with 20 and 21 m. circumference, are widely 

 known, but their age is not ascertainable. 



The Pinaceae seem to be as much favored in regard to longevity 

 as the Cwpuliferae, and they attain, at least in height, as large and 

 larger size. 



Juniperus communis, perhaps the smallest of the European spe- 

 cies, according to Killman's exact investigations on northern plants, 

 attains more than 400 years, and one tree, of only 8.3 cm. diameter 

 at the base, was 544 years old. 



Thuja occidentalis (?) of 2.9 m. circumference at the base and 

 1.97 m. at 2 m. is estimated at 300 years. 



Of Sequoias only one, measured by Seeman long ago (1859) 

 with 9- 6 m. at base and 4.5 m. at 30 m., 1120 years old, and another 

 of 4.7 m. diameter and 1 31 6 years of age, are noted. [We know 

 that they grow to 30 feet in diameter and over 2,500 years of age.] 

 The specimen of Taxodium distichum in Santa Maria de El Tule, 

 Oaxaca, Mexico, with a height of 34 m. and a circumference of 33 

 m. at 1 to 1.5 m., was estimated by DeCandolle at 6,000 years, an 

 age which is also supposed to be attained by Adansonia digit ata 

 and Dracaena draco, two African species. 



Cedrus deodara, with dimensions of 11 and 12.5 m. circumference, 

 are variously estimated at 500 to 600 and 2,500 years, the latter 

 number probablj' very much too high. 



Abies pectinata have been estimated at 200 to 360 years, with 4 to 

 5.Q m. circumference and S5 to SQ m. height. The stoutest and prob- 

 ably the oldest is to be found in the Jura mountains near Cergnes, 

 which at 1.2 m. (breasthigh) has a circumference of Q.Q m., and a 

 height of 32 m. 



Picea excelsa with 5 to 6 m. circumference are frequent in the 

 Bohemian forest. A spruce in Silesia 5 m. in circumference and 

 48 m. high, and others in Switzerland and Bavaria with smaller di- 

 mensions are estimated at 350 to 400 years. Some dwarf specimens 

 near the timber limit on the Kola peninsula with diameters of 32 to 

 80 cm. allow from the ring counts of some an estimate of 700 or 

 more years. 



For Larix europaea an age of five centuries is assigned to a speci- 

 men in Switzerland at 1350 m. elevation, with 7-5 m. circumference 



