358 Proceedings of the British Association. 
Mr. Bowman read a communication respecting the longevity of 
the yew tree ; and mentioned the result of his observations upon the 
growth of several young trees, by which it appeared that their diam- 
eters increased during the first one hundred and twenty years, at the 
rate of at least two lines, or the one sixth of an inch per annum; 
and that under favorable circumstances the growth was still more 
rapid. In the church yard at Gresford, near Wrexham, North 
Wales, are eighteen yew trees, which are stated by the parish regis- 
ter for 1726 to have been planted that year. The average of the 
diameters of these trees is twenty inches. Mr. Bowman then re- 
marked on two yew trees of large dimensions, from the trunks of 
which he had obtained sections. One is in same church yard as 
those above mentioned, and its trunk is twenty two feet in circum- 
ference at the base, twenty nine feet below the first branches. This 
gives us a mean diameter of 1224 lines, which, according to De 
Candolle’s rule for estimating the age of the yew, ought also to in- 
dicate the number of years. From three sections obtained from this 
tree, Mr. Bowman ascertained that the average number of rings de- 
posited for one inch in depth of its latest growth, was 342. Com- 
paring this with the data obtained from the eighteen young trees, he 
estimated the probable age of this tree at 1419 years. The second 
of these trees is in the church yard of Darley in the Dale, Derby- 
shire, and its mean diameter, taken from measurements at four dif- 
ferent places, in 1356 lines. Horizontal sections from its north and 
south sides gave an average for its latest increase at forty four rings 
per inch nearly, which gives two thousand and six years as its age, 
by the mode of calculation adopted by Mr. Bowman. He then pro- 
ceeded to state his opinion of the reason why so many old yew trees 
were to be met with in church yards: he considered that they might 
have been planted there at a period anterior to the introduction of 
christianity, under the’ influence of the same feelings as those which 
prompted the early nations of antiquity to plant the cypress round 
the graves of their deceased friends. 
Mr. Ball exhibited the skulls of a species of seal common in Ire- 
land with a view of eliciting information, as he considered it to be 
new to the British Fauna, and very distinct from the two already 
recorded. The present species was never known to become tame, 
whilst the Phoca vitulina, generally considered the more common 
species of our coasts, was very easily tamed.—Prof. Nilsson, of Lund, 
at once pronounced this species to be his Haliocherus griseus, 
