38 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



by Pennant, 1 who speaks of the 'remains of a pro- 

 digious tree 56^- feet in circumference.' The 

 Hon. Daines Barrington, 2 who also paid a visit 

 to it, says, in a paper read at the Royal Society : 

 ' I measured this yew twice, and therefore cannot 

 be mistaken when I inform you that it amounted to 

 52 feet. Nothing now remains but the outward 

 bark, which hath been separated by the centre of 

 the tree's decaying within these twenty years. 

 What still appears, however, is 54 feet in circum- 

 ference.' 



De Candolle 3 also makes mention of the Bra- 

 bourne tree as of almost equal age, and remarks : 

 ' I venture to indicate these trees to botanists and 

 foresters, that they may authenticate them, and 

 establish, if possible, their law of increment ; for it 

 is probable that they are the veterans of European 

 vegetation.' 



' Ceux de 1'ancienne abbaye de Fontaines pres 

 Ripon . . . avaient en 1770, d'apres Pennant, 

 jusqu'a 1216 lignes de diametre, ou plus de douze 

 siecles. 



4 Ceux du cimetiere de Crow-hurst, . . . 1283 

 lignes ou . . . quatorze siecles et demi. 



' Celui de Fotheringall 4 en Ecosse, avait en 1770 

 un diametre de 2588 lignes et par consequent vingt- 

 cinq a vingt-six siecles. 



1 Tours in Scotland, 1771. - Phil. Trans. 1769. a Bibl. Univ. ii. 66. 

 4 See Fortingal for an amusing error due to this mis-spelling. 



