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 34|. 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 Haliochcerns griseus, 



