Cypress of Mistra, 697 



greater honour is conferred on the Society by allowing his name to be placed 

 on their rolls. This is the real state of the case ; and, had the opposition 

 succeeded instead of being a thorough and ridiculous failure, it must have 

 placed the Society much in the situation of the Academy at Madrid, which 

 refused to enrol VTilkie amongst its members, and has rendered its medals 

 ever after valueless. 



Art. IV. Descriptive Notice of the Cypress of Mistra. 

 By the Earl of Aberdeen. 



In your very elaborate and excellent article on the Coniferae, 

 in the fourth volume of the Arboretum Britannicum, you have 

 made mention of the Cypress of Somma in Lombardy, which 

 you have described as the oldest, the largest, and most re- 

 markable tree of this species, of which there is any record. Ac- 

 cording to your statement, the dimensions of the stem are 23 ft. 

 in circumference; although you also refer to another account, 

 from which it would appear that its magnitude is considerably 

 less than this. We are informed that the tree itself, although 

 still healthy and vigorous in its growth, has been much injured 

 by the effects of time and accident. 



Your correspondent, Mr. Long, in the fourteenth volume of 

 the Gardener's Magazine, p. 530., directs your attention to a 

 remarkable cypress which he had seen at Patras ; and which, 

 having measured it in the year 1820, he found to be 22 ft. 2 in. in 

 circumference. This is the tree described by Spon in the year 

 1676; and which, at that time, was 18 French feet in circum- 

 ference ; showing, therefore, an increase of about 2 ft. in the 

 course of a hundred and forty-four years. 



The Cypress of Patras was undoubtedly a very beautiful 

 specimen ; but I regret to say that, since the visit of Mr. Long, 

 it has been destroyed during the war of the Greek revolution. 

 At what precise time, and in what manner, this destruction took 

 place, I have not been able to learn ; but, if it were effected by 

 the Turks, the act was certainly at variance with the super- 

 stitious veneration with which these people are accustomed to 

 regard such objects. 



There exists, however, in the Morea, another cypress still 

 more celebrated, although less frequently visited than the Cypress 

 of Patras, and which is fortunately still preserved. This is the 

 Cypress of Mistra. It is situated a short distance from that town, 

 on a picturesque spot, at the foot of one of the branches of 

 Mount Taygetus, and about five or six miles from the ruins of 

 Sparta. It is, unquestionably, one of the most magnificent pro- 

 ductions of the vegetable world which it has ever been my good 

 fortune to behold. According to my measurement in the 

 year 1803, the trunk was just 26 ft. in circumference, at 4 ft. 

 Vol. XV. — No. 117. 3 a 



