822 



York State Library ; Francis Peabody ; Lcc, Higginson & 

 Co., of Boston ; Canadian Institute at Toronto ; Mrs. N. I). 

 Cole ; Secretary of the Massacliusetts Board of Education ; 

 Charles ^Y. Upham ; American Academy of Arts and Scien- 

 ces ; Richard IT. Wheatland ; James A. Chamberlain. 



To the Cabinets — from v'^amucl Tufts, jr., of Lynn ; 

 James M. Barnard of 13oston ; James Ward ; Charles H. 

 Norris ; Amos Trask ; Enocli Fuller ; Francis Peabody ; 

 George F. Chever ; Zoological Museum at Caml)ridge (by 

 exchange) . 



The chair announced that Mr. James Marsh of Dan vers, 

 liad prepoiited to the IIerl)arium a peicc of the "Big Tree" 

 of Calaveras county in Caliiornia. Tlie tree from which the 

 specimen was taken was accoi-ding to Mr. Marsh's measure- 

 ment 24 fcei inches in ciiaincter exclusive of the bark, 

 (which if added would make 8 feet more) at six feet from 

 the grovmd. The ago by actual count of the yearly rings 

 was 1556 years. A cone or seed-vessel from one of the same 

 kind of trees was also given at the same time. This state- 

 ment is taken from a note accompanying the donatioii, in Mr. 

 Marsh's hand writing. In Silliman's Journal &c. 2d Series, 

 for 1854, may be found an account of a paper read by Pro- 

 fessor Asa Gray of Cambridge, Mass., in whicli some remark- 

 able facts are stated respecting the size and age of the trees 

 similar to the one under consideration. Professor G. men- 

 tions a section of a trunk of a gigantic tree felled ]iear the 

 head of Stanilaus river, on the Sierra Nevada, California^ 

 which v\'ay on exhibition at Philadclpliia. " The size of this 

 tree A\'as such as to give it a |)resumptiA'c claim to rank 

 among the oldest of the present inhabitants of the earth, its 

 length being 322 feet, its diameter at live feet from the 

 ground 29 feet 2 inches." These measurements were pub- 

 lished in England by a Mr. Lobb. The layers of the wood 

 were only estimated but not counted. Sections of the wood 

 of the outside of the Philadelphia specimen gave 48 layers- 



