560 PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Mr. Stearns exhibited specimens of Haliotis from Monterey, which 
he had received from Dr. Canfield, of that place. The peculiarity m 
the specimens consisted in their being hybrids —a cross an en t 
two species known to conchologists as H. Cracherodii a ae x 
cens. In this connection Mr. S. made some general e upon the 
Haliotide. Dr. Cooper followed Mr. Stearns, and remarked upon the 
geographical distribution of this genus of mollusca. 
A paper was read by Dr. W. P. Gibbons, of ee in which he 
resumed the subject of the extinct forest of re patenta the Coast 
nio. 
that three or four trees, grow ould ultimately im- 
pinge on each other, and if A Z a near they 
would grow togethe orm one imme i 
by carefully counting the number of concentric growths from a cen- 
tre. The oldest of these redwoods is about 1,500 years of age. The 
gigantea of Calaveras is about the same age. These redwoods are 
evidently the second generation of the race; hence we may infer that 
3,000 years, at least, have passed by since the present growth first 
commenced on the Coast Range. But long before this must vegeta- 
tion have covered portions of these hills, as the Sequoia reposes in & 
bed of alluvium twenty or thirty feet in depth. He also referred to 
the bulbous expansion of these pone near the base. These are com- 
posed of large expanding roots, growing together, o forming a com- 
plete network. The height of this Me db the degree of denudation 
which the soil has undergone during the lifetime of the tree. This 1s 
about five feet in 1,500 years. Some of these trunks have from 10,- 
000 to 14,000 buds, partially developed, around their base, each bud 
having the power, aras favorable conditions, of being developed and 
containing a perfect tree. The mass of wood contained in a tree 
twen enty-five feet in rois is equal to 10,000 cubic feet, seers 
over 2, pounds. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
a sf Manuat of the Botany of the Northern United States. By Prof. Asa Gray. 8V0» 
koa of Elocution. By B. W. Atwell. Providence, 1867. 
American Bee Journal, Vol.I. Vol. III, No. 5, November, Te 
