544 
THE GREAT AGES OF TREES. 
Mr. Bowman then remarked on two 
yew-trees of large dimensions, from the 
trunks of which he had obtained sec- 
tions. One is in the same churchyard 
as those above mentioned, and its trunk 
is 22 feet in circumference at the base, 
29 feet below the first branches. This 
gives us a mean diameter of 1,224 lines, 
which, according to De Candolle’s rule 
for estimating the age of the yew, ought 
also to indicate the number of years. 
From three sections obtained from this 
tree, Mr. Bowman ascertained that the 
average number of rings deposited for 
one inch in depth of its latest growth, 
was 34-23. Comparingthis with the data 
obtained from the eighteen young trees, 
he estimated the probable age of this 
tree at 1,4 1 9 years. The second of these 
trees is in the churchyard of Darley 
in the Dale, Derbyshire, and its 
mean diameter, taken from measure- 
ments at four different places, is 1,356 
lines. Horizontal sections from its 
north and south sides, gave an average 
for its latest increase, at 44 rings per 
inch nearly, which gives 2,006 years as 
its age, by the mode of calculation adopt- 
ed by Mr. Bowman. He then pro- 
ceeded to state his opinion of the reasons 
why so many old yew-trees were to be 
met with in churchyards : he considered 
that 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 Ireland, with 
the 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 con- 
sidered the more common species of 
our coasts, was very easily tamed — 
Prof. Nilsson, of Leind, at once pro- 
nounced this species to be his Halio- 
chcerus griseus, forming a distinct genus 
from Phoca, and described by him in 
the year 1 820. It had been previously 
recorded by Fabricius, under the name 
of Phoca gryphus. It is common in the 
Baltic and North Sea, and to be met 
with in Iceland, and attained to a size 
of eight feet in length. In Sweden it 
was emphatically termed the Sea-seal, 
in contradistinction to those which in- 
habited gulfs. He remarked that the 
name of Phoca vitulina had been appli- 
ed by Linnaeus, and subsequent au 
thors, to three distinct species, to which 
he had himself given the names of har- 
hata, variegata, and annellata. Of these 
he had ascertained that a specimen, 
captured in the Severn, and now in the 
Bristol Institution, belonged to the 
annellata. — Dr. Scouler remarked that 
the species which Prof. Nilsson had 
identified as his Haliochcerus griseus, [ 
predominated in Ireland over the Pho- | 
cha vitulina, though it had been hitherto | 
neglected ; and that the great differ- ;i 
ence in the teeth of these species justly j 
entitled them to be considered as form- I 
ing distinct genera. — Dr. Riley exhibi- 
ted the stomach of the specimen al- 
luded to, as having been captured in 
the Severn, in which he had found from 
thirty to forty pebbles, and states that ^ 
other instances had occured of a similar 
nature ; and that it was a popular notion, | 
that they assisted the seal in the way of j 
l)allast whilst catching his prey, which i 
he did by rising vertically upwards, and i 
seizing it from below. But Sir Francis i 
Mackenzie then asserted, that he had ; 
repeatedly seen the seal chase salmon j 
into the nets, and that it was not usual 
for it to capture its prey in the way des- 
cribed. Neither he, nor Professor Nil- | 
sson, nor Mr. Ball, had ever found ; 
stones in the stomach of this animal. 
Dr. Hancock read a paper on a new 
species of Norantea, from Guiana, 
termed by the natives Corocoromibi, 
This grows on the banks of rivers, and 
in moist places, and its botanical cha- 
racters closely resembling those of the 
Norantea Guianensis; he had long con- 
founded it with that species. As Aublet’s I 
plant is, however, described as a tree | 
which grows eighty feet in height, and : 
as the present species is a large climber 
they must be distinct ; and Dr. Han- 
cock then detailed the botanical cha- 
racters of the latter. 
Mr. Hope exhibited a remarkable , 
specimen of the Lucanus Camelus, Fabr. 
from. North America, the right side of ' 
which had the configuration of the male, 
and the left of the female sex. This 
monstrosity was analogous to one 
which had been observed in the lucanus 
cervus, a closely allied species of Eu- 
rope. The exhibition of this specimen 
led to a discussion, in which Mr. Cuttis 
