the cypress, yew, and cedar, which belong to the Conifera, or fir tribe, and which are all remarkably long-lived and enduring. The largest known specimens of the cypress are to be met with in Mexico. At Atlexo, for instance, there is one said to be 76 feet in girth; and another at St Maria del Tuli, which is 118 feet in circumference! This is larger, certainly, than any of Adanson's baobabs; 'but,' says Humboldt, on examining it narrowly, 'M. Anza discovered that what excites the curiosity of travellers is not a single individual, but three united trunks.' There is, however, at Chapultepec, in the same region, a third cypress, which is said to be 117 feet 10 inches round; and the younger De Candolle considers it even older than any of the baobabs of Senegambia. Michaux, who published a splendid work on the forest trees of America, says that the largest stocks of the cypress are 120 feet in height, and from 25 to 40 feet in circumference above the conical base, which at the surface of the earth is always three or four times as large as the continued diameter of the trunk. In the East, the cypress is the emblem of mourning, and is generally to be found overshadowing with its dark branches the spots consecrated to the dead; and it is owing to the respect which they meet with in such situations that so many gigantic and venerable specimens have been allowed to survive. Nearly allied to the cypress, and applied to the same funereal purposes, is the yew-tree of our own country, which often attains to enormous dimensions. That of Hedsor, in Bucks, is about 27 feet in girth, and is still in full health and vigour; that of Fortingal, in Perthshire, mentioned by Pennant in 1770, was 21 feet; those of Crowhurst, in Surrey, were more than 11 feet; and those of Fountain Abbey, in Yorkshire, well known so early as 1155, about the same dimensions. Respecting the cedar of Lebanon, Maundrell tells us that when he went into the East, a few old trees were then growing on the loftiest parts of the mountains. Measuring one of the largest, he found it to be 36 feet in girth, and III feet in the spread of its boughs. About 18 feet from the ground it divided into 5 limbs, each of which equalled in bulk an ordinary tree. The cedar, like the yew and cypress, is an evergreen, and occupies a pre-eminence over all other trees in the East in point of beauty and duration.

Belonging to the same natural order we may mention the Norfolk pine, or kauri, of the New Zealanders, which occasionally grows to a very large size. Mr Terry, in his recently published work on New Zealand, mentions two extraordinary individuals which he saw on the eastern coast, near Mercury Bay, and which were supposed to be the largest on the island. The available trunk of one, which was cut down and brought to England, was 150 feet in length, and 25 feet in circumference at the base; the other is still standing, and is called by the natives the Father of the kauri. 'Although almost incredible, it measures 75 feet in circumference at its base! The

height is unknown, for the surrounding forest is so thick, that it is impossible to obtain an accurate view of the tree. There is an arm some distance from the trunk, which measures 6 feet in diameter at its junction with the main stem.' Some of our own native pines, such as those of Glenmore and Athole, have reached to a great age and size; but they are as mere saplings compared with this 'Father of the kauri.'

The Wellingtonia gigantea, a pine of California, exceeds in size all others of its family, all other trees of temperate climates, and indeed almost all those of the tropics. It is found on the Sierra Nevada, in about 38° N. lat., and at an elevation of 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea. It was discovered in 1850 by a Mr Dowd, who, in hunting deer, came with astonishment into the midst of what is now known as the Mammoth Tree Grove of Calaveras. For several years the trees of this group were supposed to be the only trees of their kind in existence, but other groups were afterwards found in

other localities, and individual trees in different parts of the district. A tree which was felled in the Calaveras grove measured 302 feet in height, and 96 feet in circumference at the ground. It was sound to the centre. It must have been of very great age, and was probably a tree of considerable size in the time of Solomon. Five men were employed for twenty-two days in felling it, which was accomplished by boring into it with great augers, and sawing between the auger holes. When it had been cut through, it remained steadfast in its erect position, till great wedges were driven in, a work of more than two days, when at last it fell. The amount of solid timber in this tree has been calculated at 500,000 cubic feet. On the stump, which

is nearly ten yards in diameter, a round wooden house has been erected, which has sometimes been used for dancing, and for theatrical performances. Within an area of fifty acres, the Calaveras grove contains one hundred and three trees of large size, twenty of which exceed twenty-five feet in diameter at the base, and one is 321 feet in height. A still larger one has fallen and lies half buried in the soil. Three hundred feet from its base, it was broken by striking against another large tree in its fall, and is there eighteen feet in diameter. Three trees, standing close together, are known as the Three Graces (see first page); they are of nearly equal size, and almost 300 feet in height. Trees of similar magnitude exist in the other localities where the Wellingtonia has been found. One of a large group of trees at Mariposa is 102 feet in circumference. The Wellingtonia has not a great umbrageous head, but a stately columnar stem, with comparatively small branches on its upper part, and foliage somewhat similar to that of the Arbor vitae. It has been introduced into this country, to the climate of which it is very suitable, and many fine young trees are already to be seen. Plants are common in our nurseries.

The oak, chestnut, and beech, though differing considerably in external aspect, belong to the same natural order, namely, Corylacea, or Cupuliferæ, so called from the cup or cupule in which the fruit is contained, as is well illustrated by the common acorn. They are excellent timber trees, generally flourishing for centuries, and growing to a large size, sometimes attaining proportions truly colossal, and outliving dynasties and kingdoms. As a complete record of celebrated oaks would require several volumes, we shall merely allude to some of the more remarkable found in Britain. The Shire Oak, which grew near Worksop, deserves honourable mention, in respect both of its own dignity and that of its situation. In point of grandeur, few trees equalled it. Its boughs overspread a space of 90 feet in diameter—an area capable, on mathematical calculation, of containing 235 horse. It stood on a spot where the counties of York, Nottingham, and Derby unite, and spread its shade over a portion of each. From the honourable station of thus fixing the boundaries of three large counties, it was equally respected through the domains of them all, and was known far and wide by the honourable distinction of the Shire Oak, by which appellation it was marked on all the larger maps of England. Fairlop, known for centuries as the monarch oak of Hainhault Forest, in Essex, has attained dimensions even still more gigantic. The tradition of the country traces it half-way up the Christian era. It is still a noble tree, though it has now suffered greatly from the depredations of time. About a yard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem is 36 feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast arms, yet not in the horizontal manner of an oak, but rather in that of a beech. Beneath its shade, which overspreads an area of 300 feet in circuit, an annual

fair was held on the 2d of July, and no booth was suffered to be erected beyond the extent of its boughs. 'Honours, however,' says Kirkby, are often attended with inconveniences, and Fairlop has suffered from its honourable distinctions. In the feasting that attends a fair, fires are often necessary; and no place seemed so proper to make them in as the hollow cavities formed by the heaving roots of the tree. This practice has brought speedier decay on Fairlop than it might otherwise have suffered.' The next we shall mention is Damory's Oak, which formerly grew not far from Blandford, in Dorsetshire, and five or six centuries ago was probably in its maturity. At the ground, its circumference was 68 feet, and 17 feet above the ground its diameter was four yards. As this vast trunk decayed, it became hollow, forming a cavity which was 15 feet wide and 17 feet high, capable of holding twenty men. During the civil wars, and till after the Restoration, this cave was regularly inhabited by an old man, who sold ale in it. The tree suffered greatly during the storm of 1703, by which several of its noblest limbs were broken down; and in 1755, the remnants of the venerable trunk were sawn asunder and sold as firewood. The Skelton Oak, near Shrewsbury, in sight of which the famous battle betwixt Henry IV. and Hotspur was fought in 1403, is still standing, and in foliage. It is 37 feet in circumference at a foot and a half from the ground, and is otherwise proportionally large. It divides into two enormous limbs, both of which have been fractured; and the lower portion of the trunk is hollowed out into a recess capable of accommodating a dozen persons.

tree;

One of the noblest trees on record is a chestnut upon Mount Ætna, though it has now lost much of its original dignity. Many travellers have taken notice of this extraordinary tree. Brydone, who wrote his account in 1771, says it had then the appearance of five distinct trees, the space between which, he was assured, had once been filled with solid timber. The possibility of this he could not at first conceive; for the five trees together spread over a space of 204 feet in diameter. At length, however, by an examination, he was convinced that at one period these had been but one mighty and he found that this chestnut was of such renown, that it appeared marked in an old map of Sicily, published a hundred years before; and an account of it at that period is given by Kircher, fully corroborating its dimensions. The great chestnut which stood at Finhaven, in Forfarshire, was long accounted the largest tree in Scotland. In 1744, the measures of this remarkable trunk were taken before two justices of the peace, when the circumference at half a foot from the ground was 42 feet 8 inches. A chestnut cut down at Kinfauns Castle in 1760 was 22 feet in girth; and there is at present a beautiful chestnut at Riccarton, in Edinburghshire, full 27 feet in circumference; its branches covering an area of 77 feet in diameter. There are also several measurements of gigantic beeches

on record; but of these our space will not allow us to take even a passing glance.

GIGANTIC FLOWERS AND LEAVES.

Of the blossoms which adorn our conservatories and gardens, those of the rose, the peony, the dahlia, hollyhock, and passionflower are amongst the largest and most showy. These, however, are but mere pigmies to many that are found in other lands, where excess of light and sunshine call into existence myriads of flowers as remarkable for size as they are exuberant in colour and fragrance. One of the largest yet discovered is that of the Victoria Regia, belonging to the Nymphæacea, or water-lily tribe, the leaves of which measure above 18 feet, and its flower nearly 4 feet in circumference! It was met with in British Guiana, in 1837, by Sir Robert Schomburgk, who thus speaks of his discovery: 'It was on the 1st of January this year, while contending with the difficulties of nature, opposed in different forms to our progress up the river Berbice, that we arrived at a point where the river expanded and formed a currentless basin. Some object on the southern extremity of the basin attracted my attention. It was impossible to form any idea of what it could be; and animating the crew to increase the rate of their paddling, we were shortly afterwards opposite the object which had raised my curiosity-a vegetable wonder! All calamities were forgotten; I felt as a botanist, and felt myself rewarded. A gigantic leaf, from 5 to 6 feet in diameter, salvershaped, with a broad rim, of a light green above and a vivid crimson below, resting upon the water. Quite in character with the wonderful leaf was the luxuriant flower, consisting of many hundred petals, passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose and pink. The smooth water was covered with the blossoms, and as I rowed from one to the other, I always observed something new to admire. The leaf, on its upper surface, is a bright green, in form almost orbicular, except that on one side it is slightly bent in; its diameter measured from 5 to 6 feet. Around the whole margin extended a rim from 3 to 5 inches high; on the inside light green, like the surface of the leaf; on the outside, like the leaf's lower surface, of the brightest crimson. The calyx is four-leaved, each sepal upwards of 7 inches in length and 3 inches in breadth; at the base they are white inside, reddish brown and prickly outside. The diameter of the calyx is from 12 to 13 inches; on it rests the magnificent corolla, which, when fully developed, completely covers the calyx with its hundred petals. When it first opens, it is white, with pink in the middle, which spreads over the whole flower the more it advances in age, and it is generally found the next day altogether of a pink colour : as if to enhance its beauty, it is sweet-scented. We met the plants frequently afterwards; and the higher we advanced, the more