But these bands are not invariably straight either; in the above example they followed the caprices of the vegetable body. They are to be found oblique in certain cases, but more often they surround the trunk in long spirals of varying width, showing that the lightning clasped the tree in the form of a serpent of fire. Here is an example:-- During a violent storm on July 17, 1895, a poplar was blasted on the road through the forest of Moladier, 160 metres north-west of the castle of Valliere. The tree was 25 metres high, and in full leaf from base to summit; it was struck halfway up by the discharge, and a spiral furrow 10 centimetres wide twisted round the trunk to the ground. I noted a similar case, August 25, 1901. Lightning struck one of the highest trees in the park at Juvisy, a magnificent ash, stripping off and destroying the bark where the electric fluid curved round and round down the full length of the trunk, which was shattered by the meteor a few metres above the roots. Enormous fragments lay all round the trunk, some hurled to such a distance that it was obvious the explosive force of the phenomenon must have been of extraordinary violence. I was able to trace the course of the lightning to the foot of the tree, along its roots to a great depth, by a black furrow. The tree is not dead. The ivy which clung to it is dead. The vast and splendid forest of Saint Germain often witnesses the presence of the lightning, and the magnificent trees which adorn and beautify this charming and celebrated place are, unfortunately, too often the victims of these inopportune visitations.