NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 325 



aspect. The weather, however, underwent a favourable change 

 during March, April, and May, so that vegetation looked brighter; 

 but it required a strong reaction to make up the leeway of the 

 previous month. June was dry and warm, hence plants and 

 flowers made rapid growth ; but all expectations were blighted in 

 July and August, which were tw^o of the wettest summer months 

 that have been experienced for many years. During these months 

 there were only 13 dry days, as compared with 38 in the same 

 months of 1876. The blooms which had been formed during a 

 favourable fortnight in June never had an opportunity of 

 expanding, and owing to the absence of sunshine and the 

 prevalence of damp weather, the majority of them wasted away. 

 Violas were the only flowers which seemed to thrive with the wet, 

 geraniums, calceolarias, etc., making no show whatever. In 

 September there was a continuance of good harvest weather, but 

 it came too late in the season. Not only in the flower garden, 

 but in the fields, this was severely felt, the farmers having a late 

 and a poor harvest, and in many cases the crops were not worth 

 the trouble of gathering. The closing months were like too many 

 of their predecessors, and tlie year ended as it had begun, there 

 being only 10 dry days during November and December, against 

 30 in the corresponding period of 1876. The total rainfall for 

 1877 amounted to 48-03, against 37-31 in the previous year, 

 showing the marked increase of nearly a foot of water. The 

 mean temperature was much the same as in 1876, viz., 40-50, as 

 against 40. The lowest point to which the thermometer fell was 

 13 degrees, on the 27th February; the highest point it reached 

 was on the 14th and 16th of June, when it stood at 79 degrees in 

 the shade. The number of dry days last year was 131, the 

 number in the previous year was 195, showing a diff'erence of 64 

 days. Snow fell on three days during January, on the 12th, 28th, 

 and 29th, to the extent of fully four inches. During February it 

 snowed only on one day, but the quantity that fell was equal to 

 the whole fall in January. In March snow fell on three days, to 

 the extent of fully five inches, but there was none in April, or in 

 any of the succeeding months, until the 25th November, when 

 there was a slight shower, and on 26th December there was a 

 fall of fully two and a half inches. Upon the whole, the weather 

 up to the close of the year was remarkably open and mild, the 

 Christmas rose of last winter being a Christmas rose indeed. 



