134 The Scottish Naturalist. 



The weather in May was not much better than in April. Frost and snow- 

 showers were very frequent, and even when the day was bright and sunny 

 there was usually a cold wind, and frost at night. The water-lily tubs were 

 again frozen at the beginning of the month — being the seventh month in suc- 

 cession in which they were in that condition. The mountains have still a 

 great quantity of snow on them \ Ben Ghlo, seen from Perth Bridge, is en- 

 tirely white ; and several of the Highland lochs are still covered with ice, so 

 strong, that about the beginning of the month a fox, which, according to the 

 old saying, *' will not trust the ice after Candlemas," was seen walking across 

 Loch Callater, in Braemar.^ About the 15th the hawthorn hedges were only 

 beginning to get a little green. The Corncrake was heard in the field behind 

 my garden on May i6th — May 15th being its date in the two preceding years. 

 It did not, however, make much noise till the 22d. 7"he following plants 

 flowered : — 



Carex ornithopoda, ist (1878, end of March), 



Oxalis acetosella, 3d (1877, May 6; 1878, April 24). 



Luzula campestris, 3d (1878, April, end). 



Primula veris, 4th (1878, April, end). 



Anemone nemorosa, 4th (1878, April, end). 



Hierochloe borealis, 4th (1878, April, end). 



Androsace vitaliana, 4th. 



Glechoma hederacea, 5th (1878, April, end). 



Cardamine trifoliata, 7th (1877, May I ; 1878, end of March). 



Potentilla maculata, 8th (1877, May 19; 1878, April, end). 



Anemone hortensis, 8th (1878^ May 15). 



Claytonia siberica, 8th. 



Salix serpyllifolia, 8th (1877, March 28). 



Viola sylvatica alba, loth (1878, April, end). 



M M vulgaris, loth (1878, middle of May). 



II palustris, loth. 



Lamium maculatum album, 12th (1878, end of March). 



Viola lutea amoena, 12th (1877, April 30 ; 1878, April 7). 



Geum montanum, 12th (1877, June 17 ; 1878, May 15), 



Geranium lucidum, 15th (1877, May 16 ; 1878, May 15). 



Saxifraga tricuspidata, 15th {1878, May 15). 



Valeriana montana, i6th (1877, May 22 ; 1878, April, end). 



Arenaria balearica, i6th (1877, May 4 ; 1878, April 24). 



Saxifraga Stansfieldii, i6th (1877, May 9). 



Sibbaldia procumbens, 17th (1878, May 15). 



Caltha palustris minor, 17th (1878, May 15). 



Veronica repens, 19th (1877, May 8 ; 1878, end of April). 



Myosotis alpestris, 20th (1877, May 16; 1878, April 30J. 



Cotoneaster vulgaris, 20th (1877, May 13), 



Thalictrum alpinum, 20lh. 



Saxifraga granulata, 22d (1878, April 30). 



^ Since the above was written, I have heard that there was ice in the 

 beginning of June on one of the lochs beside Lochnagar, and at an.altitude 

 of a little more than 2000 feet, of sufficient quantity and strength to permit of 

 curling, if such had been attempted. 



