364 CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 



Stygian flood). At p. 2G4 reference is made, in a report of the Geological 

 Society, to a description of the coast of " Norway," which seemed a complete 

 riddle to me, till mention of " Caen free-stone " made it obvious that Normandy 

 was intended. But I dare say you have at your tongue's end — " Cease, rude 

 Boreas, blustering railer," so I shall ruffle you no longer on this point.* 



On the Backwardness of the Spring of 1837. 



Mr. Beverley Morris, of Dublin, I see, has somewhat strangely questioned 

 the backwardness of the spring of this year (pp. 221, 225), and, without any 

 reference to meteorological details, has adduced the fact of certain plants flower- 

 ing as early as usual. Having before alluded to this subject (p. 213), I feel 

 obliged to remark upon what Mr. Morris has adduced. In the first place, the 

 plants he has selected are, with the exception of Narcissus biflorus, primaveral. 

 Nothing can, therefore, be drawn from them, as such plants with a warm aspect 

 may flower in certain spots without the majority of their brethren, as every body 

 knows who has met with a Primrose or Cowslip by the wood-side. But admit- 

 ting that Mr. Morris means the general flowering of the plants he mentions, 

 surely May 4 for Ranuncidus Jicaria is very late, since it usually gilds the 

 marshy meadows by the second week in April, and I have seen it in flower in 

 February. I should also say that Caltha palustris generally flowers in Worces- 

 tershire in the middle of April. But I will appeal to what every body notices — 

 the trees and shrubs, and ask if they do not fully bear me out in the assertion 

 that the present season has been nearly three weeks behind an ordinary one. 

 The following memorandums are taken from my log-book, and let any one 

 compare them with a record they may have made in former years, or leave them 

 for reference to future. 



1837- — May 1. In vain we look for the Hawthorn or May in flower; it is 

 not even in leaf, except very scantily here and there, and there is no real display 

 of green leaves anywhere save on the Gooseberry bushes that stand lone epiplytic 

 sentinels on the pollarded Willows. Almost every thing has been cut up by the 

 long-continued bitter frosts and never-ending storms of sleet and snow, the 

 Horse Chesnut has not yet unfolded its leaves, and the Blackthorn (Primus 

 spinosa) is only this day coming into flower. Now on reference to Forster's 

 " Indications of the Seasons," in the Encyclopcedia of Natural Phenomena, we 

 find it stated that " the Blackthorn usually blooms about the middle of April." 



* We are rather glad Mr. Lees has alluded to the typographical errors, as it enables us to clear 

 ourselves of nearly the whole blame. Mistakes marked in the proofs are occasionally left uncor- 

 rected, and in one or two instances letters creep into or fall out from the worked-ofF copy where all 

 was right in the proofs. Such defects are, however, not numerous or important in our late Nos., 

 and a few will occur in every work.— JEn. 



