186 PHENOLOGICAL PHENOMENA IN 1882. 



winter and spring was therefore particularly favourable to the 

 acceleration of the flowering of plants. The summer on the 

 other hand was very cold, and, although as in the winter and 

 spring, the atmosphere was humid and little rain fell, there 

 was much cloudy weather and very little sunshine. It would 

 therefore have a retarding effect upon the period of flowering. 



The principal phenological feature of the year 1882 is thus seen 

 to be the extremely forward state of vegetation in the spring, and 

 especially in the early part of the spring. Plants were in flower at 

 such exceptional dates that the actual date of first flowering 

 was probably in many instances overlooked, so that the full extent 

 of forwardness in this season may not be expressed in the table. 

 Mr. R. T. Andrews truly remarks, in his return for April : 

 " Observers must be unusually active this season as all plants are 

 so early in flowering one scarcely can tell what to look for and 

 what has already been found." In June, on the other hand, 

 he says : " The difference of time between the flowering 

 of plants this year and last has been entirely lost and the 

 summer flowers are as last year." And in July Mr. J. J. Willis 

 observes: "It is remarkable that whilst in spring and the first 

 part of the summer plants were so much more forward in flowering 

 than the average, most of those of July are considerably behind." 

 This, however, which refers to Harpenden only, is scarcely borne 

 out by observations from other localities, the earliest of which in 

 most cases give dates for July rather earlier than the previous mean. 



Not only were our wild flowers early in appearing in the spring, 

 but they were also unusually abundant, and some were remarkable 

 for the size of the flowers and the fullness and variety of colouring, 

 white-coloured forms being particularly numerous. In the summer 

 these features were lost. In December a few spring flowers re- 

 appeared, such as Viola odorata, PotentiUa fragariastrum, Mercurialis 

 perennis, and Veronica hederifolia, and also, more abundantly than 

 usual, the primrose (^Primula vulgaris), which, has flowered rather 

 freely through the winter of 1882-83. 



In the spring, plants suff'ered much from blight (aphides), es- 

 pecially after the gale of the 29th of April, when the violent wind 

 carried ofii' the delicate blossoms and destroyed much of the tender 

 foliage of such trees as were in a sufficiently advanced stage of 

 growth to be affected by it, thus depriving them of the vigour 

 necessary to withstand the attacks of insects. 



Except aphides, and the larvae of the winter-moth which also 

 did considerable damage, insects were not so numerous as usual, 

 but insect-presence need not be further referred to here, being 

 treated of in another communication to the Society. 



