240 MISCELLAKEOTJS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Floivering of Plants at Royston in 1882. — The extreme mildness 

 of the winter and spring of 1882 has been so much the subject of 

 remark that its influence in the promotion of an unusually early 

 maturity of flowering plants can scarcely excite any very great 

 surprise. The flowering period has been, on an average, nearly 

 a month earlier than usual, and many of our rarer species have 

 been unusually abundant. The somewhat rare Astragalus hypoglottis 

 or purple milk-vetch, and the elegant Spiraa filipendula, have been 

 so abundant on Eoyston Heath as almost to cover the ground in 

 some parts ; and to a less extent the same remark applies to the 

 rare Cineraria campestris, to the still rarer Thesium linopthgllum 

 (one of the rarest species of this county), also to the rare Orchis 

 ustiilata and Gymnadenia conopsea ; while the interesting Ophrys 

 apifera (bee orchis), of which there is no recoi'd for Royston Heath 

 in the ' Flora Hertfordiensis,' appeared this year at several different 

 spots on the heath a considerable distance apart ; and at two of 

 these spots it was so common that it would scarcely be an exaggera- 

 tion to say that it could be gathered by the handful. I was some- 

 what puzzled by its sudden and total disappearance at one of these 

 spots, not a vestige of the foliage being discovered a week after 

 I had found it in such abundance. Had the plants been gathered 

 by passers-by, one would expect to see at least some remnants. 

 A flock of sheep had just been grazing over the spot. Does any one 

 know if sheep are fond of orchidaceous plants ? Thalictr%im minus, 

 Antennaria dioica, and Galeopsis versicolor have flowered freely. 

 The orchidaceous tribe, always a capricious family, has not only 

 upset the established record of local floras, but the commoner 

 species, such as Orchis maculata, have been as common as weeds by 

 the roadside. The cornflower ( Centaurea Oya^ius) extended its 

 habitats enough to satisfy its imperial admirer the Emperor of Ger- 

 many. Iheris aniara was very frequently met with near the Great 

 Northern Railway on the borders of the two counties of Hertford and 

 Cambridge. But the effect of the exceptional season was most notice- 

 able in the case of the somewhat rare GentianaAmarella. Many parts 

 of Royston Heath were literally covered with dwarfed specimens of 

 this pretty blue flower, and the many thousands of its little conical 

 buds which showed above the short herbage were very conspicuous. 



During the spring and summer last year I noticed an unusual 

 number of white-flowered varieties, including the following species : 

 — Hyacinthus non-scriptus, Polygala vulgaris, Valeriana officinalis, 

 Centaurea nigra, Verbena officinalis, and Stachys arvensis. 



As we are thus far passing through another mild season, the above 

 notes may perhaps be useful for purposes of comparison, and as sug- 

 gesting some of the directions in which (should it continue) its modi- 

 fying influence may be looked for in the great wild flower-garden. — 

 A. Kingston, Royston. {^Communicated hy J. Hopkinson.) 



Entomology. 



Injurious Insects at Harpenden in 1881 and 1882. — The season of 

 1 88 1 was particularly prolific in insect-life, in fact the number and 



