250 DIGONEUTISM 



we know nothing) able to resist a cold winter only 

 in certain stages of existence, and a mnltiplication 

 of whose broods might require some pliability in 

 this respect. Not only, too, are our summers 

 longer and hotter, but they enjoy a marked pre- 

 ponderance of sunshine, as compared with Euro- 

 pean sunnners ; and this alone would almost seem 

 capable of producing the variation we have noticed 

 in the number of broods. 



In an extremely interesting article on the effect 

 of our climate on manners and customs, written by 

 the Swiss naturalist Desor, who resided several 

 years in the United States, this writer attributes 

 everything to the far greater dryness of the cli- 

 mate, when comparing eastern America and Eu- 

 rope. This produces, according to him, a nervous 

 irritability, the recognition of which has compelled 

 a measure of self-restraint, and the exercise of this 

 has gone far to make the development of our po- 

 litical institutions possible ! What a future is be- 

 fore the coming inhabitants of our arid plains ! 



Differences will be found in ail other climatic 

 phenomena of the two continents. "From Europe 

 as a standard," says Blodgett, " the American cli- 

 mate is singularly extreme both in temperature, 

 humidity, quantity of rain, wind, and cloudiness or 



