WO Ta: 
I.—Mild Weather—Miss Kinesrorp. 
APRIL 5, 1882, 
The following valuable memorandum of the wild flowers» 
birds, and insects, which have made their appearance during the 
late mild winter was contributed by Miss Clara Kingsford :— 
The effects of mild weather upon vegetable and animal life. 
In one garden the following flowers have been in bloom :—Till 
January 14, 1882, the China rose and pansy, the latter 934 inches 
in circumference ; from January 14, and still out March 1, the 
anemone, crocus, polyanthus, snowdrop, primrose, hepaticae, wall- 
flower; January 1, magnolia in bud; January 9, pyrus japonica, 
standing in the middle of the garden, not along a sheltering wall ; 
January 12, red rose; February 7, violets; February 14, broccoli 
fit to be cut, quite two months before time. 
February 24, quite a swarm of small flies and gnats on the 
windows of my room. 
Spiders (different kinds), the common house-fly, bluebottle-fly 
(musca vomitaria), lady-bird (coccinella) have frequented my rooms 
during the winter. 
Two living specimens of the tortoise-shell butter-fly (vanessa 
urticae) were brought me. I have seen in magazines, newspapers, 
&c., several] notices of butterflies having been seen flying about 
during this winter; the general belief was that they had just 
emerged from the pup, but in every instance they were one or 
the other of the seven different kinds of butterflies which hyber- 
nate during the winter, and had been lured from their winter’s 
retreat by the genial weather. These butterflies never have the 
fresh richness of colouring that the newly emerged butterfly has. 
February 25, frog-spawn was procured for me, the previous 
season not until March 11. 
II.—Fungi—sy Mr. Rep. 
OcTOBER, 1882. 
Mr. J. Reid, F.R.C.S., Eng., described to the meeting various 
specimens of fungi placed upon the table. Amongst these was a good 
plant of ‘‘ Polyporus fumosus,”’ taken in the neighbourhood of 
Canterbury ; also some fine specimens of ‘‘ Geaster fimbriatus,” the 
fringed earth-star, taken at Merton. One of the latter had been 
carefully removed with the sod of earth, and well showed how, by 
the curving back of its rays, it springs from its earthy bed to 
distribute its spores, when ripe, above the surrounding mossy 
foliage. A specimen of the “ Fir-cone amanita,” in an early stage, 
