WEATHER CONSIDERATIONS. 95 
September’’; and in the same volume, p. 148, in ‘Notes of the 
Months,” it is recorded under the head May :—‘“ A dry month, very 
few places at which an inch of rain fell, . . . except in the north of 
Scotland and the south and north-west of Ireland. Below the average 
at almost every station.” 
In the above notes it will be seen we have record of much drought 
generally in 1895, and especially of drought in May and also in the 
last half of September, such as might be expected (from what has 
been recorded of injurious effect of rain-storms on caterpillars) to be 
very favourable to their prevalence and destructiveness in May; and 
probably also favourable to the development of the Winter Moths, 
which make the first appearance about the second week in October. 
Relatively to this point, one of my observers, writing from near Maid- 
stone, mentioned that the Cheimatobia brumata, the ‘*‘ Winter Moth,” 
appeared again in enormous numbers in the autumn, as also did the 
Hybernia defoliaria, another species of winter appearing moth. The 
above is the weather record of 1895, in which eggs were laid and 
caterpillars grown to continue ravage to 1896. 
In the now past year (1896) the report for the quarter ending 
June 30th was that the weather was ‘“‘remarkably fine and bright.* 
But little rain fell in April and May,—in fact, during May at several 
stations in the south-west rain fell on one day only. May was probably 
the sunniest month on record; the general character of the weather 
during that month may be briefly described as—days bright, cloudless, 
and hot.” 
In the ‘ Meteorology of England during the quarter ending June 80th, 
1896,’ by James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., &., at p. 9 of publication 
quoted below, ‘*. . . the April fall of rain was small and below its 
average at all stations. The weather in May was remarkable for its 
small rainfall, unusual amount of sunshine, and fineness generally. 
. The fall of rain was small, and greatly below its average. ‘The 
total fall of rain in April and May at Greenwich was ‘83 in.” [that 
is, a little more than three-quarters of an inch.—Kp.], ‘‘and there 
are only three instances of as small or smaller fall in these two months 
in the preceding eighty-one years.’ The great drought of May is 
further shown (same page) by a table of returns of numbers of 
consecutive days without rainfall. By this it appears that at thirty- 
two stations there were periods dating from about the end of April to 
about the 20th of May (all dates and details given) in which there was 
no rainfall, these periods running from about seventeen to twenty 
consecutive days’ drought, with the exception of one instance of only 
nine days, where the drought was broken by a short thunderstorm, 
* See ‘The Meteorological Record for the Quarter ending June 30th, 1896,’ by 
William Marriott, F.R.Met.Soc., Assistant Secretary of Meteorological Society. 
