THE WEATHER OF JULY REVIEW. 8'u?C° 225 



The weather of July was in several respects remarkable. The 

 quantity of rain which fell was unusually great, being at most stations 

 about double what usually falls in this month ; still the temperature 

 was fairly high, and there were few days without some sunshine. 

 Electrical disturbances were frequent and severe. Thunderstorms 

 occurred on nine or ten days, and are described by several observers as 

 of remarkable intensity, those on the loth, 17th, and 30th especially. 

 At Kibworth above two inches of rain fell in two hours on the morning 

 of the loth, and on the same morning, at Market Harborough, 2f inches 

 fell between half-past four and nine o'clock, producing the deepest flood 

 in the town on record. Floods occurred very generally in the middle 

 of the month. Solar halos were seen at Stamford on 14th and 

 Loughborough on 2oth. Temperature in the sun (black bulb in vacuo) 

 reached 135 - 4° at Loughborough on 3rd and 24th, 141° at Burton on 

 18th, and 136° at Leicester on 25th. As last year, insect life apj^ears 

 conspicuous by its absence. 



The British Moss Flora. Part I. By K. Bkaithwaite, M.D., F.L.S., &c. 

 Published by the author, at 303, Clapham Road, London. Price 2s. 6d. 

 Since the publication of " Bryologia Britannica," in 1855, so many 

 new species have been added to our British Moss Flora, that a want has 

 long been felt for a reliable, well-illustrated work on this subject. Dr. 

 Braithwaite's excellent skill as a delineator, together with his thorough 

 knowledge of Bryology, eminently fits him for the great work he has 

 undertaken. In Part I. of the above work we have a monograph of the 

 Andreaeaceae, illustrated by two plates drawn from authentic specimens, 

 giving all the details of cell structure, leaf form, habit of plant, &c, all 

 drawn by a master hand, and with the very perfection of finish. The 

 text consists of the preface, the families of Acrocarpous mosses, des- 

 cription and history of the Andreaeaceae, and terse but ample descriptions 

 of the five species and their varieties, given in language which fully con- 

 veys to the reader a word -picture of the plant described, and is at the same 

 time sufficiently simple to be understood by the veriest tyro in botany. 

 A full list of the synonyms of each species is also given ; and, as the 

 synonyms of one species alone occupies nearly forty closely-printed 

 lines, it will be seen that this important portion of the work has been 

 thoroughly and efficiently carried out, and that the author has spared 

 neither time nor trouble in the production of the work. The arrangement 

 of the families and orders is principally in accordance with the recently 

 published views of Professor Lindberg, " the most natural which has 

 yet appeared ; in this, the Cleistocarpous mosses, (Phascum, &c.,) as in 

 Mr. Mitten's system, are regarded as imperfectly developed forms of 

 various Stegocarpous families, with which they agree in everything but 

 a separable operculum, and the genera are framed on a broader and 

 more rational basis, just as our best botanists now deal with the 

 Phaenogamous plants." This work, when finished, will be the most 

 valuable one that has yet been given on British Bryology, and we heartily 

 wish the author leisure and health to finish his great undertaking. 



J. E. Bagnall. 

 Z 



