THE WEATHER OF APRIL. 



163 



We have received many interesting accounts of the arrival of our 

 migratory birds, and, as the cuckoo and swallow are recorded by 

 numerous observers, their respective times of aiTival may be shown in 

 a tabulai" fonii : — 



The nightingale is also recorded from Sedgebrooke and Castle Ashby 

 on the 23rd, and Kibworth on the 18th. At Oscott three sea-giills were 

 noticed flying from the N.E. at 2 45 p.m., on the 24th. A fine lunar 

 halo was seen on the 12th. 



Corrrspnbcna. 



— ^r— 



Brilliant Meteor on April 2nd, 1878, at 7 56 p.u. — Did any 

 correspondent see anything of this last night. It was about 80° high, and 

 of a bluish white colour, very fine and brilliant, and of large size, and 

 came slowly down in a direction a Uttle west of south. I did not see the 

 end of it, on account of a high building blocking the view, but hope 

 other observers were more fortunate. — William Arnold, Tamworth. 



Primula Vulgaris. — We have in our garden a number of roots of 

 Primula vulgaris, which, so far as I know, have not been moved for 

 several years. Some retain their original colour and form, others have 

 altered to different shades of red, whilst some are white, and in two 

 cases the calyx has become petaloid, a gi'een stripe remaining to represent 

 each sepal. On one plant the inflorescence is an umbel and the flowers 

 are dark crimson, with a cream-coloured spot on the margin of each 

 petal ; (I have found a similar inflorescence on the ordinary yellow prim- 

 rose.) Can any of the readers of the " Midland Naturahst " tell me 

 the reason of these changes? — M. E. C. 



Prunella Vulgaris. — I observed the white variety of Prunella 

 vulgaris pretty plentifully two years ago near Bimam, in Perthshire, but 

 did not examine it sufficiently closely to say whether it coiTCspoudedwith 

 the description given of it by Mr. Mott at page 136. — H. F. Johnson, 

 Nottingham. 



Moss Catalogue. — It may be useful to the readers of Mr. Bagnall's 

 papers on mosses to know that " The London Catalogue of British 

 Mosses," compiled by C. P. Hobkirk and H. Boswell, 1877, can be 

 obtained of Mr. T. B. Blow, Welwyn, Hei-tfordshire, price fourpence. It 

 contains a hst of the species found in Britain, including those discovered 

 since the pubhcation of " Bryologia Britannica," arranged according to 

 the system of Professor Schimper, who is the greatest authority upon 

 the mosses at the present day. — J. S., Bridgnorth. 



The Direction of Eotation. — A small animal, which had received 

 an injury to one hemisphere of the brain, was affected in such a way 

 that it continually rotated upon its own axis, and some time ago a 

 discussion took place as to the direction of this rotation. The question. 



