158 THE WEATHER OF APRIL. 
The first few days of the month were fairly warm and fine, but the 
weather soon relapsed into the cold, sunless, showery character which 
has characterised the long and dreary winter, which, even now, (May 
23rd,) can scarcely be said to have passed away. From the 11th to the 
15th snow fell more or less at every station. The fall of the 12th was 
heavy, and on Easter Sunday (13th) from five to eight inches of snow 
covered the ground. JHasterly winds continued to prevail, and, with 
almost nightly frosts, so checked vegetation generally that the hedges 
were black and bare up to the last day. The temperature may be 
estimated at five or six degrees below the average; rainfall about the 
average. From the 27th to the 30th thunderstorms were experienced 
with hail. The Rev. J. Brooke (Shifnal) writes :—‘ The coldest Haster- 
day for at least forty-five years, the min. temperature being 23°, and 
the max. 40°; the next nearest being 1836, (April 3rd,) when min. was 
32° and max. 44.” Mr. T. H. Davis, (Orleton)—‘‘ The coldest month of 
April that has occurred for more than twenty-four years.” We are 
indebted to our meteorological observers for the accompanying notes of 
spring birds and flowers. 
Dates or Sprinc Frowers.—Brampton S. Thomas—Anemone nemo- 
rosa, Mercurialis perennis, fl., 11th; Elder, Hawthorn, 1., 29th ; Ranun- 
culus Ficaria, fl., 30th. Strowd—Fl. on 1st, Wood Sorrel; 5th, Goat 
Willow (stamens;) 8th, Caltha palustris; 9th, Periwinkle, Wood 
Anemone, Daffodil; 10th, Red Dead Nettle; 14th, Cinquefoil; 25th, 
White Dead Nettle, Ground Ivy; 29th, Fragaria vesca, Cowslip, Ranun- 
culus aquatilis, Wood Spurge; 30th, Avthusa cynapium, Cardamine 
pratensis, Adoxa moschatellina, Chrysosplenium alternifolium. 
Micratory Birps, &c., HEARD OR SEEN.—Castle Ashby—Swallows, a few 
on 20th, main body on 26th; Cuckoo heard on 28th; Nightingale, May 
7th. Woolstaston—Swallow, 21st ; Cuckoo, 23rd. Coston Rectory—Cuckoo, 
22nd. Shifnal—Swallow, 23rd; Cuckoo, 22nd; Sand Martin, 14th; 
White Butterfly, 29th ; Yellow-tip Humble Bee, 4th. Market Harborouyh 
—Swallow, 19th; Cuckoo, 21st. Weston-uwnder-Lyziard—Swallow, 25th. 
Bishop’s Castle—Swallow, 24th ; Cuckoo, 21st. More Rectory—Swallow, 
19th; Cuckoo, 21st; Redstart and Garden Warbler, 22nd. Cheltenham— 
Swallow, 20th; Cuckoo, 27th. Much Wenlock—(One) Swallow, 25th; 
Cuckoo, 23rd. Tenbury—Swallow, 17th ; Cuckoo, 20th; Chiff-chaff seen 
on Ist. Handsworth Wood—Cuckoo, 25th. 
Correspondence, 
a 
CHRYSOSPLENIUM ALTERNIFOLIUM.—This plant, stated in most works 
on Botany to be “rare,” or ‘‘not common,” I have found in several 
parts of this neighbourhood. Will any of the readers of the ‘‘ Naturalist,” 
who have seen it elsewhere, tell me where it is to be found ?—OssERvER, 
Stroud. 
Two PrecaMBRiIAN Groups IN SHRopsHIRE.—I have recently obtained 
clear evidence of a second Precambrian formation, near Wellington. In 
Primrose Hill, the south-westerly spur of the Wrekin, I have come upon 
an exposure of hornblendic gneiss, with a high dip to the N.E. 
Associated with this bedded rock are a red granitoidite and a well- 
crystallised diorite. The identity of these rocks with some of the 
common Malvern types in my cabinet is undoubted, and the strike 
precisely corresponds with that of the Malvernian series. This meta- 
morphic group is unconformably overlaid by the tuffs and rhyolites of 
the Wrekin. I have just returned from a visit to St. David’s, where I 
