956 . CRYPTOGAMIC FLORA OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
180.—T. intermedia Brid. Tortula ruralis, b. minor Wils. Wall tops and 
lias banks. Banks near Temple Grafton! walls Edge Hills 
Binton! Harborough Magna! Fillongley! Harbury in fruit! May. 
181.—T. papillost Wils. On trees and old pales, local. Old pales 
Olton Canal! foot-bridge near Holywell! on elms near Alcester 
Lodge! on ash trees Marl Cliff! abundant on elms between 
Alcester and Stratford! near Birdingbury! Marston Green! 
Always barren. 
185.—Ceratodon purpureus L. Heaths, banks, walls, &c., very common 
in all the districts I have visited. May. 
[0 BE CONTINUED. | 
METEOROLOGY OF THE MIDLANDS. 
THE WEATHER OF AUGUST, 1879. 
BY W. JEROME HARRISON, F.G.S. 
Still another wet unsummerlike month! The frequent and heavy 
rains were only diversified by severe thunderstorms, and, with a 
maximum temperature hardly ever rising above 70°, it was difficult to 
realise that we were in what should be the hottest period of the year. 
The storms on the 2nd and 16th were very remarkable. The former 
gives us the maximum rainfall for the East Midland stations, and the 
latter for the West Midlands; at the Southern stations the 19th was the 
day of heaviest fall. About the storm of the 16th Mr. Davis, of Orleton, 
writes, ‘‘ Another great storm of lightning and thunder set in on the after- 
noon of the 16th, and continued till after midnight, with great darkness 
and heavy rain till 8 p.m. on the. 17th, producing great floods.” 
The average temperature for the Midlands was 57°. The hay 
harvest was much interfered with, and along the Soar Valley (Leicester- 
shire) a great quantity of mown hay was washed away by floods; the 
corn harvest had not commenced at the end of the month. 
Naturau History Norses py Osservers.—Alstonjield Vicarage.—Hay- 
making still unfinished; many fields of grass still uncut. Oats showing 
little prospect of ripening. Swallow tribe are leaving unusually early; 
the Swifts left on the 11th, although a pair of these birds were seen flying 
rapidly to the southward over this house on the evening of the 23rd. 
The greater portion of the swallows seem to have retired from this 
part soon after the swifts. A few swallows and some house martins still 
remain here. The Painted Lady butterfly has been seen several times 
this season. Shifnal—One Humming Bird Sphinx seen on 5th; several 
Painted Lady butterflies on and after 14th; a few Tortoiseshell, but 
not one Peacock. Gooseberry bushes stripped by the caterpillar; slugs 
and grubs still most destructive. Caterpillars of the Mullein moth 
(Cucullia verbasci) found feeding on Verbascuwm virgatum. Spondon.— 
Lilium candidum, which generally blooms towards end of June, only 
commenced flowering on August 3. Until the last week of August 
but few butterflies have been seen; now Pontia brassice is becoming 
plentiful. No wasps seen since very early spring. Stroud.—List of 
flowers and date of blossoming: 1st, Linaria minor; 4th, Mentha sativa ; 
7th, Geranium dissectum, Moneywort, Potentilla reptans, Teucrium 
Scorodonia, Convolvulus arvensis, Circea lutetiana, Sagittaria sagittifolia, 
Campanula glomerata, Sambucus Ebulus, Goat’s Beard, Bird’s Nest, Hyperi- 
cum pulchrum, Epilobium angustifolium, Lithospermum officinale, Humulus 
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