318 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. [OctobeV, 



Meteouology of Montreal. 



Mean temperature for the year 1861, 41-73° Fahr.; lowest, 8th February, 

 37-1° below zero, or 69° below freezing; and the highest, 99-7 : giving a 

 yearly range or climatic difference of 136" 8°. 



The warmest day in the year was the 10th of June, viz. 81"1° mean 

 temperature; at 10 P.M. it was 76-7°, at 4 p.m. 95-8°, and at 3 p.m. 96°; 

 at night it fell to 60°. 



The coldest day of the year 1861 was the 8th of February, mean tempe- 

 rature 23-5° below zero, and 53-50° below freezing. 



Vegetation. — Currants and Gooseberries were in leaf on the 16th of May ; 

 wild Strawberries in flower the 24th ; Dandelion in flower the 23rd ; Cur- 

 rants and Gooseberries in flower the 24th ; Lilac in blossom on the 3rd of 

 June ; Apple-tree on the 4th ; Choke-cherries in blossom on the 6th of 

 June. 



Varieties of the common Foxglove. 



We have observed here (Llandderfel, Merioneth) some unusual varieties, 

 as regards colour of the flowers, of Digitalis purpurea ; the pure white is 

 occasionally met with in many places, but in hedgebanks a little off the 

 road leading to Bethel a very carious individual was collected and removed 

 into this garden ; I was puzzled for my own part how to designate its 

 colonr, and should call it a sort of pale salmon colour, but on appealing 

 to our neighbours the ladies at the rectory, I am told that light fawn 

 colour is the proper description of its hue. Our excellent and observant 

 friend John Jones, clerk, has brought in several distinct varieties. We 

 have also some with lacerated (but not by injury), monstrous, or otherwise 

 irregularly formed corollas. W. P. 



July, 18G2. 



St. Patrick and the Shamrock. 



With reference to the note which appeared in the ' Phytologist ' for 

 February, I cannot say that St. Patrick did not select the Oxalis corni- 

 cidata to illustrate the Trinity, but it appears to me more probable that he 

 took one of the Trefoils, or Clover, as I have stated in a previous number 

 of the ' Phytologist.' However tliis may be, would Mr. W. be kind 

 enough to read the following, taken from Dr. W. Bulleyn's ' Book of 

 Simples,' and consider whether the saint might not have gathered the 

 Viola tricolor, or Herb Trinity, to signify his doctrine :— " This herbe is 

 called Herba Trinitatis ; but I read in an old, monkish-written Her- 

 ball, wherein the author writeth that this herbe did signify the holy 

 Trinity, and therefore was called the herbe of the Trinity ; and thus he 

 made his allegoric : — This flower is but one, in which, said he, are three 

 sundry colours, and yet but one sweet savour. So God is three distinct 

 persones, in one undivided Trinity, united together in one eternall 

 glory and divine majesty as well ; although the three distinct persons be 

 even so, whose glory is indefinable, yet this glory may not bee compre- 

 hended of mortall men nor angels." S. B. 



Since writing the above, I have referred to Spenser's ' View of the State 

 of Ireland,' and find the following: — Speaking of the late wars of Munster, 



