98 PHENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, CANADA, 1808. MACKAY. 



An interesting irregularity in the phenochrons of the 

 different counties is shown in nearty every part of this table. 

 Their order is not parallel in the different counties. Very often 

 it is reversed. As the phenochrons are averages of ten observa- 

 tions, it cannot be laid altogether to the charge of defective 

 observation. The rarity of certain species in certain counties, 

 or in the districts in which the observations were made, tends 

 to make the phenochron later there, for the plants may be in 

 flower before they are met with. But the character of the soil, 

 the elevation, the slope. &c., must have had some influence. 

 And then, may it not be possible that the same species may 

 develop a tendency to an earlier or later maturing in different 

 regions ? These are questions which careful future observations 

 may help to answer. 



To illustrate the effect of asymmetry of stations on the 

 phenochrons of a large district of country, I select five of the 

 best observed plants, giving first their phenochrons for a period 

 of seven years, 1892 to 1898, based on the few irregularly dis- 

 tributed stations of the Botanical Club of Canada ; secondly 

 their phenochrons for the year 1898, based on the observations 

 made, at the eight stations, Berwick, Windsor, Musquodoboit, 

 Wallace, Pictou, New Glasgow and Port Hawkesbury ; and 

 giving, thirdly, their phenochrons derived from 180 stations, ten 

 in each of the eighteen counties of the province, observed in 

 connection with the public schools of the province. 



