664 The Smithsonian Instihition 



migration of fishes ; and similar information. No continuous 

 record of the results collected by Meigs has ever been pub- 

 lished, and it is not even definitely known what became of 

 the originals after his death in 1822.^ It remained for the 

 Smithsonian Institution to revive the collection of such infor- 

 mation, and therefore in 1851 a circular entitled "Registry 

 of Periodical Phenomena " was sent to all of its observers. 

 It was prepared by Doctor John Torrey and Doctor Ed- 

 ward Foreman and gave a list of plants to be observed for 

 the period of flowering and fruiting. Later the circular was 

 made to include information concerning phenomena of animal 

 life. The gathering of such facts was continued until 1859, 

 and the material was then tabulated by Doctor Hough. He 

 classified the observations under the following headings : 

 Dates of foliation or leafing of plants ; dates of blossoming of 

 plants ; dates of ripening of fruits ; dates of defoliation or fall 

 of leaf in plants ; dates of first appearance of birds ; dates of 

 first appearance of other animals (reptiles, fishes, and insects), 

 and a series of miscellaneous records, having to do chiefly 

 with the opening and closing of navigation at certain stations. 

 Doctor Hough in the introduction says : " These results will 

 be found to have a more direct application to meteorological 

 science, by indicating the progress of the seasons in different 

 localities, and their relative variability in different years. For 

 this purpose plants and animals afford indications as signifi- 

 cant as meteorological instruments as to temperature, and 

 other climatic conditions, because strictly dependent upon 

 them, and in the absence of all other records they would 

 furnish a reliable chronicle of the passing year." ^ At the 

 time of the publication of this second volume, Henry said : 

 " These two quarto volumes of meteorological results for the 



1 Henry, Alfred J., "Early Individual Ob- "Report of the International Meteorological 

 servers in the United States," page 301, "Bui- Congress." Washington, 1895. 

 letin No. 11 of the Weather Bureau," being a 2 Page 6 of the introduction. 



