August 24, 1.893] 



NATURE 



3'95 



In the past season such attacks as that of the great 

 caterpillars (four inches or more in length) of the Lappet 

 Moth, the Gastropacha qiiercifolia scientifically, to apple 

 leafage ; or again, the presence of caterpillars of the little 

 Fyralis glaucinalis might reasonably be supposed to be 

 influenced by weather. In the first case, the great size of 

 the larva feeding on the leafy twig exposes it much to 

 alternations of weather, and in the second, where, as in 

 the samples sent me, the infestation was located in the 

 outer part of fodder stacks, the penetration of wet which 

 might soak the filmy cocoons with their developing con- 

 tents, would cause conditions very different to the long- 

 continued appearances of the present summer. 



To go through the different orders of insects, specially 

 represented, or the different dates and amounts of their 

 appearance on the crops, would be too long here, but I 

 can safely say that whilst the drought lasted I had con- 

 stant applications regarding insect appearances, including 

 a much greater variety than usual of kinds little observed 

 in ordinary years, and in some cases unusual amount of 

 presence of our common kinds. 



Various representatives of the Acarina, as the currant, 

 pear, and plum Phytopti were of course largely noticed, 

 as aho the Phytopti (or gall mites) of the hazel buds, of 

 which the galls loaded the hazel boughs in this neigh- 

 bourhood early in May to a degree I have never 

 before seen. The. kind of (so-called) "red spider" 

 {Bryobia pnetiosa) which ordinarily is chiefly found on 

 ivy, extended its injurious presence so widely to goose- 

 berry leafage as to necessitate careful, and happily 

 successful, measures to get it under. 



Why, with all this, various cropinsect attacks were less 

 reported than customarily remains uncertain. Corn 

 Aphides as yet have not been complained of. Possibly 

 this is by reason of the heat hardening the ears so that 

 they were in a condition to withstand attack before the 

 Aphides arrived on the heads to endeavour to pierce into 

 them with their suckers. In countries where the climatal 

 conditions can be counted on, this point (of arranging 

 date of crop so as to protect itself from attack) is one of 

 ttie regular methods of prevention. Another infestation 

 which threatened to be very troublesome, but of which 

 the second brood did not make any noteworthy appear- 

 ance in various places, is that of the mustard beetle. 

 Why this should be so I am as entirely at a loss to ex- 

 plain as the crop inspector who reported the state of 

 things to me. 



Various other absences of attack remain also unex- 

 plained, but are duly noted for possible future service in 

 agricultural entomology. 



So far as I can gather from contribution of my own 

 correspondents, or other accessible sources of information, 

 !l should consider that such extra amount of insect pres- 

 ence as has occurred, has been owing to weather influence. 

 \Ve have had earlier and more numerous development of 

 imany kinds, and also in the case of various common 

 [crop insect pests, the hardness of the soil, and other 

 jronditions incident to drought, which made it totally 

 impossible to bring either stimulating dressings, or me- 

 chanical measures to bear, necessitated our permitting 

 Increase to go on unchecked in some cases, and in some, 

 j.hough the caterpillars just below the surface of the 

 ground necessarily did not themselves multiply, their 

 inattainable legions swelled the numbers of observable 

 lests, and probably will supply us a plentiful brood of 

 iioths for further continuation of species. 



There does not appear to be any reason from previous 

 ircumstances, or from importations, to consider that we 



ere suffering from other than the ordinary attacks, 

 v ivhich, in a changeable climate like ours, ' must be 

 ; jhangeable in their amounts ; at least, so it appears to 

 '■- ne from such an amount of report as I possess. 



Ei.EANOK A. ORMEROD. 



THE GREAT HEAT OF AUGUST 8 TO l8. 



A N extraordinary wave of high temperature passed' 

 -'*• over this country between the 8th and i8th of this 

 month, which has also been remarkable on account of 

 the continuance of the heat during several consecutive 

 days. High temperatures were experienced in all parts 

 of the United Kingdom, but more especially in the 

 southern and eastern portions of the country. The 

 following table shows their distribution as represented 

 by the stations included in the Daily Weather Report :~ 



NO. 1243, VOL. 



48] 



A glance at this table shows that at Loughborough, 

 Oxford, Cambridge, London, and the Channel Islands 

 the temperature reached or exceeded 75' on every day of 

 the period in question, the maxima reaching 91' at 

 Loughborough on the 18th, 89" at Oxford on the 17th and. 

 i8th, 92' at Cambridge on the i8th, 93'in London on 

 the 1 8th, and 89° at Jersey on the 17th. 



.At Greenwich the temperature exceeded 80° on each 

 successive day from the 8th to the i8th inclusive, the 

 highest readings being 93" on the i6th, 94.°2 on the 17th, 

 and 95'i on the i8th. The last reading has only been 

 exceeded twice at any time of the year during the last 

 half-century, viz., 966 on July 22, 1868, and 97'! on 

 July 15, 1881. The highest reading in thesun duringthe 

 eleven days in question was I46'2 on the iSth, but this 

 temperature was slightly exceeded in June last. Mr. 

 Symons states that, on the i8th instant, the thermometer 

 at his station at Camden Town registered 93 6, which 

 has only once been exceeded during thirty-six years 

 (1858-93), viz., on July 15, 1881, when it read one degree 

 higher ; the present is the only year with a maximum 

 shade temperature above 90^ for three consecutive days. 

 On the night of the 17th instant the minimum tempera- 

 ture in South London was as high as 72', being rather 

 above the average maximum temperature for the month 

 of August, and the daily mean, as deduced from the 

 maximum and minimum readings in the Daily Weather 

 Report for the 1 8th, was 82°'5 ; this mean value is prob- 

 ably the highest on record since trustworthy observa- 

 tions have been taken. In a valuable paper recently read 

 by Mr. Ellis before the Royal Meteorological Society, 

 the average mean temperature at Greenwich for that day 

 is given as 62 5. 



On the Continent the highest readings quoted in the 

 I^aily Weather Refiort were io2' and ro6' at Rochefort in 

 France on the 13th and 14th instant, while the maximum 

 readings there reached or exceeded 90' on seven conse- 

 cutive days. In the South of France the temperature 

 exceeded 80^ on each day of the period in question, loo' 

 being recorded at Biarritz on the 17th. 



The Weather Charts published by the MeteorologicaL 



