352 IMPORTANCE OF REGISTERS 



a periodic nature; the times of appearance and 

 breeding in some of the commoner reptiles; the 

 times of certain fish ascending rivers, or approach- 

 ing the coast, to spawn ; and the time of the first 

 appearance of a limited number of insects amount- 

 ing to about twenty. These lists* have been se- 

 lected with much care, and with due reference to 

 some especial points, which deserve the consi- 

 deration of observers generally in this department 

 of scientific inquiry. Thus, in the case of the plants, 

 it has been thought desirable to exclude all annuals 

 and biennials, from the circumstance of their time 

 of flowering depending in a great measure on the 

 time when the seed was sown, so that the results 

 would not admit of fair comparison : the only ex- 

 ceptions made are those of the autumnal cerealia, 

 such as winter rye, wheat, f and barley, from 

 their great importance and extensive cultivation ; 

 but it would be proper to notice also the time 

 when these are sown, as well as that of their first 

 coming into ear. There are also other grounds on 

 which it becomes necessary to reject some plants : 

 we must reject those, for instance, which, like the 

 dandelion and chickweed, flower nearly the whole 



* We do not think it necessary to insert the lists here, as they 

 will be found in the last volume of the Reports of the British 

 Association, (Cambridge Meeting, 1845,) according to the recom- 

 mendation of a Committee appointed by the Association to con- 

 sider this subject. 



f The particular variety noticed in this case should be named ; 

 as some kinds of wheat, the Talavera, for instance, flower a 

 fortnight before others. 



