190 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



(IT. J. M.), and may very likely have been earlier elsewhere. In 

 1896 all the records but one were later than this year. Ivy is nine 

 days later. The dates of earliest leaves, not being recorded by 

 many observers, are omitted from the above statement. When a 

 plant such as the Hazel, which usually flowers very early in the 

 year, is in flower before January 1st it is well to record the fact, 

 giving the date towards the end of the preceding year at which it 

 first came into bloom. Near Weymouth the female flowers of the 

 Hazel usually begin to bloom in December, and, unless cut off by 

 frosts, continue to do so for some time at the early part of the next 

 year. In recording the date a note should be added " In bloom 

 since December th of the preceding year," or words to that effect, 

 as the December flowering cannot be regarded as a late or second 

 flowering, but as the earliest of the season of bloom, though this 

 does not correspond with the year of our calendar. 



I have again given for convenience of reference a column 

 containing the earliest Dorset Records. 



Mr. Bankes sends the following note on the Lepidoptera during 

 1896: 



" As regards the Lepidoptera, my opportunities of observing the 

 larger species were perhaps fewer than usual, but it seemed to me 

 a decidedly good year for them, as it certainly was for numbers of 

 the smaller fry. The insect hunter had a great advantage in 1896, 

 for owing to the exceptionally fine, calm, and brilliant weather all 

 through the spring and summer he could hardly fail to meet with 

 and secure any rare or local species that were to the fore. From 

 information received from various parts of England, many of our 

 rarer native Lepidoptera appear to have been unusually plentiful in 

 most parts of the country, particularly in the south ; but the reverse 

 of this was the case in a few localities. Although our native 

 species were as a rule in great force, hardly any insects, either rare 

 or common, seem to have flown over to us from the continent, and 

 consequently we look in vain for records of the capture of those 

 rarities which are not true natives, and which are only met with in 

 such years as 1892, when immigration on a very large scale took 



