THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



PART FIRST. 



THE YEAR. 



THOUGH there are many of the organized and ani- 

 mated inhabitants of the earth, to which the revolutions 

 of all years are not alike, and some upon which the 

 effects of the changing seasons are not very strongly 

 marked, yet there is no organic production, especially 

 of the temperate or cold climates, upon which it has 

 not some effect. So marked, indeed, is the period 

 of the earth's revolution round the sun, that, even 

 in those parts of the world where the alternations 

 are more of drought and moisture than of heat and 

 cold, finding the times of its changes has probably 

 always been the very first branch of science or philo- 

 sophy to which the people turned their attention. It 

 must be admitted, that the changes of the year in those 

 places, though very different in character from those 

 that happen in our latitudes, are not less destitute of 

 interest ; and when we bear in mind that many of the 

 phenomena that tend to vary our year, and bring us so 

 great a succession of plants and animals, have their 

 causes in those regions, we are forced to admit that, 

 before we can understand the nature and economy 



