THE 



BIOLOGY OF THE SEASONS 



INTRODUCTORY 



BY the Biology of the Seasons we mean the study 

 of the phenomena and phases of life in plants 

 and in animals in relation to the time of year with 

 which they are especially connected. That this is a very 

 natural perhaps the most natural method of biological 

 study will be at once evident to many. Perhaps it would 

 be evident to all, were it not that many of us, dwelling in 

 cities and becoming careworn, have lost much of that 

 interest and delight in the seasonal drama which is char- 

 acteristic of country-folk in happy conditions. Not that 

 these country-folk are given to talk much about it, a 

 silence which has given rise to the extraordinary idea that 

 the delights of the country were discovered by the town. 



The old-fashioned appreciation of the seasons was ex- 

 pressed, as we all know, in many fairy tales and myths, such 

 as those of the Sleeping Beauty and of Proserpina, and it 

 needs but little insight to see that these are really " fairy 

 tales of science " often, indeed, of surprising accuracy. In 

 this connection, it may be noted that naturalists owe thanks 

 to the poets for consistently helping to keep the appreci- 

 ation of the seasons alive. From Homer to Horace, from 

 Gawain Douglas to Thomson's "Seasons," from Tennyson 

 to Meredith's "Lyrics and Ballads of the Earth," there is a 

 I 



