during the past Winter, 377 
16.; Eranthis hyemalis (a troublesome weed in the vineyards 
and olive grounds), Feb. 19.; Hyacinthus racemdsus (which 
here replaces the hare-bell of Britain), Feb. 23.; pilewort, 
March 2.; violets (which are more abundant about Florence 
than I ever saw them anywhere), and primroses (less common), 
March 5.; Helléborus viridis and Anemone horténsis (both 
very common at the foot of the Apennines towards Fiesole), 
March 15.; Vinca major, March 24.; Zatrus nobilis, March 
28. — Standard peach and almond trees: a few flowers un- 
folded, March 9., but not generally in blossom until March 
15., when, mixed with the blue-green olive trees, they made a 
glorious show; blackthorn, March 19. ; pear and plum trees, 
March 27, Pane buds still apparently quiescent at the end 
of March, and, owing to the unusually backward spring, the 
pruning then not entirely finished, though the risk of the vines 
bleeding must be considerable, as the peasants seem well aware, 
judging from the five or six pruners now often hard at work 
in one vineyard. 
Vanéssa Atalanta, C. album, and other common butterflies, 
on the wing earlyin March. Bats flying, more or less, nearly 
all the winter, and often long before dusk. Lizards, of several 
species, swarming, from the beginning of March, by hundreds, 
on every bank. A tortoise, about 8 in. long, of a species com- 
mon in Germany and Italy, kept in a neighbouring garden, 
awaked from its winter’s sleep, and appeared above ‘eround 
March 26., and was brought to us still encrusted with the earth 
out of which it had made its way. A single swallow was seen 
by my eldest son, March 16., but from that time none were vis- 
ible till March 29., when they appeared in considerable numbers. 
General Remarks.— The natives of Florence concur in 
calling the past winter the most severe which they have ex- 
per ienced for thirty years; yet, comparing it with my own 
recollections of former ones, of which six were spent in De- 
vonshire, it has been the pleasantest I ever passed. The north 
winds from the Apennines, at its commencement, were high, 
and most piercingly cold, but afterwards the air was gener ally 
calm, and its coolness tempered by a bright sun, so as to be 
extremely are eeable ; and the spring has been still more de- 
lightful, no rain, except two or three : nee ers not sufficient to 
lay the dust, having fallen from Feb. 21. to March 31., of 
which thirty-eight days, the whole, with the exception of five 
cloudy ones, has been one uninterrupted period of sunshine 
and balmy breezes, mostly from the south-west, and quite 
equal to the finest May weather in England. Rain however, 
now begins to be much wanted. I am, Sir, &c. 
Florence, April 2. 1830. W. SPENCE. 
Vor. III. — No. 14. cic 
