62 MONTHLY MEETINGS OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. 



Plymouth was deprived of water for nearly a week, although 

 1000 men were employed in clearing the channel from Dartmoor. 

 Birds were destroyed in countless numbers, and their instincts 

 were changed by hunger. Eooks were observed in the Isle of 

 Wight, pouncing on a flock of larks and devouring them ; and 

 similarly, in another class, among pigs detaiaed on a railroad in 

 Scotland, the stronger made a prey of the weaker. 



The second point, the partial escape of our south west country 

 from the intensity of cold, the greater mildness of the day was, 

 as usual, very manifest. Thus at Truro, the maximum varied 

 from 29 to 43 degees, whilst it was from 25 to 32 degrees at 

 Blackheath ; but the mitigation of the cold of the night is most 

 conspicuous on the coast. At Penzance the minima were from 

 21 to 35 degrees, those at Blackheath being from 9 to 30 degrees. 

 At Scilly no very severe frost occurred. 



It deserves special remark that the month of January has now 

 been for three successive years very exceptionally cold — a 

 sequence unprecedented in our records. In the last winter it 

 was not, as in the two before it, preceded by a severe December ; 

 but the life of a great number of plants has struggled in vain 

 against these repeated attacks. 



Dr. Barham made use also of valuable notes by Mr. Whitley 

 on the late winter. 



