Natural Caleiidar of Coincidence. .1 7 



which occurs in the Weald-clay, and is frequendy referred to 

 by Dr. Fitton and others as a proof of the fresh-water origin 

 of the Sussex-beds, is a minute crustaceous animal, with an oval 

 arched case, or shell, not much larger than a grain of millet. 

 The living species which resemble it the closest are aquatic 

 Monoculi, swimming in fresh water, and depositing their eggs 

 on the leaves of aquatic plants, or in the mud. The shells of 

 Cypris faba are found in great abundance in the fresh-water 

 limestone, at the foot of Mount Gergovia, in Auvergne. 



Art. III. Sketch of a Natural Calendar of Coincidence, with 

 Preliminary Remarks. By the Rev. W. T. Bree, M.A. 



Sir, 

 Our forefathers, I am inclined to think, paid more atten- 

 tion to the periodical occurrences of nature, as guides for 

 direction in their domestic and rural occupations, than per- 

 haps we of the present day are accustomed to do. They 

 seem to have referred to the book of nature more frequently 

 and regularly than to the almanack. Whether it were, that 

 the one, being always open before them, was ready for refer- 

 ence, and not the other, certain it is that they attended to the 

 sig7is of the seasons, and appear to have regarded certain 

 natural occurrences as indicating and reminding them of the 

 proper season for commencing a variety of affairs in common 

 life. The time was, perhaps it is not yet gone by, when no 

 good housewife would think of brewing when the beans were 

 in blossom. The bursting of the alder buds, it was believed, 

 announced the period at which eels begin to stir out of their 

 winter quarters, and therefore marked the season for the 

 miller or fisherman to put down his leaps, to catch them at 

 the wears and floodgates. The angler considered the season 

 at which tench bite most freely to be indicated by the bloom- 

 ing of the wheat ; and when the mulberry tree came into 

 leaf, the most cautious gardener judged that he might safely 

 commit his tender exotics to the open air, without apprehen- 

 sion of injury from frosts and cold. Then there was a variety 

 of old sayings or proverbs in vogue, of a corresponding cha- 

 racter, such as, 



" When the sloe tree is white as a sheet, 



Sow your barley, whether it be dry or wet." 

 " When elder is white, brew and bake a peck. 



When elder is black, brew and bake a sack." 



" You must look for grass on the top of the oak tree," Sec. 



Vol. III. — No. 11. c. 



