THE WOMBAT. 1 5 



contact with the plants on which they live. Many persons 

 may not have the time or the inclination to devote their 

 attention to all the subjects of inquiry, but the specialist who 

 confines his labours to one or two sections cannot fail to be 

 interested in the correlative phenomena, and thus gain a 

 wider view of the significance of his favourite branch of study. 



Let us next review the subjects for observation for the 

 purpose of recording the facts which relate to natural 

 phenomena, and which would be included in our " phenological 

 observations." 



Of course the scientific value of such observations would 

 depend on the care with which they had been made, for it 

 would be necessary to take averages extending over a period 

 of not less than fifteen or twenty years. It would include the 

 ■ recording of the " first blossoming of plants ; the ripening of 

 fruits and seeds, and their time of harvesting, with special 

 attention to the survival and second blossoming of plants and 

 trees at unusual seasons, and the falling of leaves as indicating 

 the ripening of buds, and the prospect of future fruit crops ; 

 the first appearance of insect life, and the casual appearance 

 of insects and birds at unusual seasons ; and the hibernation 

 and other phenomena of animal life." Such a code of obser- 

 vations, carefully compiled, and extending over twenty years, 

 would constitute a fixed standard with which to compare local 

 variations, and would eventually lead to observing the period- 

 icity of natural phenomena, including climatic conditions. 



* We divide the year into four seasons, but in Australia 

 nature divides it into three, with a disposition to contract it 

 into two as we proceed north or south from the tropics. Hence 

 you see the natural seasons are merely the result of variations 

 in the quantity of heat and light from the sun's rays ; of course 

 in the tropics moisture plays the principal part. 



In an article on " Phenology and Rural Biology " by Mr. 

 J. E. Prince in the Victorian Naturalist, it is stated that "the 

 seasons of organic objects are (i) the season of growth, or its 

 correlative, reproduction ; (2) the season of maturation, i.e., 

 the ripening of fruits, and seeds, and buds, and vegetables, 

 and the consolidation and fattening of animals ; (3) the season 

 of rest, or equilibrium of the two former conditions, i.e., the 

 defoliation of trees and, in extreme cases, the hibernation of 

 animals." The natural seasons among animals are more 

 noticeable the lower we go in the scale of organic existence. 



Nevertheless they are more or less noticeable throughout 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Not forgetting that the 

 sc; s .ns vary with different species of plants, and are also 



* Vide Article by Mr. J. E. Princs. 



