The Climate of Great Britain. 113 



In all probability the lights on either side of the pulpit were 

 brighter than those in other parts of the sacred edifice, and, in 

 consequence, the stream of insect church-goers winged their 

 way thither in quest of enlightenment. Some, loving it " not 

 wisely but to well/' soon fell a sacrifice to their ardour; others, 

 directing their course more skilfully, danced in mazy circles 

 around the attractive object, as planets miofht revolve about a 

 central sun. Some white ants struck the face of the preacher, 

 others deemed his neck the proper target against which to 

 direct their energies, and inpinging upon it, fell as creeping 

 things upon, or occasionally inside his dress ; while, if he 

 aimed at reading correctly, it was necessary for him from time 

 to time to brush away the wings from his book. 



It were well worth the while of those British entomologists 

 who have correspondents in India to obtain from them all the 

 species that frequent these tea-table gatherings, requesting at 

 the same time that accurate note may be taken of the date at 

 which each species first appears, the time when it reaches its 

 maximum in point of numbers, and that again at which it has 

 so far declined that it can scarcely be met with. Such an in- 

 vestigation, if prosecuted simultaneously in various parts of 

 India, and the results compared, the identifications of course 

 not being left to the local observers but undertaken by eminent 

 entomologists at home, could not fail to prove interesting in a 

 high degree. 



THE CLIMATE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



BY EICHAED A. PEOCTOR, B.A., F.E.A.S. 



If there is one feature in the material relations of a country 

 which may be considered as characteristic— -as of itself sufficient 

 to define the qualities of the inhabitants, and the position they 

 are fitted to occupy in the world's history — it is climate. " It 

 includes/' says Humboldt, " all those modifications of the 

 atmosphere by which our organs are affected — such as tempe- 

 rature, humidity, variations of barometric pressure, its tran- 

 quillity or subjection to foreign winds, its purity or admixture 

 with gaseous exhalations, and its ordinary transparency — that 

 clearness of sky so important through its influence, not only 

 on the radiation of heat from the soil, the development of 

 organic tissue and the ripening of fruits, but also on the out/low 

 oj moral sentiments in the different race*." I do not propose, 

 however, to deal with the constitution of the climate of Great 

 Britain, under this general view. To do so, indeed, would 



VOL. XI. — NO. II. I 



