ROSENSTOCK : CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHRENOLOGY. T53 



Meteorological Society of London resolved to include phaenological 

 observations in its programme, and a conference of delegates 

 appointed in the same year, chiefly through the agency of the 

 Rev. T. A. Preston, set forth a scheme for the observation of 

 phaenological phenomena. This scheme is distinguished from all 

 others in that it limits itself almost exclusively to wild-growing 

 herbs, only six of the twenty-one species comprised being woods, 

 and in the case of these the commencement of inflorescence is almost 

 the only phase recommended for observation. From 1875 to 1880 

 notes from about 180 localities were forthcoming, and were annually 

 published by Preston in a special report of the Journal of the Meteoro- 

 logical Society. The observations for 1883 are based on another 

 scheme, formulated by Preston in 1883, which, inasmuch as it includes 

 in addition to many herbs at least also the most widely distributed 

 wood-plants, is a decided improvement on the earlier one. The 

 example of the Meteorological Society soon proved a stimulus to 

 other scientific bodies. In 1877 the Natural History Journal 

 published numerous notes from England and Ireland, similar ones 

 from the Midland Counties appeared in the Midland Naturalist for 

 1879, and from Hertfordshire in the Transactions of the Watford and 

 Hertford Natural History Societies since 1875. 



All these societies follow explicitly the scheme of the Meteoro- 

 logical Society, or the later one of Preston, so that observations cm 

 wood-plants, and of phases other than that of inflorescence, are 

 scanty. 



There are at present in Great Britain 315 stations for the observa- 

 tion of phaenological phenomena. Unfortunately, the limitation both 

 of species and phases in the English scheme, renders comparison with 

 those of other countries difficult, inasmuch as early-flowering herbs 

 furnish material of little value. It is earnestly to be hoped that a 

 more extended and comprehensive scheme may soon be adopted in 

 this country, and I cannot perhaps here do better than subjoin as a 

 model Hoffmann's scheme, adopted after forty years' continued 

 personal observation in the same locality (Giessen, Hesse). It is 

 specially suitable for international comparative study, inasmuch as 

 the species selected are widely distributed and easily identified, and 

 are moreover for the most part perennial ; more especially such the 

 development of which is not, as is the case with annuals and Taraxacum, 

 influenced by all sorts of accidental circumstances. Further, the 

 whole period of vegetation is represented, a fact which renders the 

 scheme particularly useful for the consideration of related biological 

 questions, such as the duration of vegetation, time of maturation, etc. 



May 1886. 



