C n ) 
Lelow the average Lotli in April and June ; tlie mean reading in 
the quarter was 29-67, and was 0-12 below the average for the 
corresponding period in 38 years. The weather throughout these 
three months continued cold, wet, and sunless. 
During the quarter the temperatures of 17 days only were of 
their average or a little above their average values, all the rest 
were below, and at times very much below; on some days both in 
April and May the deficiency of temperature was as large as 10°, 
11°, or 12°, and towards the end of June several days together were 
of lower temperature than their averages by 5° or 6°. 
The mean deficiency for the 91 days in the quarter was 3°-36 
on the average of the preceding 60 years. 
The mean temperature of the qiiarter was only 49"'5, the lowest 
since the very severe corresponding period in 1837, when it was 
48°'3, and there have been nine instances only back to 1771 of such 
low temperatures, viz. in the j^ears 1771, 1773, 1782, 1793, 1799, 
1812, 1816, 1824, and 1837. 
This unusually protracted bad M^eather set in on 27th October, 
1878; the weather in November and December was exceptionally 
severe, the mean temperature of these two months being 36°-7, a 
; Dwer value than any experienced in this centur}', and back to 1771 
the instances of somewhat lower temperatures were 1782, when it 
was 35°-4; 1784, 35°-8 ; 1786, 36°-3; 1788, 34°-8 ; and 1796, 3o°-4. 
The mean value for January was only 31°-9, being 5^ nearly 
below the average of 60 years, and it is very remarkable that these 
three months should be of such low temperatures, as they have 
recently been from 2° to 3° of higher temperatures than they were 
a hundred years ago. The months of February and March were 
together but slightly below their averages, so that the mean tem- 
perature of the quarter ending March 31st, though low, viz. 37°'l, 
had been of lower value in twenty instances in the preceding 
108 years. 
With respect to the mean temperature of the eight months 
ending June 1879, viz. 41°"65, it is the lowest since the cele- 
brated year of great frost, 1814, when it was still lower, viz. 40°-4. 
Vegetation, generally, at the end of tliis quarter was fully a 
month or six weeks later than usual. 
The rainfall of the quarter at Greenwich was 10 '3 inches, mea- 
sured on .51 days, and exceeded the average amount in the cor- 
responding quarter of 64 years by 4-5 inches. The rainfall 
amounted to 2*6 inches in April, 3*4 inches in May, and 4*3 inches 
in June ; the amount exceeded the average in each month, the 
largest excess occurring in June. Only four times since 1815 has 
