president's address. 
337 
for some time past directed my observations in the direction 
mentioned, as the influence of temperature and rainfall upon plant 
life is at once seen by the most casual observer, and the con- 
nection is very marked when the dates of the phenological 
phenomena are scheduled, and read alongside with the summaries 
of the meteorological observations. 
My annual Meteorological Notes have now formed the subject 
of papers read before this Society annually for sixteen years past, 
and 1 have often thought that, some kind of summary of those 
papers should appear in the ‘Transactions’ of the Society for 
reference. The earlier “ notes,” however, were prepared upon less 
reliable data than the later ones, and as for the ten years, 1888 — 
1897, the observations have been taken on precisely the same 
principle, at Blofield and Brundall, in this county, the two stations 
being within a mile of, and in sight of each other (five years 
observations at each), and the phenological observations having 
been taken in the same neighbourhood, I have thought it best to 
limit the period of my remarks this evening to those ten years. 
The tables, ten in number, which I have now the pleasure to 
bring to your notice, are, as to seven of them, summaries of my 
observations on the temperature of the air, the rainfall, and the 
direction of the wind ; and as to the remaining three, the dates 
noted are (Table VIII.) as to first leafing of deciduous trees, 
(Table IX.) as to first flowering of garden flowers and shrubs, 
and (Table X.) first flowering of wild plants and other phenomena. 
The number of objects selected must necessarily be limited, and 
those I have chosen are amongst the most frequently observed in 
the neighbourhood in which my observations have been taken. 
To make anything like a thorough analysis of these observations 
would be too gigantic a task to attempt in a short address like the 
present. The tables speak for themselves, and a comparison of 
them will show at a glance the way in which the phenological 
tables are affected by those relating to the weather observations. 
I therefore only propose to make a few running comments on 
these schedules, drawing attention to some of the more prominent 
features. 
