224 
NATURE NOTES 
September 7. 65° or upwards 
occurs only once ; but the tempera- 
ture of July 14 is 64’9°. The annual 
range is 28'2°. The mean annual 
value is 50'o6°. 
Additional 
September 7. An instance of 65® 
is wanting. The annual range is 
26'6°. There is practically no dif- 
ference between the monthly means 
of the two sets of temperatures. 
Remarks. 
It is interesting to observe that the lowest daily maximum is 
i6’7°. This occurs on January 8, 1841. The latest instance of 
a maximum of 32° or below in the Spring is found on March 16, 
1845 (27-6°) ; but 32-9° takes place on the 25th in 1879. The 
very low maximum of 36‘3° is recorded against April 19, 1849. 
The earliest instance of a maximum of 32° or below in the 
Autumn occurs on November 16, 1887 (29'2°). The highest 
daily minimum is 66'i°. This takes place on July 26, 1872. 
The first instance of a minimum of 60° or upwards in the Spring 
is found on May 24, 1847 (61-3°); the last in the Autumn is 
62-0° on September 24, 1859. 59‘5° occurs in the same year as 
late as October 7. Illustrative of the so-called “ freaks of 
Nature” (“freaks” in this connection is wholly unscientific), I 
may add that the mean temperature of July 11, i888"*", is but 
49'o° — about the same as that of April 3o''' or that of Octo- 
ber 20,"'= on the average of fifty years. The mean of New Year’s 
Day, 1883,* is 53*i° — about the same as that of May ijT on the 
average of the half-century. As to maximum temperatures, 
53'9° is found on July 12, 1888, and 57'o° on January 28, 1843. 
(At Aberdeen, however, in January, 1898, occurred a maximum 
two degrees higher than the last, and at Wick one which was 
three degrees higher). The columns of minimum temperatures 
show that 35'6° is recorded against June i, 1869, and 38'7“ 
against July 19, 1863; while 5i'7° takes place on New Year’s 
Day, 1883. 
REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES. 
Beasties Courageous. By Douglas English, B.A. With photogravure frontis- 
piece and too other illustrations from photographs by the author. S. H 
Bousfield and Co. Price 5s. net. 
So many are now devoting themselves to bird-photography that Mr. English 
certainly does well in largely specialising his great skill in the direction of “ fur” 
rather than “feather.” True, we have in this volume eighteen unsurpassed 
pictures of swans; and, as shown by two out of the three illustrations which 
Messrs. Bousfield allow us to reproduce, he can secure admirable results with 
amphibians ; but it is in dealing with “ rats and mice and such small deer ” 
that he is unrivalled. The number of these illustrations makes the volume a 
very cheap one. Though we have spoken of the illustations first, Mr. English’s 
stories exhibit considerable narrative power. They are not all, perhaps, adapted 
for children, but then children’s books nowadays are mostly bought by their 
elders mainly with a view to their own edification. 
* The mean temperatures of these dates appear in Table L ; they have been 
derived from a large number of daily observations. 
