326 
EXTRACTS—NATURAL HISTORY. 
what situations we are not informed. It proves to be a hardy, very handsome, 
bulbous plant, growing freely in a shaded peat border, and flowering in July. 
It is propagated by offsets, which it produces pretty freely.— Bot. Reg. 
scitamine^e. —The Ginger Tribe. 
Costcs PICTUS. —Variegated-flowered Costus. Introduced from Mexico by 
seeds communicated to Mr. Lambert by M. Deppe, a zealous Prussian botanist, 
who has been engaged for several years prosecuting researches in Natural His¬ 
tory in that country. The plant flowers more freely, and appears to be less ten¬ 
der than the other species at present cultivated in the gardens.— (Bot. Reg.) 
It bears orange-coloured flowers striped with crimson; and should be kept in the 
stove, and treated in the same manner as Zingiber. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Prognostics of the Weather. —It is often remarked, that the most extra¬ 
ordinary changes take place in the barometer during the first two and the last 
two months of the year, which is but saying, that these changes happen in the 
four coldest months of the year, viz.. from the beginning of November to the 
end of February. When the barometer falls, and the thermometer rises, rain 
may be expected, especially in winter. In summer, during settled fair weather, 
both are high. A severe frost in winter is always preceded by a great rise of the 
barometer, and a proportionable fall of the thermometer. When the barometer 
in winter, or near the vernal or autumnal equinox, is at, or below 29 degs. 50 
or changeable, and suddenly descends two or three tenths, a gale of wind and 
rain may be expected. When the same change takes place in summer, and 
early in autumn, it may precede either a gale of wind or only a thunder storm. 
When the mercury in the tube is fluctuating, unsettled weather may be expected. 
A sudden rise in the barometer is no proof, at any time, of a continuance of fair 
weather: but in rainy and cloudy weather, when the mercury is convex, and 
continues to rise slowly for two or three days successively, settled weather, for 
nearly a week at least, may be expected. In fine weather, when the mercury, 
being nearly 30 degrees, and concave, continues gradually to descend for some 
days, rainy and stormy weather will soon follow. 
A current of air from the north, inclining either eastward or westward, will 
produce a condensation of the atmosphere, and consequently cause a rise in the 
barometer, the result being usually dry, cold, or cool weather, according to the 
season. A southerly wind, either easterly or westerly, especially the latter, will 
generally make the mercury in the tube descend. A south-west wind if it con¬ 
tinue twenty-four hours, seldom fails to producejrain. 
In foggy weather, if the barometer remain stationary, and especially if convex 
and inclined to rise, and when the fog dissipates as the sun advances towards the 
meridian, fine weather will follow ; but otherwise rain. A ground fog in the 
evening will almost always be followed by fine weather the next day. When 
the mercury in the barometer is concave, although it may have risen in the night 
in consequence of a hoar-frost, if the clouds in the morning, towards the east, 
about sunrise, are of a deep red colour, rain will almost certainly follow, often it 
will fall in heavy showers in the course of the day. 
