XIX. 
REPORT OX PHENOLOGICAL PHEXOMEXA OBSERVED IX 
HERTFORDSHIRE DURIXG THE YEARS 1887 AND 1888. 
By John Hopkinson, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc. 
Bead at Watford , 12 th April, 1889. 
The present Report is for the two years 1887-88 owing to a slight 
reduction in the number of observers of Phenological Phenomena 
making it convenient to embrace in one table the principal observa¬ 
tions of the dates of flowering of plants made in the two years, 
instead of having, as in the previous eleven annual reports, a 
separate table for each year. 
We have now no observer for Watford, but in its place St. 
Albans appears as a phenological station, and the only observer we 
had for the extreme east of the county, Miss Simpson, of High 
W r ych, near Sawbridgeworth, has, I regret to say, discontinued her 
observations. 
Although these are the only alterations from the year 1886, 
the records for two of our stations, Ware and Odsey, not being 
numerous, to economise space are given in a supplementary table, 
so that our principal table contains the records from only four 
stations—St. Albans, Harpenden, Hertford, and Hitchin. The 
following are our present phenological stations;— 
River-basin. Station. 
N. Lat. 
W. Long 1 . 
Observer. 
Colne . j 
f St. Albans . 
. 51 
45 
0 
20 
Mrs. J. Hopkinson. 
[ Harpenden . 
. 51 
48 
0 
21 
Mr. J. J. Willis. 
Lea .. \ 
1 
[ Hertford . 
.. 51 
48 
0 
5 
Mr. R. T. Andrews.* 
[ Ware (Fanhams 
Hall) 51 
49 
0 
1 
Major R. B. Croft. 
Ivel. 
Hitchin . 
. 51 
57 
0 
16 
Natural Hist. Club. 
Cam. 
Odsey . 
. 52 
1 
0 
7 
Mr. H. G. Fordbam. 
In a third table the earliest observations only of the Insects and 
Birds are given. For details the reports of Mr. Silvester on the 
insects,f and of the late Mr. Littleboy and myself on the birds,! 
should be consulted. Frog spawn was observed in 1887 at St. 
Albans on the 17th of March, at Ware on the 23rd, and at Har¬ 
penden on the 26th; and in 1888 at St. Albans on the 27th of 
March, at Harpenden on the 30th, and at Ware on the 1st of April. 
Phenology of 1887. 
The year 1887 was a very backward year throughout. The 
mean of the 60 selected species, the observation of none of which 
has been omitted for more than two years in our period, while nearly 
all have been observed every year, shows that vegetation was on 
the average 11*7 days late. Of these 60 species 52 came into 
flower later than the mean of 1876-86, 5 earlier, and 3 on the 
same day as the mean. 
Of the 30 species which come into flower before the middle of 
* Continued from February, 1888, by Mr. W. Graveson. 
f Ante , pp. 89 and 134 . % lb pp. 76 and 139 . 
VOL. V.—PART VI. 12 
