NOTES OF OBSERVATIONS 
OF 
INJURIOUS INSECTS. 
REPORT, 1879. 
In 1878 it appeared from the observer’s notes that a moist 
and mild winter had been followed by luxuriant vegetation, and 
unusual absence of any great amount of insect damage. This season 
the case lias been different. The weather characteristics of the 
observer’s year, beginning with November, 1878, have been temperature 
below the average, and rainfall above the average, with little sunshine ; 
and the returns show insect attack fully up to the usual amount, and 
insect presence often exceeding it. The unusual cold of the winter 
and the depth to which the frost penetrated the ground do not appear 
to have acted prejudicially on larvre subjected to them, either at the 
time or in subsequent development; and the only cases in which the 
weather appears notably to have had effect in ridding us of insect 
attack is where the persistent rainfall or the tremendous downpour of 
summer storms have fairly swept the insects from the plants, or in 
some cases of leaf-feeders, where the plant-growth has (conjecturally) 
been driven on past the power of the larvae. With regard to the 
precise temperature I have received only a few notes, hut they may 
serve as a general guide. 
At the Manse of Shandwick, Orkney, the lowest temperature in 
shade was 15°*4, the lowest on grass 9°-5 ; these on January 2nd. 
Speaking generally, the frost during the past winter appears to 
have penetrated in Scotland about the depth of one foot into the 
earth. At Dalkeith it reached a depth of fifteen inches; and in 
Perthshire it is stated to have penetrated twenty to twenty-four 
inches. Mr. Service, writing from Maxwelltown, Dumfries, mentions 
