421. per share, prem Kennet and Avon ditto, 481. per share,-Globe Fire and Life Asurance Shares, 1301. ditto.-Albion ditto, 601. ditto.-London Assurance Shipping, 251. per share Rock Life Assurance, 5s. per share, prem.-London Institution, 841. per shares.. Surrey ditto, par.-South London Water Works, 150 per share.-East London ditto, 2271. West Middlesex ditto, 1421, ditto.-Kent Water ditto, 421. per share, prem.-Colchester ditto, 55. ditto.-Portsea and Tarlington ditto, 401. ditto -Portsea di to, by Nicholson, 501. ditto.-Wilts and Berks Canal, 531. per share.-Huddersfield, oitto, 421. COURSE OF EXCHANGE. 1810 Jan. 2 5th. 9th. 12th. 16th. 19th. 23d. 32 531 5 31 531 5 31 531 331 331 3 9 18 9 18 9 18 9 17 9. 17 9 17 028 9 28 928 928 928 9 1 28 10 8 10 28 10 28 10 28 10 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 Ditto, effective 44 44 44 44 When now, unsparing as the scourge of war, Around their home the storm-pinch'd cattle low. HITHERTO, with the exception of three or four days in November, the weather has been much more mild than, for so late a season of the year, we have had any reason to expect. Christmas is now past, and on the sea-coast of Hampshire there has not, that I have heard, been yet any snow. On the 1st, 20, and 3d of December, the wind was north-west. On the 3d it changed to south-west and again on the 4th to north-west. On the 7th and 8th it varied betwixt these two quarters; and from the 10th to the 13th it was directly west. On the 19th it was north-north-east; but it afterwards, towards the end of the month, became westerly. There were fresh gales on the 1st, 2d, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 18th, and 19th, and strong gales on the 7th, 12th, and 17th. The weather has been very variable. On the 1st and gd it was fair. There was some rain on the 3d, and the 6th was a dark, hazy day throughout. From the 6th to the 12th, there was more or less rain every day. In the night of the 11th we had a violent storm of wind, rain, hail, and thunder; and, on the two succeeding days, sudden and frequent storms of rain and hail, with violent gusts of wind. During the night of the 13th there was a strong frost. The night of the 14th was one of the most tremendous I ever heard for wind, rain, and hail. We had much rain on the 17th, and, abou twelve o'clock at night, thunder and lightning. The 21st and 22d were extremely mild days; and on the 23d we had a heavy fog, We had little or no frost from the 14th to the end of the month. December 8th. Lamperns (petromyzen branchialis of Linnæus), are now found about the gravelly bottoms of our rivers and streams. They are generally observed in the act of ad hering to the stones by their circular mouth; and are easily caught by school-boys and others, who wade into the water and seize them with their hands. The common wagtails continue to fly about the shallow places of the rivers and ponds. Kingfishers are occasionally seen amongst the bushes, and about the banks of the rivers. December 11th. Among some sprats which I this day saw, there was a single pilchard; but it is the only fish of the species that I have heard of, as having been caught here this year. The flounders have now their ovaries distended with spawn, and are in season for the table; but on these coasts they are, at best, a tasteless and insipid fish. Woodcocks are found in our copses and woods, but they are by no means plentiful. December 14th. A very large individual of the long eared bat was brought to me this day. It appeared to be as full of animation, and was as active in flight as I ever saw a bat in the middle of summer. A few florets of the woodbine are still left, in warm and sheltered places; and some of the autumnal garden plants are yet in flower. December 22d. I this day saw two or three lambs; and am informed that several ewes have yeaned some days ago. I likewise saw a eweret of a second brood, which was scarcely half grown. The berries of the holly and ivy are ripe. December 31st. The weather is so unusually warm, that some of the house-flies, which, more than a month ago, had retired into their hiding-places for the winter, have revived, and are buzzing about my room. Hampshire. Erratum in the last month's Report: for "rhamnus grangula”, read “, bamnus frangula.” P.S. Your correspondent Philo- Botanicus will, I have no doubt, be perfectly aware how difficult it is for a person who has not sufficient leisure, to be in the fields for a considerable length of time every day, to ascertain the precise periods at which a great variety of plants come into flower. As far however as my leisure and my knowledge permit, I will endeavour to supply the information which he is desirous to receive. The following indigenous plants were observed near Warrington, in a state of inflorescence on the first of January, which is a striking proof of the unusual miidness of the present season Callatriche aquatica. Poa anuua. B Viola odorata. Lamium purpureum Iberis amara. Cheiranthus fruticulosus. Brassica napus. Ulex europæus. Leontodon taraxacum. Senecio vulgaris. jacobea. Bellis perennis. Matricaria chamomilla. Callendula officinalis. Urtica urens. I have been led to this observation, from having composed last year a Calendar of Flora for 1809; which will make its appearance in the course of this month. 1 Your's, &c. G. CROSFIELD. MONTHLY BOTANICAL REPORT. BELONGING to No. 274 of the Botanical Magazine, reviewed in our last Report, we received, in the following number, the figure of Nymphæa kalmiana, a Canadian species, very nearly resembling the Nymphæa lutea of Europe, but much smaller in all its parts. We do not think that the circumstance mentioned by Dr. Sims, of the veins on the underside of the leaf being furrowed out, instead of being raised as in lutea, and per aps in every other species, if constant, is so expressed by the draftsman; whose figure appears to us to represent the veins raised as usual. No. 275 of the same work, contains a beautiful figure of Trichonema pudicum, introduced by Miss Symonds sister to the late Lady Gwillim. Eastrephus latifolius: a New Holland genus, the name and character of which are borrowed from the unpublished work on the plants of that country, by Mr. R. Brown. It has a near affimity with Asparagus and Mediola, and has been mistaken for the narrow-leaved species of the latter. Lapeyrousia 1 Lapeyrousia fissif:lia: the Gladiolus fissifolius, of Jacquin and Vahl, but very properly se parated from that genus by Mr. Gawler; this article contains an enumeration of the species, in which Mr. G. no longer makes Lamark's. Ixia fastigiata, distinct from L. corymbosa. Moræa pavania, Mr. Gawler had before shown that what Mr. Curtis called Iris pavonia, in a former part of the Magazine, was a variety of Moræa tricuspis. The present very rare and beautiful species, as well as the last, was figured from the collection of Lee and Kennedy. Centaurea macrocephala, of Count Mushin Pushkin, native of Caucasus, never before figured, communicated by Mr. Loddiges, of Hackney. Erica aristata, a showy and rare species, from the collection of Mr. Williams, of Turnham Green. Erica andromeda flora. Another species, altogether deserving of the same epithets, from the collection of Mr. Knight, nursery-man, King's road, late gardener to Mr. Hibbert. The specific characters of both the above species of Erica, are taken from the unpublished edition of the Hortus Kewensis; and we are encouraged by this, in the belief that the excellent botanist Mr. Dryander, a pupil of Linnæus, is seriously engaged in the publication of that useful work. Hedysarum capitatum. Another native of Mount Caucasus, from Loddiges's garden. The name seems to be hesitatingly adopted from Desfontanes. The peculiar shape of the ra ceme, from the lower flowers being close oppressed to the stalk, whilst those recently expanded are patent, suggested to Dr. Sims the English name of Sceptre-flowered; and should it hereafter turn out that it is different from the capitatum of the Flora atlantica, the name of sceptrifor mis will probably be adopted. In No. 276 of the Botanical Magazine, we have Cyanella lutea; a very rare species. Mr. Gawler has framed a new generic character. (Amaryllis Ornata Var. a), or the Cape-coast Lily. Mr. Gawler at first considered the Cape-coast Lily, the Ceylon Lily, and the great White-flowered Lily from Sierra Leone, as the same species; he has since, at the suggestion of Mr. Dryander, separated the last, under the name of A. gigantea. He still considers the two former as mere varieties: in plants of so very natural an order, both the species and the genera are so very indistinctly marked, that it is extremely difficult to decide what are species and what are varieties, and to which genus many species belong. In this instance, we are inclined to side with the cultivators, who are best acquainted with the plants in every stage of their growth, and who, one and all, consider the Cape-coast Lily and the Ceylon Lily, as distinct species. Hesperantha pilosa (8), a smooth variety. This genus was framed by Mr. Gawler, out of the large heterogeneous assemblage, under the name of Ixia, and contains a set of species which are night-flowering and very fragrant. Geissorhiza setacea: another rewly established genus, from the same assemblage. Mr. Gawler has here united three of his former species, viz. setacea, rochensis, and obtusata, under one, considering them as mere varieties; we think cultivation must determine the question. Impatiens coccinea, a new and showy species of Balsam, introduced from the East Indies by Dr. Roxburgh, and cultivated in the stove, at Mr. Salisbury's Botanic Garden. Campanula peregrina; a specics of Bell-flower, known for some years in our gardens; but of very doubtful origin. From its habit, it is, as Dr. Sims observes, very unlikely to be a production of the Cape; Siberia or Northern Asia may lay a much more probable claim. Campanula barbata; an Alpine plant, native of Southern Europe. Ibbetsonia genistoides. Mr. Salisbury, in the last volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, has pointed out several distinct genera, which have been heretofore huddled together, under the name of Sophora; many of the species, of which had no other claim to be considered as belonging to the same genus than that of having papillonaceous flowers, with ten distinct stamens. He had not however given the characters, or affixed any names to some of these genera. Dr. Sims has here adopted one of Mr. Salisbury's genera, has supplied the generic characters, and applied the name of Ibbetsonia, in honour of Mrs. Agnes Ibbetson, who has shown herself to be a lady of superior talents, by several papers on vegetable physiology, published in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal. The species here figured, has been long known in collections of sare plants under the name of Sophora genistoides. We have not received any number of the Botanist's Repository since our last Report. Of English Botany, two numbers have been published, which contain together only seven phenogamic species. Stachys arabigua. Supposed to be a new species from Scotland. To us it appears to approach in habit to a Galeopsis. Lotus corniculatus and Lotus major. In the Flora Britannica, Dr. Smith has enumerated these plants as varieties; they are now considered by him as distinct species, of which we should think there can be little doubt, but cultivation would perhaps determine the ques tion more satisfactorily. Aira lævigata; a supposed new species of grass from Scotland; it approaches A. cæspitose, and may perhaps be a viviparous Alpine variety of that species, notwithstanding the differ ence in the rachis, Dr. Smith has made a curious observation from this plant, that in the viviparous florets, the change of the glumes into leaves, is evinced by the awn remaining a the top of the leaf. 3 Charophyllum Charophyllum aureum; discovered in Scotland by Mr. George Don. Few botanists, Dr. Smith remarks, are at all acquainted with this species, nor is the aureum of the species plantarum the same as that in the Mantissa, The Scotch plant is the same as the former. Rumex aquaticus. Too large a plant to be well figured on so small a plate. Spergula saginsides; found by the late Mr. J. Mackay, on Ben Lawers in 1794, and previously by Mr. Don on Mal-ghyrdy. It has ten stamens, though Professor Swartz describes but five. Dr. Smith observes that this plant, whether it be the same with that of Swartz or not, is certainly the same as that of Linnæus. MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. THE state of the season has changed considerably since our last; the greatest part of the month having been attended with frost, snow, and occasional thaws, which have, on the whole, been favourable to the young wheats, especially those of the more forward kind. The work of ploughing up the leys and stubbles, have been greatly impeded through the month, by these causes; and but little of that necessary business has been able to be per formed. Turnips, cabbages, and other green cattle crops, though abundant on the ground, do not hold out well in being consumed, in many districts, in consequence of the injury which they have suffered by the previous continued wetness of the weather; nor do the animais thrive. so well as usual upon them. The same is the case with potatoes, for though the crops were in general very productive, they have not by any means kept so well, as is common with this valuable root; but more speedily run into decay and dissolution. The larger sorts are likewise found more hollow and bad within, than is generally the case. The importations of grain from other countries, have fortunately kept down the advancing price of that essential article, so as to remain uearly as in our last. Wheat fetches from 659. to 863. per quarter; Barley, 42s. to 46s.; Oats, 225. to 38s. Store cattle and sheep stock have hitherto been carried on with little inconvenience to the farmer; but the trying part of the season is yet to come. How the dry fodder and green crops, which are to support them, may hold out, cannot yet be well foreseen. Fattening stock has been tolerably forced ou in most cases, but perhaps with a little more trouble than usual. Beef fetches from 4s. 8d. to 6s. 4d. per stone of 8ib.; Mutton, 4s. 8d. to 6s. Os.; Pork, 5s. 4d. to 6s. 8d. The state of the hay markets is much as in our last. Hay fetches from 51. 10s. to 6l. 10s. per load; Clover, 61. 10s. to 71. 16s.; Straw, 21. 10s. to 31. The making and repairing of the fences, have not been capable of being much attended to this month, the workman having been chiefly confined to barn-labour, from the state of the weather. METEOROLOGICAL REPORT, Observations on the State of the Weather, from the 24th of December, 1809, to the 24th of January, 1810, inclusive, Four Miles N.N.I. of St. Paul's. On the 17th. inst. the thermometer in the morning was as low as 15°. and on the next day, at the same hour, it was as high 27°. ALTHOUGH we have had rain and snow on several days during the month, yet the quantity collected in the rain gauge, is too small to be noticed till cur next report. The averige temperature has not varied materially from that of the last month: it being for December 365, and for January 350 71; we have, however, had some very severe weather, the thermometer being once at 15° cr 170. below the freezing point; once at 162. once at 199. and on ten other days, it was as low, or lower, than the ire zing point. Considering the small quantity of rain fallen, the mean height of the barometer must be regarded as very low, being only 29-661. The fegs have not been frequent nor very thick; but some very dark days have ceen noticed, in which, at this place, it was almost impossible to see to read or to wil e till lare in the forenoon. The wind Las blown chiefly from the westerly points, though on several of the latter days, it has come from the north-east. Highgate.. PAICES |