14 



A MONTANE RAIN-FOREST. 



evaporation. Table 6 gives the monthly means of rainfall for these 

 three localities, those for Cinchona being based on records for thirty- 

 nine years (1871 to 1909 inclusive); those for New Haven Gap on 

 fourteen years (1882 to 1895, with twenty-four single months missing) ; 

 those for Blue Mountain Peak on nineteen years (1890 to 1898, with 

 nine months missing) : 



The data for the three mountain stations show an abundant rain- 

 fall at all seasons, but a fall which is not great as compared with 

 such localities as Colon, Panama (112.6 inches), Kamerun (151.2 



63 



Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. JuL.Aujr. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 



62 



TEMPERATURE 61 

 60 

 59 

 58 1 



86 



HUMIDITY 84 

 82 

 80 



16 

 14 

 12 



RAINFALL 10 

 8 

 6 

 4 



20 da 



NUMBER OF ie 



'RAINY DAYS 14 



12 



10 



WIND 



FIG. 1. Annual curves of monthly means of principal elements 

 of the climate at Cinchona. 



inches), Sierra Leone (124 inches), and Ratnapura, Ceylon (149.7 

 inches). There is a pronouncedly heavier fall in May and in the 

 late autumn and early winter months, whereas the lightest falls 

 of the midsummer are seldom low enough to cause serious damage 

 to other than the most hygrophilous vegetation. At Cinchona the 

 annual maximum is reached in October, the minimum in February; at 

 New Haven Gap the maximum is in December, the minimum in March; 

 at Blue Mountain Peak they are in November and March respectively. 

 There is an extreme degree of variability in the rainfall from year to year 



