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JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



rain, nqr ever so serious in its results. Anderson gives us a vivid 

 description of the climate of Aden in his Florida Adenensis. " In so 

 low a latitude," he says, " the sun shines with intense force nearly 

 throughout the year, and at Aden the solar power is increased by every 

 peculiarity of physical conformation and climate. The undisturbed 

 atmosphere stagnates in the walled in valleys, where a death-like 

 stillness always reigns. The black and naked rocks absorb by day the 

 scorching rays transmitted through an ever cloudless sky, only to 

 radiate the pent-up heat by night, thus confining to the shore the cool 

 but feeble breezes that occasionally spring up from the Indian Ocean. 

 Accordingly, even in December, when the sun's power is at its lowest, 

 Dr. Hooker found the temperature of the soil at 107° Fahr. a few 

 feet below the surface. In the hotter seasons of the year, the sun, 

 even in the early morning, is overpowering, and above the rocks the 

 air flickers from the intense heat, while all distant objects are disturbed 

 by an imperfect mirage." The following thermometrical readings 

 confirm Anderson's sketch. They give the average temperature during 

 the year at the three military positions : Camp, Isthmus, and Steamer 

 Point :— 



Camp. 



