108 



Tr ansae tions . — Bo tany . 



This last winter — 1899 — has been of exceptional severity, 

 and is referred to again (see below in "Acclimatisation"); 

 here I only quote a few temperatures : Sand-dunes one mile 

 from the sea, in Tarata Garden, the thermometer, placed on 

 the ground during June and July, fell several times below 

 20° Fahr., and on the 26th July registered 15-8° Fahr. ; at 

 Hororata — altitude 240 m. — on the same night the minimum 

 temperature registered by a thermometer at Sir John Hall's, 

 placed against the wall of a house facing east and at a height 

 of 44 cm. from the ground, was 6° Fahr. Had the tempera- 

 ture been taken on the grass it would probablv have regis- 

 tered 0° Fahr. 



The following are some of a few scattered observations 

 which I have made from time to time in the Waimakariri 

 district : At Springfield, altitude 387 m., thermometer on 

 grass on 17th June, 1897, at 8.45 p.m., registered 20-75° Fahr., 

 and at 9.30 p.m. 19-4° Fahr. ; on 18th June, at 7.45 a.m., in 

 same position, it registered 19-4° Fahr. On 18th June, 1897, 

 temperature on ground (shingle), at 12.30 p.m., with wind 

 blowing from S.W., near summit of Porter's Pass, 944m. 

 altitude, was 39-2° Fahr. At Castle Hill, altitude 723 m., 

 during night of above dav, minimum was 10-4° Fahr. ; on 19th 



June, 



during from 



8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., maximum 



was 



48-2° Fahr., and minimum 15-8° Fahr. ; at 12.30 p.m. it was 

 40° Fahr. On Longspur Hill, at 1,010m., facing N.E., at 

 ,2.20 p.m. on same day on ground, it was, m sunshine, 37'4° 

 Fahr., and under 5 cm. of snow 31-45° Fahr. At 1,220 m. on 

 Longspur Hill, Craigieburn Mountains, a thermometer left at 

 head of a small shingle-slip facing south during nights of 19th 

 and 20th June, 1897, showed minimum temperature of 17-6° 

 Fahr., almost exactly the same degree of cold being registered 

 below at altitude of 723 m. 



The folloAving temperatures were recorded on Arthur's 

 Pass during December and January, 1897-98, the thermo- 

 meter on the ground in the midst of clumps of Gelmisia 

 armstrongii. 



Thirdly, as to Moisture in the Atviosj^herc. — Saturation = 

 100. The average per month at Christchurch, Bealey, and 

 Hokitika previous to 1877 was as follows : — 



