AND METEOROLOGY OF THE YEAR RELATIVE THERETO. 321 



average. Over that part of Scotland marked off' by a line pass- 

 ing from West Perthshire to Inverness, then to Stornoway, and 

 thence to Oban, the rainfall Avas above the average, in several 

 cases amounting to a third more ; but over the rest of the 

 covmtry the rainfall was markedly deficient. Over a v^ide dis- 

 trict not more than a fourth of the average of the month was 

 collected. 



March. — The mean temperature was 38°'6, being a degree 

 less than the average, the deficiency being wholly occasioned by 

 the colder nights. This increased cold was accompanied by 10 

 per cent, less cloud than the average of March and eight hours' 

 more sunshine. The temperature of this month had a singular 

 distribution. Over the extreme western districts, from the Mull 

 of Kintyre northwards, and to the north of a line passing 

 through the north of Skye, Inverness, and Aberdeen, tempera- 

 ture was above the average, the excess in Orkney and Shetland 

 exceeding a degree. Elsewhere, however, temperatures were 

 under the average, the greatest deficiency being in the extreme 

 south, where it fully exceeded 2°'0. This diminution of tem- 

 perature increased southward through England ; in London 

 temperature was 4°-0 under the average. 



The rainfall was I'SS inch, or nearly an inch less than the 

 average. Except in a few isolated points in the south-eastern 

 counties and in Aberdeen, the rainfall was everywhere under the 

 average, the greatest deficiency, amounting in many places to 

 upwards of 60 per cent., being in the central districts from the 

 Solway to the Pentland Firth. 



April. — The mean temperature was 42°*3, or 2'''0 under the 

 average, the days being l''-2 and the nights 2°"9 colder than the 

 means. This depression of temperature was accompanied by a 

 higher atmospheric pressure in the west than in the same lati- 

 tudes in the east, and a prevalence of easterly winds five days 

 above the average of April. This defect of temperature was 

 distributed over Scotland in an unusually equable manner, being 

 however slightly greatest in the extreme south. 



The rainfall was 2'05 inches, or 019 inch under the average. 

 Its distribution over the country was very irregular. It was 

 above the average in Ayrshire, in the extreme west from Islay 

 northwards, to the north of Ross-shire, and on the south shore of 

 the Moray Firth it was above the average. In the north of the 

 Lews it was about the mean. In other districts it was under 

 the average, the greatest deficiency, a half of the usual fall, 

 being in the south-eastern counties, and in the inland parts of 

 Galloway. 



May. — The mean temperature was 48°'9, being the average 

 of the month, the days, how^ever, being half a degree warmer 

 and the nights half a degree colder than usual. In no district 



VOL. XX. X 



