382 REVIEWS OF BOOKS. [Oct. 



ing varying in prominence. The otlier two species, which may prove 

 to be dimorphic forms, live singly in the stalk without causing any 

 hardening or swelling. 



So much alike are the larvne and pup?e of all the three species, that 

 they may baffle the most skilled. Professor Cook's description agrees 

 better with the parasitic Semiotelhcs larva than with that of Isosoma. 



Keviews of 3ooks. 



BRITISH RAINFALL. 



Journal of the, Scottish Meteorological Society, with Tables for the year 

 1884, and Coloured Map, showing the Eainfall of the British 

 Isles. Third Series. No. II. Published annually. Edin- 

 burgh : W. Blackwood & Sons. 



We shall probably return to more than one of the memoirs in this 

 number ; meanwhile we direct attention to one of several papers by 

 Mr. Alexander Buchan, the Meteorological Secretary, on " The Eain- 

 fall of the British Islands." Foresters as well as farmers may be 

 interested to know the close identity in character of the climate of 

 Skye and that of the southern coasts of the Moray Firth, their mean 

 temperature in no month differing so much as 2°. But the annual 

 rainfall of Skye rises to, and in many places exceeds 100 inches, 

 whereas at Cnllodeu it only amounts to 2 6 '17 inches, and at 

 Burghead to 25*23 inches. So this difference in the rainfall, with 

 the clear skies and strong sunshine which accompany it, renders 

 the south shores of the Moray Firth one of the finest grain-producing 

 districts of Scotland. Skye forms one of four regions in Britain 

 marked off by an average of 8 inches or upwards annually. The 

 others include the greater part of the Lake District, and the more 

 mountainous parts of North and South-Eastern Wales, At Dart- 

 moor the annual average fall is 7 8 '5 9 inches. And while the 

 rain-gauge at Kylemore, in the west of Galway, gives an average of 

 89*40 inches, far in excess of all other averages in the west of 

 Ireland, its exceptional character demands further confirmation. At 

 Glencroe farm-house, near Inveraray, in the Western Scottish High- 

 lands, the rain-gauge shows a fall of 128*50. But there is not a 

 single rain-gauge from Luss on Loch Lomond to the Cumberland 

 Lake District showing an annual average of 80 inches. The partial 



