382 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECOED. 



mean, 29.01. Precipitation (inclies). — Total, 35.32; number of clear 

 days, 95; i)artly clondy, lOS; cloudy, 102. Wind (prevailing direc- 

 tion). — SW. Kuuiber of days on which thunderstorms occurred, 19; 

 snow, 21; hail, 2; fog', 2. 



A resume of solar observations made at the royal observatory of the Roman 

 College during the first half of 1896, P. Tacchini {Compt. Bend., 12?, (IRW), Xo. 

 7, pp. 375-377). 



Weatlier record at Newport (Arkansas) Substation for the season 1894, (1. B. 

 Irby {Jrlansas Sta. Itpt. ISU'i, p. ,??). — Rejirinted from Biilletiu 31 of the station 

 (E. S. R., 6, p. 878). 



Meteorological observations at Camden, Arkansas, 1894, C. L. Newman 

 (Arkansas Sta. Ilpt. 1805, p. i;?,?).— Reprinted from Bnlletiu 34 of the station (E. S. R., 

 7, p. 97). 



Meteorological summary for 1895 {Maryland Sta. Rpt. 1895, pp. 220, 229).— Gen- 

 eral notes on the weather cuuditions of the year and a summary of observations on 

 temjierature and precipitation. The precipitation for the year was 35.54 in., the 

 mean temperature 53.1^ F., the maxinmm 101"^' (Sept. 23), minimum 7^ (Feb. 3), and 

 daily rangf 22.5^. 



WATER— SOILS. 



The Florida parishes of east Louisiana, W. W. Clendenin {Lou- 

 isiana 8tas. Special Rpt.pt. 3,xrp. 163-256). — This is a continuation of the 

 work of O. Lerch on the geology of north Louisiana (E. S. R., 5, p. 282), 

 and deals with the greater part of the State of Louisiana south of the 

 thirty-first degree, including the Florida i)arishes of east Louisiana and 

 the bluff hill and prairie sections of southwest Louisiana. 



"The section lies between the Mississippi River on the west and the Pearl River 

 on the east, and is bounded on the south liy Lake Ponchartraiu. Lake Manrepas, and 

 Bayou Manchac. It includes 8 parishes . . . and comprises an area of about 4,500 

 square miles. . . . 



" The purely alluvial parishes are not here considered, inasmuch as they, being 

 (up to the present) the chief agricultural lands, it was thought best to make a sep- 

 arat(3 report upon them. Only those alluvial soils that lie in proximity to the older 

 soils, iu parishes that contain both, are here treated. . . . 



"The object l)eiug to make an agricultural rather than a purely geological report, 

 particular attention was given to the origin, nature, and depth of soil ; to water supply 

 and fjuestious of drainage, and especially to the character of the natural or virgiu 

 growth upon the lands, where obtainable, as being one of the truest indices of tlieir 

 nature and possibilities." 



Different chapters of the bulletin are devoted to description of area, 

 including geography and history, topography and drainage, the mounds, 

 natural ponds, geological history, brief history of the Lafayette forma- 

 tion, brief history of the Columbia formation, soils, economic products, 

 including mineral and vegetable products, climate, the 5 islands, and 

 some geological sections (pine hills, pine tlaf s, prairies, and bluff), with 

 an appendix by W. R. Dodsou on the i)riucipal plants of economic value 

 in this region. 



A i»ecnliar topographical feature of this region is the mounds, which 

 "attain their greatest development in the prairies around and near the 

 sulphur mine iu Calcasieu Parish." 



