238 PROGRESS OF METEOROLOGY IN 1889. 



globular cloudlets, commonly called mackerel sky. 4. Cumulo-cirrus 

 or alto-cumulus, a form intermediate between cirro-cumulus and strato- 

 cumulus, of a large globular form like white wool packs. 5. Strato- 

 cirrus or alto-stratus, a thick gray or bluish layer of cloud at an aver- 

 age elevation of 17,000 feet. 6. Strato cumulus, large rounded masses 

 of gray cloud, sometimes called roll-cumulus. 7. Nimbus. 8. Cumu- 

 lus. 9. Cumulo-nimbus, the thunder cloud. 10. Stratus, an elevated 

 sheet of mist or fog. 



In order that the exact forms of cloud to which the names apply may 

 be learned and the names be properly used, the author calls attention 

 to the photographs in his Classification des images, and also recom 

 mends the new cloud-atlas, published by Gustav Seitz Nachfolger, of 

 Ha'mburg. 



Results of rain, river, and evaporation observations madeinNeic South 

 Wales during 1888, by H. C. Kussell. — This volume contains a most val- 

 uable collection of meteorological and hydrographic data, tabulated, 

 charted, and discussed. The rain-fall from eight hundred and seventy 

 stations is given for each month and the year, together with the great- 

 est daily rain-fall iu each month, the mean annual, and the number of 

 years of observation. The mean annual precipitation ranges in differ- 

 ent districts from 10 to 08 inches. The year 1888 is the driest upon 

 record, and in striking contrast with 1887, the wettest on record. The 

 rain-fall for the year is charted on a large scale map by red circles at 

 each station of observation. The monthly distribution of rain is shown 

 for each square degree by twelve blocks proportional in length to 

 the monthly amount. A third diagram shows the stage of the rivers 

 above mean summer level. Tables of average daily evaporation for 

 each month are given for nine stations. These show a range of 30 

 to 65 inches in the total evaporation for the year. Comparative obser- 

 vations on the amount of evaporation from water, gi ass, and earth sur- 

 face show that when the soil is saturated the evaporation proceeds at 

 a rate greater than from a water surface. The value of these observa- 

 tions would have been increased if surface temperatures had been 

 taken. 



For the Murray River the annual discharge ranges from 20 to 40 per 

 cent, of the rain-fall over its catchment area, while for the Darling the 

 discharge is in general less than 3 per cent, of its rain-fall. 



Bain-fall of J«dia.— Parts iii and iv, vol. iii, Indian Meteorological 

 Memoirs, published in 1888, bring to a close Blanford's great monograph 

 on the rain-fall of India. Part ii treats of the variability of the rain- 

 fall, and is summarized in Part iii. As a rule stations having the 

 smallest average rainfall are those at which the variability of rain-fall 

 is greatest; this is specially true of stations situated in dry plains or 

 table lands which yield but little local evaporation, and where the Avinds 

 from opposite quarters are strongly contrasted in point ot dryness and 

 dampness. 



I 



