462 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



CATAMARCA. 



2S 28' S., 65 56' W., 545 meters above sea-level. 

 (From Meteorol. Zeitschr., 1894, p. 357.) 



Extra- tropical East and Sonth-East Australia have rain at all seasons 

 of the year, but tvith a relatively dry winter (in particular August) ; the 

 maxima are during late summer on the coast, during spring and autumn in 

 the interior. The rainfall, except on mountain-slopes, is too small for rain- 

 forest. The absence of dry periods during the spring months whose 

 favourable conditions of temperature give the climate the impress of a good 

 grassland-climate, and the mildness of winter, in spite of its relative dry- 

 ness, renders growth of trees possible. Consequently the type of vegetation 

 is that of savannah, and along the coast, in accordance with the increased 

 precipitation, it passes into savannah-forest ; in the interior, however, with 

 a decrease in precipitation, it passes into steppe, which in its turn, as the 

 drought increases, is replaced by desert. 



