xlvi PROCEEDINGS, 



records should be sent either to the Meteorological Office or to 

 the Royal Meteorological Society for accurate measurement and 

 preservation. A few hundred stations uniformly distributed 

 over the country would supply all the information necessary with 

 regard to temperature, pressure, and wind, but the influence of 

 local conditions upon rainfall necessitated several thousand well- 

 distributed stations. The 4,000 rainfall stations now at woi'k in 

 the British Isles were not uniformly distributed. The districts 

 in which additional rainfall stations are most urgently required 

 were stated to be the Highlands of Scotland, the West of 

 Ireland, and the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire. 



It was desirable that all rainfall observers should be in touch 

 with the British Rainfall Organization under the direction of the 

 speaker at 62, Camden Square, London, W., but there was room 

 for local associations of observers, of which the following were 

 mentioned as supervising rainfall stations and publishing the 

 records, apart from the stations provided by the Meteorological 

 Office, the Royal Meteorological Society, and the Scottish 

 Meteorological Society : — 



Croydon Natural History Society. — 102 stations in north- 

 western Kent and eastern Siu'rey. 



Dorset Field Club. — 48 stations in Dorsetshire. 



Hertfordshire Nattiral History Society. — 54 stations in Hert- 

 fordshire. 



Northamptonsliire Natural History Society. — 41 stations in 

 Northamptonshire. 



North Devon Atheneeum (Barnstaple). — 30 stations in North 

 Devon and Somerset. 



Also by individuals in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hunting- 

 donshire, Mid-Wessex, the English Lake District, the Isle of 

 Man, and Stirlingshire. 



Mr. J. Ferguson (Ceylon) inquired what period Dr. Mill 

 would fix as the minimmn for continuous rainfall observations 

 to prove of practical value, and pointed out the importance of 

 experience in simple meteorological observations to young men 

 who looked for a career to farming or planting in the Colonies. 



Your Delegate said that he feared some might be deterred 

 from taking meteorological obsei'vations by thinking that the 

 cost of the instrvnnents was greater than is really the case. 

 A reliable " Snowdon " copper rain-gauge with a certificate 

 from Dr. Mill or from the Kew Observatory might be obtained 

 for 20s. or 21s. For a Climatological Station of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society four thermometers were also required 

 (a maximum and minimum and a dry and wet bulb), and 

 a " Stevenson " screen to place them in, the cost of the entire 

 equipment being, he thought, about =£6.* All the thermometers 

 shoiUd be tested at the Kew Observatory. Only one daily 



* Mr. J. J. Hicks, of 8, Hatton Garden, will supply the whole equipment, 

 includinj^ certificates for all the instrumeuts and supports for the Stevenson 

 screen, for this sum. 



