THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 199 



10th and the 14th,) which happened likewise on the 6th and 18th of 

 the correspondin<«; month hist year, as well as on the 14th of the pre- 

 ceding month this year. Nothino;, however, in the way of thunder- 

 storms was ever witnessed here like the dense ninihus wliicli suddenly 

 arose from the southwest at ahout 3 p. m. on the 14tli, and discharged 

 its watery contents, to tlie amount of 0.80 inch of rain, over the city, 

 rivalling', in the vivid shocks of its well cliarged hattery, the violent 

 thunder-gusts of more tropical regions. As appears in thetahle, con- 

 siderahle" rain for the season fell, being an overplus of 0.94 inch 

 ahove that of May, 1854, although minus 0.10 inch of what fell in 

 May, 1853. During the whole month the barometer ranged uni- 

 formly low, and maintained a greater equability in its oscillations than 

 was observed for some months previously. With the exception of the 

 29th, 30th, and 31st, the thermometer indicated an agreeable temper- 

 ature, while a sufficiency of relative moisture in the atmosphere ren- 

 dered the weather pleasant and salutary. On these last days, how- 

 ever, the afternoons were oppressively sultry, in consequence of the 

 wind being light from northwest all day, and dying away towards even- 

 ing. These few uncomfortable days were more than compensated for 

 by delicious and refreshing nights, ''when the heavens seemed to 

 unfold the brightest page of their mystic lore." Indeed, no possible 

 combination of the great agents of nature in producing an agreeable 

 climate can surpass the delightful moonlight nights of Sacramento, 

 when fanned by the balmy breathings of the south, fresh from the 

 Pacific. 



June was characterized by one of those extraordinary oscillations of 

 temperature which occasionally occur early in the summer in every 

 part of the North American continent, and which have been found to 

 return on an average of every ten or twelve years at several stations 

 where observations have been made through a series of years. On 

 the 21st the thermometer rose to 100°, and on the 22d in many places 

 beyond that point. This elevation of the temperature to 100°, at the 

 period of the solstice, appears to be not more extraordinary for Sacra- 

 mento than for other places at the same parallel of latitude. Rich- 

 mond and Washington, isotherraally considered, many miles north of 

 Sacramento, are likewise occasionally subject, the former to a maxi- 

 mum temperature of 102° and the latter 100°, during the month of 

 June. The condition of the atmospheric pressure was also peculiar. 

 During the earlier part of the month the barometric column sank to 

 the minimum, as recorded in the table, without any other appreciable 

 sequence than some increase in the relative humidity of the atmo- 

 sphere. During the whole month it maintained a more or less low 

 position, except on the 11th and 12th, when it rose nearly as high as 

 at any (jther time during the month, although on these very days we 

 were visited with light showers of rain from the south. On the 25th 

 the barometer fell again as low as it did in the earlier part of the 

 month, when the wind commenced blowing fresh from the south, and 

 afterwards, on the 28th, changed to the northwest. The effect of such 

 hot weather, so early in the season, proved disastrous to the agricul- 

 tural interests, by developing the eggs of the grasshopper — a species 

 of gryllidcG — six weeks earlier than they were hatched out the year 



