232 THE SCOTTISH MARINE STATION AND ITS WORK. 



Cumbraes, and extends past Dunoon up into Loch Long. 

 Several of the lochs enclose deep basins in their upper 

 portions, as, for instance, Loch Fyne, Loch Striven, Loch 

 Goil, and Upper Loch Long. Such being the configuration 

 of this area, we may next inquire how the temperature of 

 the water varies in these different portions. 



This has been summed up by Dr. Mill as follows: — (1) 

 The Irish Channel has " a uniform temperature from surface 

 to bottom, changing regularly with the season, but higher all 

 the year round than the mean of the enclosed regions ; (2) 

 The deep open basins in free tidal communication with the 

 ocean resemble the channel at all depths beneath thirty 

 fathoms ; (3) The deep enclosed basins, almost cut off from 

 the tide and shut in by steep mountain walls, show the 

 greatest range of annual temperature, and the most compli- 

 cated vertical distribution. The surface water is quite fresh 

 after heavy rains and freezes in winter. The annual range 

 may be 35° or 40° F., while at the bottom (seventy fathoms) 

 5° is the greatest range observed, and the maximum tempe- 

 rature there occurs in early spring, when the surface water is 

 at its minimum ; the miuimum at the bottom occurs in the 

 beginning of autumn, when the surface attains a maximum." 



Last year a new departure in the way of marine tempera- 

 ture observations was inaugurated by Dr. John Murray, 

 namely, the study of the effect of the wind upon the distri- 

 bution of submarine temperature. For such an inquiry the 

 land-locked fjords of the west coast of Scotland are particu- 

 larly well adapted ; the depth of the lochs in conjunction 

 with the frequent presence of a bar across their mouths 

 renders the change of their contents but slow, while the 

 moderate size of many of them makes it practicable to 

 ascertain the condition of the whole loch as regards tem- 

 perature at pretty frequent intervals. To give many figures 

 bearing upon an inquiry of this kind would be out of place 

 in a sketch like the present ; a brief notice of one or two 

 interesting cases must suffice. On September 7th, 1887, 

 an examination was made of Loch Lochy, the most southerly 

 of the three which lie in the course of the Caledonian Canal, a 

 small body of fresh water nearly ten miles long and about 



