1] | INTRODUCTION 27 
62° F. (16°6° C.), the warmest. According to Lees, the average 
daily range of temperature in the West Riding of Yorkshire 
(the south-west of which is included in the present district) 
is about twelve or thirteen degrees F. (7:2° C.) in the shade, 
and about thirty-two to thirty-four degrees F. (18°9° C.) under 
exposure to the direct rays of the sun (Lees, 1888: 6). These 
temperatures, it should be remembered, are corrected to sea level, 
and hence do not show the actual temperatures of the district. 
Phenological observations show that the opening of spring 
flowers and the unfolding of the leaves of trees is from two to four 
weeks later on the Pennines than in the lowlands of Somerset, 
and from ten days to three weeks later than in Cambridgeshire. 
The winter on the Pennine uplands is a long one, lasting, as 
a rule, from the beginning of November to the beginning of 
May, though snow does not, as a rule, lie very long on the 
ground, owing to intervals of mild weather. Although some 
moorland plants, such as the bilberry (Vacciniwm Myrtillus), 
the crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), and the cotton-grasses 
(Eriophorum vaginatum and E. angustifolium) flower in late 
April and early May, the plants of the moorlands make very 
little new growth before June and July. 
THE UppER ATMOSPHERE 
I am indebted to Professor A. Schuster, F.R.S., for kindly 
supplying me with the reports (Schuster, 1908-9) for the years 
1908 and 1909 of the investigation of the upper atmosphere 
conducted by the meteorological department of the Victoria 
University of Manchester. This investigation was begun on 
January lst, 1908. The meteorological station is situated near 
Glossop, in Long. 1°57 W. and Lat. 53° 24.N., at a height of 
335 metres (1100 feet, approx.) above sea level. The details 
which are here utilized consist of readings of temperature, 
direction and velocity of the wind, and the humidity of 
the air, at altitudes respectively of 335 metres (1100 feet), 
500 metres (1640 feet), and 750 metres (2460 feet). The 
readings of the higher altitudes were obtained by means of 
kites and balloons; and the figures utilized represent only a 
small proportion of the total number of observations made by 
Professor Schuster and his staff. , 
