32 METEOROLOGY. 



Holderness is one of the driest tracts in England. Observa- 

 tions made by Mr. W. B. Pugh, J. P., at Patrington, 

 and extending over a long period of upwards of fifty years, 

 show that the average annual amount of rainfall is, perhaps, 

 the lowest of any other meteorological station in the British 

 Isles, or indeed, it has been said, of any place in the world 

 where rain ordinarily falls. By the great kindness of the 

 assiduous observer just mentioned, we have been supplied with 

 figures for fifty-two years, and find that the rainfall readings 

 for that time average 23.31 inches annually. 



Confirmative evidence of the atmospheric dryness of the 

 East Riding seems to be afforded by quite another species of 

 observation ; for Mr. J. J. Marshall, of Beverley, a careful 

 student of mosses, notices in this Riding a paucity of species 

 as compared with the number in the other Ridings, and 

 attributes the state of things largely to the prevailing dry 

 conditions, mosses being essentially damp-loving plants. 



The accompanying tables, which epitomise observations 

 made at Hull, Driffield, and York, give information in 

 averages for the inter-dependent factors of temperature, 

 rainfall, and sunshine. From these averages the botanist 

 may know in what state of forwardness or backwardness 

 he may expect to find particular plants or vegetation gener- 

 ally. And this is important in some cases of the times of 

 flowering. For example, we have sometimes noted that 

 certain plants do not appear to flower at all in a given 

 district. A season arrives, however, when we do find them 

 in flower, and then subsequently by carefully noting the week 

 of the year and the general forwardness or the reverse of the 

 season, by opportune seaich the flowers are now invariably 

 seen. Our failure for years to find the flowers of Viola hirta, 

 a common species of the Wolds, is a case in point. We 

 disregard first-flowering records, but we find that the highest, 

 or best flowering of the various species, is almost constant 

 to within 10 or 14 days, and this is indicated by Roman 

 numerals in the sequel. 



