PETRA 
Note.—The observations are taken at 9 a.m., except at Redhill, 
Reigate Hill (Nutwood Lodge), Addington (Park Farm), and Brixton 
(8 a.m.), and Croydon (Waddon New Road) (10 a.m.). 
NOTES. 
(May, 1896.) 
The month has probably been the driest May of the present 
century. Since the commencement of the Greenwich record in 1814, 
there has been no such dry May. It is also the fourth month of the 
present year in which, with but few exceptions, the rainfall has been 
below one inch. The want of rain is becoming a very serious matter, 
and has resulted in the practical failure of the hay crop, and in a 
plague of caterpillars in many parts of the district. Evaporation has 
been extremely active, no less than 8-22 in. having evaporated at 
Duppas House, Croydon. Solar halos were seen at Upper Gatton on 
the 5th, 24th, and 29th, and a lunar halo also on the 24th. Thunder 
was heard at most stations throughout the district on the 20th. The 
mean temperature of the month is about 1° above the average, and 
was at Chipstead 54-8°, at Croydon (Duppas House) 54:8°, at Walling- 
ton 53-8°, at Croydon (Whitgift) 53°7°, at Waddon 53:3°, and at Upper 
Gatton 52°. There were recorded at Upper Gatton 2084 hours of 
bright sunshine, and at Wallington 199-6 hours of sunlight, which 
latter is 1 per cent. below the May mean of the ten years 1886-95. 
The following notes have been supplied by observers :—The swift 
was first seen at Croydon on the 9th; and at Warlingham the lilac 
bloomed on the 11th, the chestnut on the 13th, and the laburnum 
on the 20th. 
F. Campsetu-Bayarp, F.R.Met.Soc., 
Hon. Sec. 
