32 Transactions. 



December and i) AM. of tlii^ Ttli. There was very heavy rain on 

 the Gth, followed by snow during the night, which at 9 A.M. 

 measured G inches in depth ; and was the heaviest snowfall of the 

 year. The rain and melted snow together gave a depth of 1'26 

 inches in the guage, equivalent to 126 tons of water to the acre. 

 The year, as a whole, however, was remarkalily dry. There were 

 two months in which the i-ainfall was less than one inch ; May 

 having 0-98 in., and June only 0-56 in. From the 8th June to the 

 2nd July not a drop of rain fell. February, March, and April, 

 and later in the year October, were also abnormally dry ; the 

 aggregate rainfall of these six months being only 8'09 in., whereas 

 in the previous year it was 16 '79 in., and the mean of the preced- 

 ing 26 years as observed at Cargen was upwards of 19 in. The 

 total I'ainfall of the year was 30'99 in. : that of 1886 was 41"13 in.; 

 showing a deficiency for the past year of 10-14 in. as compared 

 with the previous one, and of 13-66 in. as compai-ed with the mean 

 of the preceding 27 years at Cargen. In consequence of this un- 

 usual dryness, especially in the first half of the year, many of the 

 springs and wells in the district failed as early as July, and were 

 not replenished again till December. The same deficiency of 

 moisture seems to have prevailed in a greater or less degree over 

 the whole country, but more on its western than on its eastern 

 side. Thus Colmonell, in Ayrshire, records a deficiency of more 

 than 10 in., Greenock of nearly 15 in. (the lowest since 1S75), 

 Bridge-of-Allan of about 9 in., Leith of nearly 7 in., and East 

 lanton in Haddingtonshire of nearly 5 in. In illustration of the 

 fact stated, it may be mentioned that the River Tay, near Perth, 

 is sai<l to have been lower by half-an-inch on July 10th than its 

 lowest point in 1826, which was one of the driest years on recoid ; 

 and the Nith for many weeks was lower than the writer remem- 

 bers to have seen it. 



There were few thunderstorms during the year, and none of 

 any severity. The writer of this paper observed only six occasions 

 on which thunder was heard — two in July, on the 2nd and 31st ; 

 two in August, on the 17th and 18th ; one on the 1st November, 

 with sharp hail showers ; and one on 14th December between 4 

 and 5 A.M., also accompanied by hail showers. The total number 

 of hailshowers observed was ten. 



The following is a summary of the wind directions for the 

 year : 



CalmorVar. N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. VV. N.W. 

 7 41 35 17 24 23 90 54 74 



