248 Transactions. 



Natural History, 38 Botany, 13 Natural Philosophy, 4 Meteorology, 

 6 Travels, 43 Reports of Societies, and 57 Magazines, &c. 



To go fully into these would make a lengthy paper, as many 

 of these subjects can be sub-divided into very many special studies. 

 Amongst them we have books on fresh water plants, salt water 

 plants, shells and fish, cryptogamic botany and flora, &c. The 

 books are, in the main, English; many of them are elegantly 

 bound in half morocco and half calf, which will add much to their 

 usefulness in handling. 



Communications. 



I. Observations of the Temperature of the Nith a7id its Estuary 



for the year ending i^th April, iSgo. 



By Eev. Wm. Andson. 



The observations were taken at the instance of a committee of 



the British Association, which was appointed to obtain observations 



of the temperature of rivers, estuaries, and lakes over the United 



Kingdom as compared with that of the air, and as modified by the 



direction and force of the wind, the state of the weather, &c., the chief 



object being to ascertain the seasonal variations. The observations 



at Dumfries were taken throughout the twelve months. Mr James 



Lewis took the observations of the estuary at Kingholm Quay, 



from 2.5th June to 21st March, and observations were begun at 



later dates in the River Dee by Rev. W. I. Gordon, of Tongland, 



and in the Dee estuary by Mr Macdonald, lighthouse keeper. 



Little Ross. These, he understood, were still being carried on, 



but as the year was not completed they could not be reported 



upon. The Nith observations, he explained, were taken at the 



Dumfries boathouse, where there was an average depth of more 



than three feet. In consequence of the damming of the water by 



the weir below the Old Bridge the river at this point never fell 



very low; he had never seen the depth less than 2| feet. On two 



occasions of heavy flood even the parapet wall was overflowed — 



once in the beginning of November, when the depth was estimated 



to have been fully ten feet, towards midnight on the 1st; and 



again on 25th January, after heavy rain and the melting of snow 



on the high grounds, with a south-west gale, when the depth of 



9 feet was registered at the gauge on the Old Bridge. The hour 



of observation was at or near noon. The following table shewed 



the mean temperature of the air and water for each month 



