PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 163 



rainfall, has been measured and recorded, but il must be 

 very considerable, especially when a large area of wood- 

 land is present. 



In a severe frost the same effect is continued bv the 

 formation of ice, every twig bearing at times an inch, or 

 even two inches, of frozen moisture extracted from the 

 air. When this is dislodged and falls under the influence 

 of the morning sun a very beautiful effect is produced, 

 and one which, once seen, is not easily forgotten. In 

 connection wdth this it is very noticeable how far from 

 any town smoke products are present in the air, which 

 now become visible by a black deposit in the ice. The 

 same deposit is found to be present on the leaves of trees, 

 for instance, in shooting through a cover of young larch 

 which, even on the top of the Cotteswold Hills above 

 Cheltenham, will quite blacken the hands and clothes. 



By the kindness of Mr J. G. Symons, I am able to 

 show you a rainfall map for the British Isles. This was 

 constructed 30 years ago, and was published with the 

 sixth report of the Rivers Pollution Committee, and is 

 the one which is reduced in Huxley's '' Physiographv." 

 Mr Symons, in sending it to me, whites that of course he 

 could do a better now, but that he cannot get the time. 

 You will see that the only details given for this countv 

 are a rainfall from 25 to 30 inches over the whole county, 

 except the Cotteswold district, &c., where it is given as 

 30 to 40 inches. On such a small scale map, further 

 niceties cannot perhaps be easily shown, but bearing in 

 mind that the key to the amount of rainfall is the physical 

 configuration of the land in relation to the direction of 

 the rain-bearing winds, you will see that the mountains of 

 Ireland, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland, dispose of all the 

 heavier rains ; and that not more than from 35 to 40 inches 

 reaches our coast, if I may use the expression (the S.W. 

 boundary of the county). This maximum gradually thins 



