248 TRANSACTIONS. 
Natural History, 38 Botany, 13 Natural Philosophy, 4 Meteorology. 
6 Travels, 43 Reports of Societies, and 57 Magazines, &e. 
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, &e. 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 and its Estuary 
jor the year ending 15th April, 1890. 
By Rev. 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 25th 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 24 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 
