Trausactions. {i 
as applying to the temperature of the Solway rather than of the 
estuary ; the width of the estuary at the point being more than 
two miles, so that the water of the river must bear a very small 
proportion to that of the sea with which it mingled. The obser- 
vations in this case were taken daily for a whole year, from Ist 
August, 1889, to 3lst J uly, 1890. The means for the year of 
air and water were precisely the same—50:3 degrees. There 
were seven months in which the mean temperature of the water 
exceeded that of the air, viz., August, September, October, 
November, December, February, and July. The olservations of 
the Nith estuary, taken at Kingholm Quay, showed that there 
were two months out of the ten over which they extended in 
which the mean temperature of the water was higher than that 
of the air; and if June had been included he had little doubt 
there would have been three. In the case of the rivers the 
temperature of the water did not rise above that of the air in 
any month. Of the seven months in which this occurred in the 
Little Ross observations, the most considerable excess was in 
October, November, December, and February, when it ranged 
from 2-2 degrees to 2-9 degrees. The conclusion he was led to 
form was that the Solway Firth had a higher relative tempera- 
ture than that of the rivers which flow into it—a fact which 
might probably be explained partly by the influence of the Gulf 
Stream, and partly by the much larger body of water represented 
by the Solway, which secured greater uniformity of temperature 
throughout the year. A table of seasonal variations for the 
rivers and Solway brought out the following results :—Spring 
Quarter (including March, April, and May)—Nith, 47-8 degrees ; 
Dee, 50-9 degrees ; Solway, 47 degrees. Summer Quarter (June, 
July, and August)—Nith, 60:2 degrees; Dee, 61:1 degrees ; 
Solway, 57:5 degrees, Autumn Quarter (September, October, 
and November)—Nith, 47:1 degrees; Dee, 49-8 degrees; Sol- 
way, 531 degrees. Winter Quarter (December, January, and 
February)—Nith, 38-9 degrees ; Dee, 40-2 degrees ; Solway, 43:5 
degrees. It thus appeared that, while in spring and summer the 
waters of the Solway had a lower temperature than that of the 
rivers, the reverse held good in the autumn and winter. This 
seemed to dispose of the idea that the higher relative tempera- 
ture of the Solway was caused by the flowing of the tide over 
the sands left bare at ebb and heated by the sun, In that case 
