264 



NATURE 



[November 5, 1914 



discussed under six separate elements. The climato- 

 logical conditions are dominated by the N.E. monsoon 

 (December-March) and the S.W. monsoon (June- 

 September). The author points out that the tempera- 

 ture is very regular, there being only a difference of 

 a few degrees between the means of the hottest and 

 coldest months. The absolute maximum and mini- 

 mum quoted during 1910-12 at six selected stations 

 are 98-6° (in April) and 59° (in August), both 

 recorded at I3rava. The rainfall reaches its maximum 

 values in April and November ; the first rainy period 

 is followed by falls of decreasing intensity and fre- 

 quency in the coastal districts, and the second period 

 by very scanty falls in the interior and extreme dryness 

 on the coast. The largest yearly mean quoted is 

 30-1 in. (on lifty-two days) at Balad, and the smallest, 

 10-6 in. (on thirty-three da)'s) at Giumbo. Generally 

 speaking, rain falls in eight months on the coast and 

 ten months in the inland districts. 



The Bulletin of the Italian Royal Geographical 

 Society for August contains a useful contribution to 

 the climatology of Ethiopia by Dr. Eredia and Dr. 

 De Castro. The results are chiefly based on observa- 

 tions made partly at Addis-Abeba and partly at Addis- 

 Alem, from November, 1901, to June, 191 1, excepting 

 between July, 1904, and April, 1905, with instruments 

 supplied by the Italian Meteorological Office. Monthly 

 results for each year are given for temperature and 

 rainfall, and in a less comr lete way for humidity and 

 wind-direction. The menn annual temperature is 

 62-1°; highest mean monthly maximum, 801 (May); 

 lowest mean minimum, 42-8° (Decerrber) ; absolute 

 maximum, 100-4° (September) ; absolute minimum, 

 320° (December). The annual rainfall is 477 in., on 

 148 days. The authors' division and description of the 

 seasons give a good genera' idea of the climate : 

 winter (October-December), low temperature and 

 scarcity of rain; spring (January and February), 

 moderate temperature and relatively small rainfall; 

 summer (March-June), high temperature and rela- 

 tivelv large rainfall ; autumn (July-September), 

 moderate temperature and abundrmce of rain. The 

 division of the 3'ear into seasons by the natives is 

 essentially based'on the occurrence of rainfall periods. 



An article by Prof. Karl Dov.*. on the climate of 

 German South-west Africa, was contributed to Himmel 

 und Erde of December, 19, 1913. The protectorate 

 extends from 17° to 29° S. latitude, but its position 

 on the west side of the continent greatly modifies its 

 climatological features, as compared v ith those on 

 the eastern shore. Near the coast the cold water of 

 the Benguella drift-current reduces the temperature 

 considerably; but the inland parts owe their relatively 

 low temperature to their great elevation abf)ve the sea. 

 The annual range is very regular, and the approach of 

 summer or winter has little interest for the inhabitants 

 compared with the date, duration, and ;; mount of 

 rainfall. The heavier falls mostly occur between 

 January and March; irrespective of small variations, 

 Prof. Dove states that, with the exception of the 

 extreme south, six- to seven-tenths of the year's rain- 

 fall may be referred to those three months. In large 

 tracts of the western zone the annual fall does not 

 exceed eight inches, and In some years little or no 

 rain falls, not only in the coastal districts, but also 

 in the interior of the country. 



A very interesting and useful work on the • imate, 

 typhoons, and earthquakes of Formosa, with tables 

 and diagrams, has recently been issued by the Govern- 

 ment-General of that island. The meteorological 

 service was organised in 1906 under an Imperial 

 Japanese ordinance ; observations are made at ordinary 

 stations, lighthouses and rainfall stations, and the 

 work is carried on almost entirely at Government 

 expense. The central observatory at Taihoku receives 

 NO. 2349, VOL. 94] 



and discusses all observations and also receives a 

 number of telegrams and issues weather forecasts and 

 storm-warnings for the whole island. The climate is 

 subtropical, and may be divided into two seasons ; 

 the seven months April to October may be regarded 

 as summer, and the five months November to March 

 as winter. Throughout the island the mean monthly 

 temperature rises to 68° F. in April ; from June to 

 September it ranges between 79° and 82°. The 

 highest readings reach about 95°, and in rare cases 

 exceed 98°. In winter the variations between the 

 north and south of the island become more apparent ; 

 in February, the coolest month, the mean is about 

 58° in the north, and 68° in the south. The lowest 

 readings in the north do not usually fall below 41°, 

 and in the south not below 496°. In winter the 

 N.E. monsoon brings rain to the northern parts, and 

 in summer the S.W. monsoon and thunderstorms 

 bring abundant rain to the south ; the island, there- 

 fore, possesses two rainy seasons, each differing in 

 time and place. Formosa lies in the highway of 

 typhoons, and is often visited by those destructive 

 storms; during seventeen A-ears (1897-1913) thirty re- 

 markable storms occurred during the months June to 

 October. Earthquakes are also frequent ; all the 

 ordinary observing stations are supplied with seismo- 

 graphs, and shocks are recorded somewhere in the 

 island about every day and a half. The most violent 

 earthquakes are generally in the south-west, and 

 occasionally cause disastrous damage. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 

 T^HE eighth volume, comprising 533 pages of text, 

 -*- of the Boletin do Museu Goeldi {Miiseu 

 Paraense) is devoted to a catalogue of the birds of 

 Amazonia — Catalogo das Aves Ama^onicas — by Dr. E. 

 Snethlage. The author, who joined the staff of the 

 museum at Para in 1905, commenced work on this 

 catalogue very soon after his arrival, and devoted to 

 it a large portion of his time during the following 

 half-dozen years. Fortunately, the collection of bird- 

 skins in the museum — some 10,000 in number — is 

 sufficiently comprehensive to have enabled him to 

 accomplish his task on a thoroughly scientific and 

 first-hand basis. The result is a work which forms 

 a worthy companion to Dr. Ridgway's "Birds of 

 North and Middle America," albeit in an absolutely 

 and relatively smaller compass. The author is, 

 indeed, to be congratulated on the conciseness of the 

 generic and specific diagnosis and the clearness of 

 the "keys." 



In connection with the above may be noticed the 

 concluding portion of Mr. R. Dabbene's distributional 

 list of Argentine birds, which appears in No. 6 of 

 the first volume of the Boletin de la Sociedad Physis, 

 Buenos Aires. The author recognises a total of 324 

 species. In Dr. Snethlage 's catalogue the species are 

 not numbered. * 



In an editorial article in the August issue of Wild 

 Life it is stated that the Paris Committee of Economic 

 Ornithology has been discussing a scheme for breed- 

 ing white egrets in the marshes of Corsica, and also 

 for rearing these and other birds with valuable 

 plumage in Tunis. In the latter country the idea is 

 that the Government should offer stock-birds on easy 

 terms to the colonists, such birds to remain Govern- 

 ment property, but the resulting offspring to belong 

 to the breeders. The same issue contains two beauti- 

 fully illustrated articles on Spanish heronries, where 

 white egrets, night-herons, and other allied species 

 breed in large colonies. 



The July number of The Emu contains coloured 

 illustrations of two species of parrots from Northern 

 Queensland, severally representing genera unknown 



