38() SITES FOR CHINCHONA-PLANTATIONS : Chap. XXIII. 



From the 1st of June to the 31st of December is the dry 

 season in the "red-bark" region, when the days are usually 

 sunny in the early morning, and mists generally begin to form 

 as the sun declines ; while after the autumnal equinox there 

 are heavy rains and thunder-storms. In the wet season the 

 early part of the day is foggy, and there is heavy continuous 

 rain dimng the afternoons and nights. In the region of C. Cali- 

 saya, from 13° to 16° S, lat., and from 4000 to 6000 feet above 

 the sea, the dry season lasts from April to the end of August. 

 April and August are showery months. May is also showery, 

 but clear in the forenoons, and the mean temperature during 

 the first half is 69°, mean maximum 71^°, and mean minimum 

 62 j°. June and July are hot dry months, with little rain, a 

 bright hot sun in the day, but cold clear nights. In September 

 the rains begin, increase in October, and pour down incessantly 

 from the beginning of November to the middle of March, 

 with very hot, damp days and nights. We have no detailed 

 information respecting the region of C. micrantha and O. 

 Peruviana, species which flourish in 10° S. lat., from 4000 to 

 5500 feet above the sea. From May to November the sun 

 shines powerfully, yet heavy rains fell from day to day in 

 June and July 1860, and it was not until August that tlie 

 days were clear and bright. At Casapi, in this region, where 

 a register was kept, it rained during half the days in the 

 year.^ From November to May is the rainy season, and 

 sometimes the rain pours down for six or seven days without 

 intermission.* 



The Neddiwuttum site, being about 8° or 10° warmer than 

 Ootacamund, has a temperature exactly similar to that of the 

 forests where the above species of chinchonaj flom-ish. Its 

 elevation above the sea is also the same as that of the chin- 

 chona forests. It is true that Mr. Spruce gives the extreme 



3 Smyth's Journey from Lima to I ■* Dr. A. Smith's Fern as It Is, ii. 

 Para, p. ll.'j. | p. 57. 



