March, 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



109 



The amount of bright sunshine did not vary much from the 

 average except in Scotland E. and England N.E., where it was 

 nearly twice as much as usual. Crathes reported 27-1 hours 

 or 54 per cent. At Westminster the duration was only 0-2 

 hours for the week. The temperature of the sea-water 

 varied from 38' at Cromarty to 48^ at Plymouth and Seilby. 



The weeli ended January 28th was warm, 

 and at each of the stations included in the 

 \Veel<ly \\'eather Report the mean was in 

 excess of the average. Maxima of 50' or 

 upwards were reported from all districts, 

 the highest being 59° at Killarney on the 

 25th. The lowest of the minima were 

 25° at Shields and 26' at Kilkenny and 

 Hereford. On the grass readings down 

 to 20' at Tunbridge Wells and 21" at 

 Dublin (Trinity College) were reported. 

 Rainfall was scanty in most districts, very 

 much so in some. In the Midlands the 

 total Idistrict) fall was only 0-04 inch, as 

 compared with an average of 0-50 inch. 

 .\t several stations the week was rainless. 

 In Scotland the fall was heavier, though 

 still below the average. Bright sunshine was 

 also below the average, except in Ireland S. 

 and England S.E. In Scotland E. the 

 deficiency was large, and in this district the 

 highest amount at any station was only 

 3-S hours (7%) at Nairn. The sunniest 

 station was Dublin, with 18-7 hours {32%). 

 .\t Westminster the amount was 5 • 3 hours 

 (9%). The sea temperature round our 

 coasts ranged from 36° at Cromarty, to 49' at Scilly. 



The week ended February 4th contrasted strongly with 

 that which had preceded it, being 

 much colder and with much more 

 sunshine. Except in Scotland N., 

 the temperature was below the average 

 in all districts, and in England S.E. the 

 mean value was only 34" -7, as com- 

 pared with 41" -4 in the previous week. 

 The highest reading reported during the 

 week was 51' at Colmonell, Killarney 

 and \'alencia. In the Midlands and 

 England N.W., the maxinmm did not 

 exceed 46 . The minima fell to 11" at 

 Balmoral and to 13" at Llangammarch 

 Wells, while the thermometer, exposed 

 on the grass registered as low as 1' at 

 Llangammarch and 6' at Birmingham. 

 Rainfall was scanty ; indeed over a 

 large part of the Kingdom the week 

 was rainless, but sunshine was abim- 

 dant for the time of year, and was in 

 excess of the average in all districts. 

 The highest amounts for the week 

 were 35-6 hours (57%) recorded at 

 Hastings, and 35-4 hours (55".) at 

 St. Heliers. Jersey. At Westminster 

 the total duration was 12-2 hours 

 (20%). The temperature of the sea-water 

 it may be added ranged from 36" at Eastbourne to 48' at Scilly. 



The week ended February 11th was cool, cloudy and very 

 dry. Temperature was slightly above the average in Scotland 

 N., but below it in all other districts. The highest reading 

 was 53' at Killarney on the 11th, but as a rule the ma.xima 

 were below 50' ; in England N.E. and E. the highest was only 

 45'. The lowest reading was 11' at Balmoral, also on the 

 11th. At quite a number of stations the maximum and the 

 minimum were both recorded on the same day. The lowest 

 reading recorded on the grass was 8' at Balmoral. Rainfall 

 was below the average e\er\'where. and in the English Channel 

 less than one-twentieth of the normal amount was reported. 

 Even in Scotland N. the total collected was only one-sixth 

 of the average. Sunshine was deficient generally, though in 

 Scotland N. and in Ireland it was slightly in excess. Valencia, 



Figure 1. 

 A single Rotifer, feeding. 



in Co. Kerry, reported the largest amount, 21-0 hours (33%) 

 and Deerness, in Orkney, had the next highest amount with 

 18-6 hours (32%). Westminster reported 5 ■ 9 hours (9%). The 

 sea temperature varied from 36" at Cromarty to 47' at Scilly. 



INVESTIGATION OF THE UPPER AIR.— On January 

 17th, a balloon from Pyrton Hill reached 

 ,in altitude of fifteen thousand metres, at 

 which height the temperature registered was 

 J 10° absolute scale. At thirteen thousand 

 metres, however, the temperature v.as only 

 202' absolute, or— 96' F., which is the 

 lowest temperature recorded in the British 

 Isles up to the present time. 



The record of a kite ascent at Pyrton 

 Hill, on January 26th, showed a sharp 

 inversion of temperature at a height of nine 

 hundred metres, and while at five hundred 

 metres the humidity was 100 per cent. 

 I saturation), at a thousand metres it was 

 only 30 per cent. The cloud level was not 

 reached on this day at a thousand metres. 



MICROSCOPY. 



By A. W. Shepp.\rd, F.R.M.S., 



K-itli tin' assistance of the following 

 niicroscopists : — 



Akihlr C. Bankield : jAMts Bl rton ; The Rev. 

 E. \V. BowELL, M.A. ; Charles H. Caffyn ; .\rthur 

 Earland, F.R. M.S. ; Richard T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. ; 

 Chas. F. Rousselet, F.R.M.S.; D. J. Scoureield, 

 F.Z.S., F.R.M.S. ; C. D. Soar, F.R.M.S. 



RED -SNOW. — Red-Snow, Gory-Dew, Bloody-Rain, and 

 such-like names show that phenomena of this class appeal to 

 the popular imagination. When some 

 rapidly-increasing organism suddenly 

 produces a blood-red pool on the 

 ground, the simple-minded observer 

 ma\' readily suppose that it has come 

 down as rain, and in superstitious 

 countries and times there is fine scope 

 for connecting the appearance with 

 tragic or momentous events, the ven- 

 geance of heaven, and what not. 



Even the scientific naturalist feels 



his imagination excited as he reads of 



'Crimson Cliffs" 



commonly credited 

 of red-snow, in the 



Figure 2. 

 luster of Antarctic Red Rotifers. 

 (Pliilodina grcgariaJ 



Sir John Ross's 

 extending for miles. 

 De Saussure is 

 with the discovery 



course of his pioneer journeyings among 

 the .Alps, in the eighteenth century, but 

 according to Schmarda (1845) the 

 phenomenon was known to the ancients, 

 and is mentioned by Aristotle (Hist. 

 .Animal, v., 12). In the nineteenth 

 century there were numerous records 

 of red-snow, and there is now quite an 

 extensive literature of the subject. Ross 

 appears to have been the first to find 

 red-snow in the Polar regions, and he 

 brought samples of it from the Crimson Chffs of Greenland. 

 De Candolle (1824) compared the .Arctic and Alpine red- 

 snows, and declared them to be identical. 



Red-snow has been found all over the world in suitable 

 localities, but it does not appear to be of general occurrence 

 in snowy regions. Darwin saw it in the Cordillera, but 

 Hooker never saw it, either on his Antarctic voyage or in the 

 Himalayas. Friends whom I have asked about it saw 

 none on the snowy mountains of Norway and Switzerland. 

 According to some accounts it appears to be most plentiful in 

 the North Polar region, where it is reported from Spitsbergen. 

 Scandinavia, Siberia, and so on. It is recorded also for the 

 .Alps. Pyrenees, Carpathians and Ural Mountains, the Sierra 

 Nevada in CaUfornia, Chili and Ecuador, in South America, 

 and so on. 



