August iy, 1882] 



NATURE 



3^7 



tered during a certain year -. I tried to reduce the 

 difference o - M (Table II.) by applying to M a constant 

 correction, lor, and at the same time a correct. on ry 

 proportional to the respective relative number. The 

 equations of condition of the form — 



10 x + ry + o - M = o 

 are exhibited in Table I., the last column of which exhibits 

 the remaining errors, v, i.e. the difference between the 

 registered rainfall, o, and the calculated, C=M— iojr— yr, 

 after that the quantities x and/ had been obtained from 

 the equations of condition by solving them by aid of the 

 method of least squares. It will be remarked that v is 

 far s-.naller than o - M in Table I., the average of several 

 years, but the comparison from year to year, o — C as 

 exhibited in Table II., shows but a small decrease in the 

 differences. The result is — 



inches. inches. inches. inches. 



C = 34 435 + 0-04785 r = 37 254 + o 047S5 (>• - 58-91). 



Table I. 

 Years: 1800+ Equations of conditin. v. 



56,55.33 •■• i°->'+ 7'4^-3'35 = ° ••• -°'«9 



43,34,44 ... 10*+ 152., - i-&y = o ... +0-20 



54,57,42 ... IOJT+ 22"3>-2-87 = o .. -112 



45,41,53 ... ioa-+ 38-4j-o-23 = o ... +076 



63. 52. 58, 35 ••• 10 - v + 533> + °" 8 4=° - +i - " 



46,62,40 ... io-v+ 6oSj- 1 07 =0 ... -ri6 



51, 50, 61 ... iox+ 70'2j' + 404 = o ... +3-50 



39,59,60 ... io;r+ 89-51+252 = .. + ix>6 



49,47,38 ... 10. v-t- 99-0 y -1-99 = ... -391 



36,48,37 ... ioj + 127-0 7 + 3-71=0 ... +0-45 



Table II. 



Year. o-M. 



inches. 

 + 7-24 



1833 



■S34 

 1835 

 IS36 



'857 

 1838 

 1839 

 1840 

 1S4I 

 1842 

 'S43 

 1S44 

 1S45 

 1846 

 1S47 

 184S 



1849 

 1850 

 1851 

 1852 



>S53 

 1&54 

 1S55 

 1S56 

 1857 

 1858 

 1859 

 i860 

 186 1 

 1862 

 1863 



?J4 



'3'3 

 590 



"93 



104-1 

 83*4 



61 -8 



385 

 23 o 



'3' 



193 



38 3 

 59'6 

 97 4 

 1249 



95 '4 

 69S 

 632 

 527 

 38-5 



21'C 



77 



5' 



22 -9 

 562 

 903 

 94 -S 



77 7 

 61 o 



inches. 

 44*49 



36 50 



37 34 



41 '39 

 40-29 

 31 00 



33 92 

 3077 

 35-55 

 3325 

 3596 

 3303 

 4°'37 

 37'5» 

 3717 

 41-22 



37'63 

 3712 

 4025 



4572 

 35-1/ 

 3477 

 2936 



27^7 

 35"'4 



34 34 

 41-65 

 4374 

 4^52 

 4°" 23 

 3497 



-0-75 

 + C9 

 + 4''4 

 + 3 p 4 

 -6-25 



-3'33 



-0-48 

 -1-70 

 -4 00 

 - 1 29 

 -3-62 

 + 312 

 + 0-31 

 -o-oS 

 + 3 97 

 + o- 3 S 

 -0-13 

 + 3-00 

 + 8-47 

 -2-oS 

 -24S 

 -7-89 



-9-3S 

 -211 

 -291 

 + 4-40 

 + 6-49 

 + 9 27 

 + 2-98 

 -2 28 



+ 960 

 * 1-42 



+ 00S 



- - ' -'5 

 -0-70 

 -8-41 

 -4-50 

 -663 

 -0-73 

 -2 50 

 + 0-89 



-1 73 

 + 4-10 

 + 0-28 



- 1 92 

 + 0-81 



-''37 

 -0-65 



+ 2"7Q 



+ 875 



- I'll 



-0-&7 



-5"44 

 -6-Si 

 -0-40 

 -279 

 + 2-90 

 + 477 

 + 8-36 



+ 2'SS 



- 1'64 



iuches. inches. 



C = 46292 + 005946 (r - 5891). 



It should be remarked that the receiver of the guage is 

 placed on the top of the library, 16 feet above the ground 

 and 14S feet above mean sea-level. 1 have placed another 

 guage 6 inches above the ground and 1 10 feet above the 

 sea, as levelled from bench-mark on observatory wall, 

 and have taken precautions against evaporation from this 

 guage. By comparing the results from the two guages 

 during the last five years, I find that the rainfall registered 

 by aid of the upper guage must be multiplied by i 2426 

 in order to indicate the rainfall at 1 ic feet above sea. 

 The formula properly reduced is therefore — 



I am only too painfully conscious that this result has 

 been derived from insufficient data, but it might be inte- 

 resting to See whether it would be confirmed by a similar 

 discussion of a sufficiently extensive register kept at some 

 older observatory. 



The average monthly rainfalls are as follows : — 



inches. inches. 



July 3284 



August .. 3599 



September... 3-249 



October ... 3-881 



November... 3-530 



December ... 3-474 



Markree Observatory, July 17 W. DOBERCK 



THE NEW REPTILE HOUSE AT THE 

 ZOOLOGICAL SjCIETV'S GARDENS 

 'THE present Reptile House in the Zoological Society's 

 -l Gardens adjoining the Lecture Room, is an old 

 wooden building, which in the early days of the Society 

 was used for lions and tigers, and is now in a very bad 

 state of repair. Besides this it is much too small for the 

 present collection of reptiles. The cages which it con- 

 tains are always over full, while the tortoises are neces- 

 sarily lodged in a separate house, and the crocodiles are 

 kept in a building properly destined to contain sloths an'l 

 marsupials. Moreover, most of the compartments in the 

 present Reptile House are accessible only from the front, 

 which renders it inconvenient, not to say dangerous, tu 

 open them in the day-time, when the house is filled with 

 sightseers. Under these circumstances, the Council of 

 the Society have determined to construct an entirely new 

 building for the better accommodation of the reptiles at 

 the southern coiner of the Gardens, and having obtained 

 the necessary permission of H.M. First Commissioner 

 of Works, will commence operations immediately. 



The new Reptile House will be 120 feet long by 60 feet 

 in breadth, with a large porch and double entrance at the 

 front, and keepers' and workers' rooms in the rear. The 

 building will be of brick with corse-hill stone dressings, 

 the roof of iron, slated on the north slope, and provided 

 with ample skylights on the south slope. The house will 

 face due south. It will be fitted with fixed cages for the 

 rep iles on the north, east, and west, leaving the south 

 side («hich will be neatly entirely of glass), available for 

 movable ca^es (such as are now in use in the Insect 

 House), for the smaller and more delicate objects. There 

 will be a large oval pond for crocodiles in the centre of 

 the building, and two smaller circular ponds on each side 

 of it for other aquatic reptiles. The fixed cages, which 

 will be from thirty to forty in number, will be fronted 

 with plate-glass, and the only means of access to them 

 will be from the keeper's passage in the rear, so that 

 there will be no possibility of the animals escaping into 

 the space occupied by the public. 



The new Reptile House, will, it is expected, be com- 

 pleted and roofed in before Christmas, and as the hot- 

 water apparatus will be finished by the same date, it will 

 be possible to dry it thoroughly during the winter, so that 

 the teptiles may be moved into their new quarters early 

 in the ensuing summer. 



The designs for the new building have been drawn by 

 Mr. C. B. Trollope, and the contract for its erection has 

 been undertaken by Messrs. Hannen and Holland. 



The Society's collection of reptiles consists at present 

 of 57 tortoises. 10 crocodiles, 95 lizards, and 83 snakes. 

 Of the last-mentioned, 10 are large pythons and boas, and 

 14 belong to venomous species. Besides the reptiles there 

 are 56 Batrachians living in the Gardens, which for the 

 present at least, will be kept along with the reptiles. 



