372 



REPORT — 1864, 



and 1863 was 111 inches — a difference in the one case the reverse of the 

 other; in the one case of 17 inches excess in 1860, the other 41 inches 

 excess in 1863 ; yet the general average throughout the country remains 

 nearly constant ; it is in fact a similar compensation in yearty totals to that 

 which has prevailed during the drought now so much felt in the south of 

 England at the very time that the north-west of Scotland has been suffering 

 from want of dry weather. 



It is further evident, from even a cursory examination of the Table of 

 average fall, that there has been a series of three dry years in the Midland 

 Counties of England, just as there has been a series of three wet ones in 

 Ireland and along the west coast of Scotland. 



The drought at stations in the North Midland Counties has been even more 

 felt than is warranted by the small fall in 1863, because the ground lias 

 had no chance of resuming its normal condition since the partial drought in 

 1861. The minimum recorded fall is 14-46 in 1863 at SouthAvell, Nottingham- 

 shire, in which district seven stations return less than 17 inches; on the 

 other hand the maximum of 1863, 173-84 at Seathwaite, is supported by 

 173 inches at Drishaig, by Dalmally, and by six other stations with an 

 annual fall between 100 and 150 inches. 



The fall in different districts, and the difference between the fall in the 

 years 1862 and 1863, are shown by the accompanying map, similar in scale 

 and design to the one published with the last lieport, and in many respects 

 evidencing the same equipoise, if it may so be termed, as in the years 1860 

 and 1861. In this map, as in the previous one, we find the lighter disks 

 larger than the dark in the greater part of England, Eastern Scotland, and 

 most parts of Ireland ; that is to say, the earlier year wetter than the later, 

 1862 wetter than 1863, just as 1860 was wetter than 1861 ; the differences 

 between the two years (shown by the breadth of the annulus) was less than 

 in the previous case, and in one instance (Alderbury), vanished entirely. 

 The English Lakes, North Wales, and "West Scotland had their heaviest fall 

 in the other year, 1863, just as they had previously in 1861 ; thus, as before 

 stated, seeming to suggest a species of compensation. 



In these Tables the arrangement is primarily into counties, the stations in 

 each county being in the order of latitude from S. to N. The counties are 

 grouped similarly with the classification of the Registrars-General of England 

 and Scotland, as explained on p. 294 of the previous Report. It should be 

 mentioned that the following Tables do not contain all the observations re- 

 ceived by Mr. Symons ; persons requiring]further information should apply to 

 him at 136 Camden Road, N.W., London. 



Table I. — Comparison of the Rainfall in the four years 1860, 186], 1862, 

 and 1863, with the average of the ten years 1850-59. 



