ON THE RAINFALL IN THE BRITISH ISLES, 449 



might either be placed on au island, if free from trees, or float moored in the 

 centre of a pond or lake. If any observer can offer these conditions, I shall 

 gladly place the instruments at his service, as the expediency of con- 

 tinuing them in their present state seems doubtful." 



5. Additional Jlain-(/auffes in Derbi/shire. — The remarkable geological 

 formation of this beautiful county has specially marked it out as a field of 

 rainfall research ; some valuable but fragmentary observations were made by 

 Mr. Bateman on the rainfall in the neighboiu-hood of the Peak, and observa- 

 tions have long been taken at Combs Moss, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Woodhead, 

 and other stations in the ]S".W. of the county; from 17G1 to 1813 a very 

 regular record was kept at Chatsworth ; for a quarter of a century Mr. Davis 

 has been observing with great care at Derby, having been preceded in the 

 same town by Mr. Swanwick, wlio also observed for twenty-five years at the 

 beginning of the century. From this it may be inferred that the mean fall, 

 and the secular variation of annual fall, at certain points in the county are 

 pretty well determined ; but hitherto we have had httle or no information as 

 to the relative fall in different parts of the county, and specially in that most 

 interesting district which lies between Ambergate and Eowsley, having Mat- 

 lock for its centre. Cordially assisted by the Hon. and Rev. 0. AV. Forester, 

 the Eev. J. M. Mello, and Mr. Davis of Derby, we have the pleasui-e of 

 noticing considerable progress in the investigation of this question. There 

 are still deficiencies in some parts of the coiiutj^ which we purpose bringing 

 before the residents so as to render the cordon of stations complete. 



6. Additional Gaihges in the Lake-district. — The erection of any more 

 rain-gauges in the English Lakes may at first sight appear superfluous and 

 undesirable, but a little explanation -svill, we think, convince all that their 

 organization by Mr. Symons is a most important step in rainfall work. Up 

 to 1844 we believe no greater annual fall than 90 inches had been recorded 

 in any part of the British Isles. Dr. Miller, of AATiitehavcn, planted a gauge 

 at Ennerdale Lake in November 1843, and yearly increased and varied his 

 stations until the fall in the valleys of Wastdale and Borrowdale, and " Sea- 

 thwaite " and " The Stye," became with meteorologists as well known as 

 London or Dundee. In 1853 these were all discontinued, save those in 

 charge of Mr. Dixon at Seathwaite and the Stye. In 1864 Isaac Fletcher, 

 Esq., F.R.S., of Tarn Bank, reorganized the stations in these valleys, while 

 some of the other valleys were taken charge of by other observers ; this being 

 the condition of affairs in Cumberland, and Captain Mathew having at the same 

 time undertaken to investigate the fall of rain in the Snowdonian range, Mr. 

 Symons felt that this was an especially eligible time for examining if the 

 remarkable falls* so clearly proved to exist in the vicinity of ScawfeU extend 

 far therefrom ; and for this purpose he devoted nearly two months last autumn 

 to personally superintending the erection of gauges in parts of the Lake- 

 district far removed from the sites of the other gauges, out of the ordinary 

 routes of tourists, and, as some woiild have thought, out of the district of re- 

 markable rains. The results of these observations will be fully noticed in 

 our next Eeport. 



7. Percentage of Annucd Rain tvliich falls Monthly in different localities. — 

 Under the head of "Extraction and Classification of puhlished Records," we 

 have explained that all available returns of the fall of rain at any time, and 

 in any part of the British Isles, are being carefully collected. These returns 

 are tabulated on sheets, whereof a facsimile is appended to this Eex^ort, and 



* In 1866 the euormous fall of 225 inches was measured at the Stye. 

 1867. 2 H 



