TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 207 



second dry region in the peninsula of India, comprising part of the Deccan, the 

 Maidan or open country of Mysore, and several distiicts of the Madras Presidency. 

 There are exceptionally moi.*t places^within its limits, such as Bangalore, whicli, 

 being situated 3000 feet above the sea, has somewhat more than thirty inches rain ; 

 but upon the whole, and excluding hills, which rise considerably above the table- 

 land of South India, this belt, which stretches from Nassick in the north to Cape 

 Comorin in the south, has a normal rainfall of less than thirty inches. This belt 

 includes Poona, Bellary, and Kurnool in the north, and Madura and Tinuevelh' in 

 the south. Over a great part of it is found the sandal-wood (Sa7ifali(in alhinn), a 

 small tree with fragrant heart wood, which comes up here and there in bushes and 

 hedges, but does not gi-ow gregariously and does not form pure forests. The moist 

 tracts of country, with a normal rainfall exceeding seventy-five inches, are two. 

 One is a nan-ow belt on the western coast, extending from Bombay in the north to 

 Trevandrum in |the south, and comprising the whole country below Ghat, and a 

 narrow strip above Ghat, the latter varying in width at different places, but often 

 only a few miles wide, although the fall on the crest of the Ghats is in places as 

 heavj' as 250 inches. The other moist region is much larger ; it comprises the outer 

 hills of the Himalaya range from Kangra to Assam, gradually increasing in width 

 from a narrow belt twenty to thirty miles wide in the north-west Himalaya, and 

 includes the whole of Eastern Bengal and Burma. The vegetation within these 

 two tracts of moist country is exceedingly luxuriant and varied. The teak-forests 

 {Tectona ffrandis) of Burma, Canara, the W^Tiaad and the Anamallays, the ever- 

 green forests of Burma, Eastern Bengal and the western Ghats, and the extremely 

 vaiied forest vegetation of the outer Himalayan ranges belong to this region. The 

 greater part of Central and a large portion of Northern India belongs to what may 

 be called the intermediate region, with a rainfall between thirty and seventy-five 

 inches. The extensive sal-forests (Shorea rohtista) of the sub-Himalayan tract and 

 of Central India are found in the moister parts of this region. Where the rainfall 

 exceeds forty inches, forest vegetation is fairly luxuriant ; but the gTeat drawback 

 in this, as in most parts of India, is the circumstance that the rainfall is not equally 

 distributed over the year, but limited to the rainy season, which ^•aries in length 

 from two to six months. The year thus, in most parts of India, divides itself into 

 two seasons, the dry season and the rainy ; and the dry season is generally the 

 longer of the two. Dews and rare showers keep the grass and leases in the forest 

 fairly moist until January or February ; after that time they dry up rapidly, and by 

 March and April every thing is so dry that the smallest spark is sufficient to set it 

 on fire. Hence the jungle-tires are an annually occurring institution in a great 

 part of the country, and they do much to keep back forest vegetation. Successful 

 attempts have, however, been made within the last six years to keep out fires in 

 some of the more valuable forests, and the effect on the growth of the forest has 

 been marvellous. In the Himalaya range moisture gradually decreases as we pro- 

 ceed inland, until a country is reached almost without rainfall, and with very little 

 spontaneous arborescent vegetation. In the intermediate country, with a moderate 

 supply of moisture, is the greater part of the Deodar forests ( Cedrvs Deodara), 

 which furnish the north-west of India with timber. Here, as elsewhere, the 

 influence of moisture on the rate of growth is remarkable. In the outer ranges, 

 with a rainfall of sixty to eighty inches, the Deodar attains a diameter of two feet 

 in from sixty to eighty years ; further inland, in the dry region, at the same eleva- 

 tion, from 150 to 200 years are required to form the same quantity of wood. 



On ilie Desiccaiwn of Sout7i Africa. By Dr. J". C. Beowk. 



Hemarls on iJie Deep-ivaicr Temi'xraiure of Lochs Lomond, Kaln'ne, and Tay, 

 Bif Alexander UucnAN, F.R.S.E., Secretary of the Scottish Meteoroloyical 

 Society. 



In two communications made bv Sir Eobert Christison to the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh in December and April last, on the deep-water temperatm-e of Loch 



15* 



