566 



REPORT — 1897. 



Mean Rainfall and Number of Days on which at least O'Ol inch of Rain fell at 

 Ten Stations in the British Empire, and Extremes at Twelve Stations. 



Mean and Extreme Yearly Rainfall, and Number of Days of Rain at Ten 

 Stations in the British Empire for Tiventy Years, and at fioofor Ten Years. 



4. On the Temperature of Europe. By Dr. van Rijckevorsel. 



The material to -which the followiDg' remarks refer consists of a large number 

 of temperature curves deduced from observations at places scattered over the -whole 

 of Europe. They -were obtained by smoothing do-wn in the very simplest fashion 

 the mean temperature for each day of the year. On thro-wing even a passing 

 glance at those curves one is forcibly struck at once by two facts. 



The first is that the climate of Europe is divided betvpeen t-wo different types, 

 the one being the eastern type, prevailing in Russia and some part.s of adjacent 

 countries, the other the -western one, covering the rest of our continent. 



The second fact is that in each of these two large divisions all the curves are 

 strikingly similar. 



I think that the most interesting thing in those curves is, not their general 

 appearance, but the irregularities, the secondary maxima and minima. These may 



