REMAEKS ON THE METEOEOLOGY OF 1865. 



The year was remarkable for extremes, except in minimum temperature, 

 which did not fall below 25" at Truro and Bodmin ; at Altarnun it fell to 12" 

 on 2nd January. The mean temperature of March was more than 5" below 

 the average ; that of April about 6" above it. Two periods of perhaps unpre- 

 cedented di'yness occurred, — in June there was no rain at all from the 2nd to 

 the 28th, and again in September there was scarcely any fall until the 27th. 

 On the other hand the rainfall in October was the greatest recorded for that 

 month during the twenty-seven years over which our register extends. It 

 will be seen from the table of comparative rainfall, that in Scilly and at 

 Helston the month of September was still more exceptionally dry, rain hav- 

 ing fallen only twice at the former station, and only once at the latter. 



In Devonshire, at fifteen stations out of forty-two included in Mr. 

 Symons's record, no rain whatever fell in September, and less than -10 inch 

 at twenty-five other stations. 



The rainfall in January, February, July, August, and October so much 

 exceeded the average as to more than counterbalance the relative and 

 strongly marked deficiency of April, June, and September ; and the total 

 excess in the year was nearly 8 inches at Helston and Truro, and about 4^ 

 inches at Bodmin. This difference was marked at least as strongly at the 

 stations of least rainfall, Scilly and Newquay. 



It may be noticed that the nmnber of days on which rain fell hardly 

 exceeded the average at Helston, and fell below it at Truro and Bodmin, and 

 consequently that the showers must have been more than commonly heavy. 



The ultimate supply of water to the land from such heavy floods, especi- 

 ally those of winter, is not, however, at all equivalent to the distribution of 

 a like amount of rain in a gentle and gradual way. In a hilly country, like 

 Cornwall, the streams are swollen, rather than the springs, by such down- 

 pouring torrents. 



The principal elements necessary, in addition to the rainfall, to a com- 

 plete and accurate estimate of the iDOsitive and comparative drjTiess and 

 fineness of the Summer months of 1865, are given in the following table, 

 which includes those months in the calculation of averages : — 



It will be remarked that the two months of June and September are 

 equally conspicuous for the large eicess of sunshine and of di-y hours above 



