xxviii INTRODUCTION. 
comparing the rainfalls of two spots in Kerry less than five 
miles apart but differing in elevation by 1,664 fees. Between 
the years 1883 and 1906 inclusive, records for 15 years are 
available, and it appears from them that the fall on Mangerton 
varied between a minimum of 63 inches in 1887, and a maxi 
mum of 140.9 in 1903, while the falls at Woodlawn in the 
corresponding years were 45.43 and 64.64 inches respectively. 
For these fifteen years the annual average for Mangerton was 
97.40 and for Woodlawn 56.23, both these stations lying on 
the same side of the mountain. f 
The wettest lowland localities in Kerry, however, for which 
reliable records are available are Gearhameen near the southern 
extremity of the Upper Lake, Killarney, 75 feet above sea 
level, where records for seventeen years give an average rain- 
fall of 87.36 inches, and Lickeen near the southern extremity 
of Caragh Lake where Admiral Jeffry records an annual average 
of 77.39 inches for a period of seven years, the gauge here being 
60 feet above sea-level ; these two localities appear to be the 
wettest lowland spots known not only in Kerry but in the 
whole of Ireland. Next to these come Derreen on the southern 
shore of Kenmare Bay, nearly opposite Parknasilla, 74 feet 
above sea level, with an average for twenty-five years of 68.68, 
and Dingle, situated near the south-western corner of the 
Dingle peninsula, 20 feet above sea level, with 57.86 for nine 
years, closely followed by Valencia with 56.74, and Killarney 
with 54.90, both the latter records being for a period of 
twenty-five years. 
Tralee, which lies about two miles inland, with 42.69 inches, 
and Ballyheige, situated on the bay of the same name, with 
36.84 for periods of six years, appear to show that the low- 
lying north of the county is appreciably drier than the south; 
it is unfortunate, however, that these records should extend 
over so short a period and that further data from this 
portion of Kerry are not available, the large districts of 
Castleisland, Ardfert, Listowel, Tarbert, &c., being apparently 
without observers. 
In the following comparative tables, average annual rainfalls 
are given, first from various localities in Kerry, next from the 
wettest known spots along the west coast, followed by five 
records from the east side of Ireland, three of them lowland 
and two mountain, for comparison with Mangerton in Kerry. 
All the figures are taken from Symons’s British Rainfall, 
1852-1906 inclusive, except those for Lickeen for which the 
years are from 1907, when these records were begun, to 1913, 
both inclusive. 
