INTRODUCTION. Xxxi 
teristic features ; in fact it would be difficult to find a better 
example than is given here of an insular as compared with a 
continental climate, which latter type may be epitomised as a 
cold winter, a hot summer and a small rainfall. 
As already stated, however, it is not so much the average 
range of the temperature that influences vegetation as the 
exceptional falls of the mercury occurring perhaps only at 
intervals of many years. Here also the consistent mildness of 
west Kerry is very well marked. The lowest temperature 
recorded at Valencia during the thirty years 1871 to 1900, 
was 20° F. during the winter of 1893-1894; it sank to 22° 
during the exceptionally cold winter of 1894-1895, the longest 
and one of the severest spells of cold known to the British Isles 
in recent years ; only on four other occasions during these 
thirty years did the temperature sink as low as 25°, namely— 
1873 to 25° 1886 to 24° 
1881 ,, 24° 1888 ,, 25° 
The protecting influence of the coast appears to diminish 
very considerably even a short distance inland. This is well 
seen when comparing the above minima with those registered 
by Archdeacon Wynn at Killarney, 35 miles east of Valencia, 
but less than 20 from the nearest sea at Dingle Bay ; here, 
between the years 1885 and 1900, the thermometer descended 
below 20° F. on several occasions, the lowest records being— 
15.3° on 18 Dec. 1886 14.5° on 12 Jan. 1892 
18.0° ,, 19 Dec. 1887 13.5° ,, 6 Jan. 1894 
16.8° ,, 6 Jan. 1891 15.0° ,, 5 Feb. 1895* 
No Kerry temperatures, however, at similar elevations, are 
known that can be compared with those recorded in the 
Pheenix Park, Dublin, where the mercury fell to 6.8° F. in 
1882, to 9.0° in 1894, while it again descended to 9.0° in Jan. 
1895 and to 8.0° in Feb. of the same year. 
Considering the excessive number of wet days registered at 
Valencia, an annual average of 244, the amount of bright 
sunshine recorded there is somewhat surprising, the yearly 
average for 20 years amounting to 1485.5 hours, or 34 p.c. 
* The winters of 1878-1879 and 1879-1880 were also exceptionally severe 
at Killarney. Skating took place on the Lower Lake for several days during 
both these winters, while woodcock and snipe were found dead in large 
numbers or were so weakened as to be easily killed by peasants with sticks. 
On the other hand plants and shrubs did not appear to suffer much, falls of 
snow effectually protecting them. 
