288 INDIAN METEOROLOGY. 



stations. As, however, several of the distant observatories com- 

 municated very slowly with Calcutta, the charts compiled from these 

 giving the isobars, isotherms, wind direction, and rainfall were neces- 

 sarily often a fortnight in arrear. But as a step towards the trans- 

 mission of weather reports daily by telegraph, and the eventual 

 publication of weather probabilities, the new departure was important. 

 It also enabled the reporter to exercise a continuous and most useful 

 supervision over the daily work of each observer. 



Altogether, on the 31st March 1878, there were 103 observatories 

 at work in India and its dependencies (excluding Ceylon), and one 

 in the Persian Gulf. All, except the private observatories, were 

 furnished with barometers and thermometers, carefully verified and 

 adjusted to those of the well-known standards in India or in 

 Europe, and the elevations of by far the greater number of the 

 barometers had been ascertained with great accuracy, while the 

 preparation by the central office of the daily charts from the postal 

 returns was already beginning to throw light on the connexion 

 between the seasonal and daily atmospheric changes over the whole 

 of India. 



Besides the General Report on the Meteorology of India for 1876, 

 and Part II. of the Indian Meteorologist's Vade Mecum, Part II. 

 of the Indian Meteorological Memoirs was issued, containing the 

 following papers : — 



1. Storms in Bengal in 1876, with increased atmospheric pressure. 



By J. Eliot, M.A. 



2. On the rainfall of Benares in relation to the prevailing winds. 



By S. A. Hill, B.Sc. 



3. On the diurnal variation of the barometer at Calcutta and 



Hazaribagh. By H. F. Blanford. 



Mr. Blanford also drew up from all the accessible records a 

 catalogue of the cyclones of the Bay of Bengal. This was com- 

 municated to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



A system of issuing daily reports of the weather in all parts of 

 India was set on foot experimentally by Mr. Eliot on the 15th June 

 1^7^ the observations recorded at 10 a.m. being telegraphed to 

 Simla. To facilitate the transmission of these reports, a special 

 telegraphic code was devised by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Pedler, which 

 gave the whole of the requisite information in sis words. 



This system was found so satisfactory that it was determined to 

 extend it to all observatories having telegraphic communication, 



