292 INDIAN METEOROLOGY. 



A system of storm-warning, by means of telegraphic report to 

 Bombay from seven stations on the west and three stations on the 

 east coast, was brought into operation on the 13th June, the inclu- 

 sion of eastern stations being rendered necessary, as it was known 

 that the storms which are felt on the west coast of India originate 

 in many cases over the Bay of Bengal. In Bengal an improvement 

 in the provincial system of reports was introduced by Mr. Eliot, the 

 number of stations sending daily telegrams to Calcutta being increased 

 from 7 to 15. All with the exception of Dacca were situated on the 

 coasts of the Bay of Bengal. Arrangements were also made for 

 lithographing the Calcutta daily reports and issuing them about 

 3 p.m. to the port authorities, the chamber of commerce, merchants, 

 and newspapers. The reports were accompanied by a lithographed 

 chart of the Bay of Bengal. 



The observations of the temperature of the ground at Alipore, at 

 the surface, and at depths of 1 foot and 3 feet respectively, disclosed 

 the fact that the mean annual temperature of the ground was not 

 less than 5° in excess of that of the air. These observations also 

 showed that the ground acts as a reservoir of the heat received from 

 the sun, which it stores up and slowly gives forth to the atmosphere. 

 Subsequent research showed that the ground temperature is subject 

 to slow but not inconsiderable fluctuations, which depend evidently 

 much more on the rainfall than on any variation in the radiant 

 intensity of the sun. The importance of these deductions, from an 

 agricultural point of view, led to the institution of similar observa- 

 tions at Allahabad. 



The remaining portion of the observations extracted from the 

 meteorological logs in the possession of the London office was 

 received in 1880-81. It consisted of all the observations recorded 

 in Indian seas north of the equator, between East longitude 50° 

 and 100° up to the end of the year 1878, and the data were reduced, 

 corrected, and tabulated according to the months and squares of 

 1 latitude and longitude, and arranged in 154 data books, one for 

 each 10° square in each month. The discussion of this large 

 mass of material therefore now became possible, and was eventually 

 undertaken by a special officer, Mr. Dallas, who had been trained in 

 the London Meteorological Office, and was appointed, partly for this 

 purpose, in 1882. 



Part IV. of the Indian Meteorological Memoirs was published 

 during the year. It contained a paper by Mr. F. Chambers on the 

 winds of Karachi, being a discussion of three years anemographic 



