682 DR HUGH ROBERT MILL ON THE 



mixture taking place with the water of the loch. Ice is very frequently formed on Loch 

 Fyne opposite Inveraray, but never, so far as I can ascertain, in the neighbourhood of 

 the rivers when these are unfrozen. While the surface water over all, and the bottom 

 water of the seaward portion, increased in salinity between November and December, the 

 bottom water of the landward portion, as a whole, maintained its former salinity 

 unaltered. 



Salinity Trip of February 1887. — This took place forty-three days later than that of 

 December, and lasted from the 3rd to the 12th, omitting the 6th. During January and 

 February the rainfall was under the average for the season, but in February there was 

 much snow. The wind was strong from the west on February 1st, and equally strong 

 from the south on the 2nd. A series of small cyclones produced strong south wind again 

 on the 4th, north-west on the 5th, with rain and hail, a stiff south-easterly breeze on the 

 7th ; but from that date to the end of the trip an anticyclone brought a calm clear sky, 

 with hard frost and mist. Floating ice was encountered in Loch Long, especially at 

 Arrochar, where it formed a homogeneous glassy sheet -|~inch thick ; on Loch Goil to 

 such an extent that the " Medusa " could not get up to the head ; in the Holy Loch, and 

 along the west side of the Dunoon Basin from Hunter's Quay to near Toward Point. 

 The temperature of the .water in which the ice was floating along the Dunoon shore was 

 33° F., that of the air at the time 29° F. This trip showed a general increase of fresh 

 water in the area much greater than would be suspected from the rainfall. Surface 

 salinity was everywhere lower, and, with the exception of Loch Fyne and the Arran 

 Basin, had attained a minimum for all stations. Bottom salinity appeared to have 

 reached its minimum everywhere. It is unfortunate that the stormy state of the weather 

 throughout most of this cruise made it impossible to determine the density at all the 

 usual stations, hence there is a little uncertainty as to the details of actual distribution of 

 salinity. The water at the head of Loch Long, although ice was floating on it, was the 

 saltest found at a loch head on this trip, and a light breeze was blowing across the loch. 

 In the case of Loch Strivan and Loch Fyne the salinity at the head was very low, and 

 the wind was blowing straight up as a stiff breeze. The surface density at Otter was 

 remarkably high, although the observation was made farther west than usual (where the 

 depth was 55 fathoms), and the tide was nearly three hours' ebb. Since the December 

 trip the decrease in density of the landward surface water was enormous at all stations, the 

 average foiling from 1*02248 to 1"01655, or by 0*00593; the fall in bottom salinity 

 everywhere, and in surface salinity for the seaward portion, was almost exactly 0'00040 

 in each case. 



Salinity Trip of March 1887. — This trip, forty-eight days later than the last, 

 occupied from the 25th to the 30th, with the exception of the 28th. During the latter 

 part of February and the whole of March, precipitation over the Clyde drainage area was 

 under the average of the season, and a considerable part of it assumed the form of snow- 

 From the 24th to the 25th a passing cyclone produced strong winds, shifting from south- 

 west to north-west, with heavy rain on the 24th and 26th. The north-westerly gale 



