254 STRAITS METEOROLOGY. 



The size of the type is intended to make the periodic fluctuation 

 clearer. But the resources o£ typography do not permit the full 

 regularity of the recurrence to be shown without a diagram, and 

 careful attention is invited to the whole series of figures published 

 in Journal No. VII. 



It will be seeu, for example, that the driest years in their 

 respective periods are 1836-7 and 1876-7, and the least dry 1S69 

 and 1879-80. 



A comparison of the exceptionally dry months, January- March 

 1867. ( 35 dry days ) with August-September 1877, ( 27 dry days ) 

 and of the exceptionally wet months, October-December 1869 (8 

 dry days ) with March- May 1880 ( 9 dry days ) marks the period 

 as one of 10 \ years still more precisely. 



The same thing is shown by the Table II of Annual Eainf all there 

 published; the table being brought up to date, the totals for each 

 periodic year are as follows : — 



wet years inches 



1870 ... 123.21 



1875 ... 108.48 



1879-80 ... 111.34 . .. 



The mean Annual .Rainfall may be roughly taken at 100 inches. 



[A diagram with a curved line, starting from the end of 

 1869 for the maximum rain, and from the middle of 1872 for the 

 minimum rain, will be found to move up and down with an almost 

 perfectly regular curve.] 



It is certainly well to wait until we have a larger series of An- 

 nual Returns before generalising on such a matter too positively ; 

 and this branch of the subject is only touched upon now to invite 

 the attention of all who may keep or study our Meteorological 

 Records. But from the evidence already accumulated, the long 

 drought of 1882-83, which ended last August, was, I maintain, 

 clearly to be anticipated ; for it closed the solar period dating 

 from the limited rainfall ( 160 inches ) in 1872-3, and the subsi- 

 diary dry period, showing the fall of 148 inches only ; in 1876-7. 



dry years 



inches 



1872-3 



1877 

 1882-3 



91.01 

 61.19 

 73.33 



