of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



305 



be .ascertained, being below zero), 19° 4 for West Loch Tarbert, and 16° 2 

 for Stranraer, ranges^markedly in excess of those of former years. This 

 is true, although to a less degree, for the east coast stations. The maxima 

 at the Bell Rock (15°*5), North Carr (14°-6?), and Abertay (16°'l) being 

 the highest yet recorded at these stations; but that of Oxcar (15*6) was 

 exceeded in 1891. The east coast maxima (except that of the Bell Rock) 

 occurred between August 17 and 20, while the highest temperatures on 

 the west coast were registered in June or July, except Brodick, where the 

 August maximum was slightly in excess of the July one, and the monthly 

 means on the east coast were greatest in August, and on the west coast 

 in July. The minimum temperatures are also exceptionally low (Oxcar 

 2°-2, North Carr 2° -8, Abertay 2°-5), except at the Bell Rock (5°-0). 



One of the most noteworthy features of the temperature of the water 

 round the S.E. and S.W. coasts of Scotland in 1893 was its variability, 

 both maxima and minima temperatures being excessive, while the mean 

 annual temperature was near the average, so far as can be judged from 

 the results of a few years' observations. 



Looking at the distribution of temperature throughout the year, the 

 curves plotted from monthly means show no unusual form, except at 

 Stranraer and West Loch Tarbert, where the rise of temperature in early 

 summer was very rapid and very high ; while in June, July and August 

 it was fairly constant, falling rapidly in September. The east coast 

 curves show a slower rise, which is not only much lower but later ; a 

 marked maximum occurring in August. 



The curves plotted from ten-day observations show a lower minimum 

 at the very beginning of the year than in past years, and the curve does 

 not rise so much in February, nor fall so low in March, so that the lowest 

 minimum is the January and. not the March one. But perhaps the most 

 noticeable features of the temperatures of 1893 are the three well marked 

 maxima in the middle of June, early in July, and in the middle of 

 August ; Abertay alone not showing the June rise, and the Bell Rock 

 hardly indicating that of J uly, which is somewhat later, and not so marked 

 on the east coast as on the west, where it forms the highest maximum. 

 The heat of the summer of 1893 was exceptionally great in Scotland, and 

 the water shows the same excessive temperatures. The Bell Rock station, 

 that furthest from land, alone does not exhibit these three almost equal 

 maxima, but rises slowly, with one uprush in the middle of June, to a 

 clearly marked maximum in the middle of August, and then the 

 temperature falls very slowly during the next month. This is a great 

 contrast to the curves for the west coast, where the temperature rises 

 sharply to each maximum and falls equally rapidly. From March 21-31 

 the temperature at Stranraer was 3°*6 ; a month later it had risen to ll°-2, 

 a rise of 7°*6. At West Loch Tarbert at the same periods the temperatures 

 were 7°'8 and 12°*5 respectively. From September 1-10 to 21-30 the 

 temperature fell 4 0, 2, from 15°1 to 10*9 at Stranraer, and 4 0, 4, from 16 0, 3 

 to 11°*9 at West Loch Tarbert ; and from October 11-20 to November 

 21-30, at Stranraer it sank 6°'7, from 10 o, 8 to 4 0, 1, and at West Loch 

 Tarbert 4° '5, from 10° '8 to 6°*3. The effects of such sudden changes of 

 temperature on the oysters in these lochs should be studied. 



A new station was founded at Carloway in Lewis in 1892, and observa- 

 tions were carried on there during 1893. The observer had not properly 

 understood how to read the instruments at first, so that his observations 

 prior to March 1893 had to be rejected. An inspection of the station 

 was made by Dr Fulton, and the results forwarded by the observer have 

 been treated in the same way as those from other stations. The highest 

 temperatures observed were 19°'6 at the surface and 19 0, 2 at the bottom, 

 on July 5th. The curve made from ten-day means shows the same out- 



