374 
LIEUT.-COL'ONEL SYKES’S DISCUSSION OF METEOROLOGICAL 
Fogs. 
In the Madras observations there is not any mention made of fogs ; and Captain 
Ludlow of the Madras Engineers, who recorded the observations, tells me that fogs 
are almost unknown at Madras, the nearest approach to a fog being an occasional 
mist on the ground, not visible more than 3 feet above the surface. 
Madras. 
Bombay. 
1843. 1 
Calcutta, 
1843-44. 
Mahabuleshwur, 
15 years. 
Dodabetta, 1847-48. 
Fogs. 
Fogs. 
Fogs. 
Fogs. 
Fogs. 
Dense fog. 
January 
0 
0 
5 
0 
0 
5 
February 
0 
0 
3 
0 
11 1 
9 
March 
0 
0 
4 
0 
4 ' 
0 
April 
0 
0 
4 
0 
1 
4 
May 
0 
0 
" 1 
Foggy last 
half. 
} ® 
1 
June 
0 
0 
0^ 
Foggy. 
16 
2 
July 
0 
0 
' { 
Continued 
dense fogs. 
} " 
9 
August 
0 
0 
“ { 
Continued 
dense fogs. 
} ^ 
20 
September 
0 
0 
^ { 
Frequent light 
fogs. 
} " 
15 
October 
0 
0 
1 ( 
First half light 
fogs. 
) 2 
29 
1 
J 
November 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
26 
December 
1 0 
0 
2 
0 
1 
16 
Year 
0 
0 
20 
0 
53 
136 
At Bombay there are not any records of fogs in the hourly observations for 1843 
nor 1844, but Dr. Buist informs me that mists are of regular occurrence in March ; 
they begin early in February and continue for five or six weeks. They disappear 
after sunset, and are slightest from sunrise to noon*. At Calcutta, from Dr. M‘Clel- 
land’s Report, there were only twenty instances in 1843-44, almost entirely at sun- 
rise. At Mahabuleshwur, from the latter end of May until the middle of October, 
there is almost a continued fog with deluges of rain. At Dodabetta the prevalence 
of fogs is very remarkable, there being no less than 136 records of dense fogs and 
53 of light fogs during the year. Of the dense fogs 52 occurred at 9^ 40“ a.m. and 85 
at 3*' 40“ p.M. ; 27 light fogs at 9^ 40“ a.m. and 25 at 3** 40“ p.m. 
Electricity. 
I have not any data of a character to enable me to speak satisfactorily on the sub- 
ject of the electric state of the air at the several stations. 
I conclude with a rapid analysis of the preceding Tables. 
In my paper published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1835 upon the Meteor- 
ology of the Deccan, I arrived at the following conclusions: — That Humboldt was 
mistaken in supposing, upon the authority of Horsburgh, that the diurnal atmo- 
* I presume Dr. Buist means misty and comparatively semi-transparent heated air, as distinct from fogs. 
