GIANT BAMBOOS. 
223 
a proper meteorological station has only since been estab¬ 
lished at Peradeniya. They ma,y be taken however as being 
very nearly correct. A previous estimate of temperatures* 
shows that on the whole the range during this period was 
unusually small. The mean temperature however appears 
to be remarkably constant. 
Table III. 
Month. 
Mean 
Tern. i 
F. 
Mean 
Max. 
F. 
Mean 
Min. 
F. 
Rainfall 
1903. 
Mm. 
Rainfall 
Average 
Mm. 
Days, 
1903. 
Days. 
Average. 
June 
76 
81 
71 
146 
260 
17 
19 
J uly 
76-5 
79*5 
73-5 
187 
222 
23 
18 
August 
76 
81 
71 
78 
153 
17 
17 
September... 
75*5 
80 
71 
288 
166 
27 
15 
October 
75 
80 
70-5 
348 
356 
24 
20 
November ... 
74-5 
81 
68 
69 
285 
13 
17 
IV ,—METHOD EMPLOYED IN RECORDING 
GROWTH. 
The growth was recorded by the aid of a home-made 
instrument of very simple construction. This consisted of 
a straight piece of glass tubing about 30 cm. long, which 
was closed at one end and contained alcohol together with a 
bubble of air. The other end of the tube was plugged with 
a short piece of lead pencil. By means of this level a mark 
could be made upon an old halm adjoining the young apex 
the growth of which was under consideration ; and the level 
of the apex was thus recorded with a considerable degree of 
accuracy. The error of observation did not exceed one milli¬ 
metre when the measurement was made fairly close to the 
ground. At greater heights the error may have reached in 
some cases a centimetre or more, owing to the relative move¬ 
ments of object and scale. The distance between marks 
made in this way was measured directly by the aid of a 
steel rule graduated to \ mm. 
Willis, Armais, vol. I., p. 5, 
