314 CORRESPONDENCE AND NOTES

ladies of my household had been much startled by the explosion. Two of them had been at the entrance-gate, standing facing towards the town, while two others mere walking from the direction of the town, and were nearly a qunrter of a mile from the house. To the former two a fianie-coloured flash seemed to fall i n front of them ; to the latter two, a bright light seemed to be thrown in their faces, and tlie loud report ‘was instantaneous. These two afterwards detected soniething like a sulphurous smell, and all felt a semtion like an electric ahock There had been some ‘dietant thunder and rain shortly after noon. It had afterwards been bright but stormy looking, and though cloud8 were gathering in the evening, there had at that time been no thunder or lightning; shortly afterwards there was heavy thunder near, followed by B

copious shower. On October 14, 1898, there was a very severe thunder-squall-strong wind,

violent rain, and much thunder not very distant It came on suddenly about 7 p.m., as we were going down to dinner. The dining-room opens on verandahs front and back Bs I wns about to take niy seat a t the end of the table facing the back of the house, I saw an explosion in the air, like that of a fire-ball or bomb, probably four or five feet above the ground, and there was a loud bang. The light appeared greenish white. There is no doubt that the explosion ivaa in the back garden, a few feet behind the house, a~ it was also located there by some neighbows whose line of sight was at right anglm with mine. This seems, however, to have beon much lesa intense than the former explosion. No debria were found.-ARTHUR I(NIQHT, Grassclale, River Valley Road, Singapore, April 20, 1899.

Rainfall of the (Iaucasna-Mr. V. Dingelstedt, in a paper on “The Hydrography of the Caucasus,” published in the Seottieh Lreqraphiucl Mcya&e, June 1899, gives the following particulars about the rain and the snowfall of that district :-

The great majority of the streanis of the Caucaans are dependent upoii the direct supply from rain or surface springs, the glaciation not being extensive, and calcareous rock capable of retaining moisture in deep-seated springs being of comparatively small extent. There are now in the country 141 stations’ where, under the general supervision of the Physical Observatory of Tiflis, the precipitation is recorded. Thirty-six of them are in the Northern Caucasue, the rest in Transcaumia. Thus there is one station for about 2500 square miles in the former, and for about 900 square miles in the latter part of the country. For a hilly country they are certainly far from sufficient for any accurate observation of so complex a phenomenon. In Switzerland, over an area which i8 only oneeleventh of that of the Caucasus, there are 300 rain-gauges, and these are not considered suflicient. But we obtain nevertheless a tolerable approximatioil to the truth for the region we are considering. The rain is very unequally distributed. On the eastern diore of the Black Sea, in Sochi and Baturu, fifteen times aa much rain falls as on the Aras, in Kulp, in Anrlykh, and Boaata ; the extreme numbers being 93.3 ins. annually in the former, and only 5.4 ins. iii the latter me.

The numbera in parentheses indicate the altitude in feet :- From 59

The mean annual quantities, taken fkom official sources, are as follows.

to 93.1 ins., ERatern shore of the Black Sea ,, 49 ,, 59 ,) Kuteis, Lailashi (2848 ft.), Gudaur (6601 ft.). ,, 39 ,, 49 ,, Kobi (6578 f t ) , Lenkoran. ,, 29.5 ,, 39 ,, A1 hir (2031 ft.), Oni (2749 ft.), Ardagan (5840 ft.), Beily

,, 19.5 ,, 29.5 ,, blozdok, Grozny, Suram (2408 ft.), Sadon (3297 ft.), Phunzakh (5249 f t ) , Deahlagar (1976 k), Ah-Tuman (4134 ft.), Bonhom (2559 ft.), Man lia, Nukha (2454 ft.), Sarikamysh (6890 ft.), Shusha (4488 g.), Piatigorsk.

YliUCh (3773 f t ) .

CORRESPONDENCE AND NOTES 345

Froiu 15.75 to 1 8 5 ins., Temriuk, Ghelenjik, Petrowk, Tiliis, Akhaltaikli (3379 ft.),

,, 12 ,, 15-75 ,, The steppes north of F'iatigorsk, Akhty, Knsary, Alesandropl

,, 8 ,, 12 ,, Kizliar, Kaghyzman (4619 ft.), Jagry (3445 ft), the lowlands

Under 8 ins., on the North Caa ian shore (Uoasta) at the foot of Ararat, Amlykli

What is surprising in these numbers, and, certainly, not to be accepted without some caution, is the small influence exercised in some eaees by the altitude of the points of observation. We have, it is true, some high stations, such as Gudaur and Kobi, which indicate an abundance of precipitation ; but, on the other hand, there are points situated as high as Kars, Novobsiazet, Alesandropol, Kaghyzman, and Jagry, which rank as to the quantity of their rainfall with stations such as Temriuk, Ghelenjik, Petrovsk, Akhty, and others, which are at sea-level, or even a few feet below it. Perhaps the discrepancy is to be attributed to the difficulty of accurate observation of the snowfall, which is included in the evaluation of mean annual rainfdl, and which is more frequent in the mountains. It ia also not easy to understand the considerable differences in the indications of the rain-gauge at points 80 near and 80 similarly situated as, for instance, Divnoe, 11.3 ina ; Medviezhie, 16.7 ins. ; Abedati, 71.4 ins. ; Kutnis, 53.1 ins. ; Mozdok, 19.6 ins. ; and Naursk, 10.2 ina; but the rain is capricious.

Advancing from the north to the south, the rainfall increases till it arrives at i b maximum in 1st. 43'-42', in which extends the main chain; then it quickly decreasea. The mean annuals according to the latitude are aa follows :-

Kars (5715 ft.), Novobaiazet (6385 it.).

(5000 ft.), Erivan (3258 ft.), Ordubat (3120 ft.).

of the Kura and Am.

(2753 k).

me. Between Lat. 46"-45", mean annual rniiifall 38.55

9 , I , 45 -44 11 ,, ,, 23.00 ,, $ 9 44-43 I , 9 9 ,, '23.60

9 , 43 -42 9 ) ., 37.00 ., 42-41 ,, ,, ,, 27-50 I , .,, 41 -40 ,* ,, ,, 14.50 3 , 9 ) 40-39 $ 9 3 , ,. 13.00

From west to east the rainfall rapidly increases; from 20 ins. annually between the meridians 37"-38" east of Greenwich, it becomes 21.5 ins. at Long. R8°-390, and 52 ins. a t Long. 39"-40". Then it maintains an average of 37 ins. eastwards to 43", after which it decreases considerably, the annual mean between Long. 43" and 50" being about 20 ins.

In respect of precipitation, the country may b e roughly divided into two regions, the well-watered and the dry. The first enibraces principally the sonth-eastern basin of the Black Sea ; it has an area of about 72,600 square miles, and a rainfall from 25.6 ina up to 93.3 ins. a year, with an average of 37.5 ins., which gives annually about 43 cubic miles. The second, eastern, part, appertaining mostly to the Caspian basin, haa an area of about 109,000 square miles, or 60 per cent of the whole ; it haa a mean annual rainfall of 20 ins., which gives a volume of water of about 34 cubic miles. The total volume of water the country receives annually ia therefore 77 cubic miles, corresponding to :m average rainfall for the whole country of 27 ins. annually.

I t rains rather more in the spring and sumnier than in the other seasons, the proportion being as 58 to 42 per cent in the Northern Caucasus, and 54 to 46 per cent in Transcaucasia On the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea (Batum, Artwin), as also in Lenkoran, most rain falls in the autumn ; whilst in the vicinity of the Sen of Azof the winter is the wetter season.

We have no very exact data c o n c e r d the snowfall, which, in consequence of defects in the apparatus need to gauge it, ia to'be considered as a rather