stones lying in a mass together were not much moved along by the waves, would doubtless apply to these large ones as well as to the smaller ones, in which it seemed to hold good, and make its return less easy. The cause suggested by Dr. Cornish, that the protection afforded by the projecting promontory of Portland would lessen the power of the waves coming from the east to move big stones would doubtless also lead to the same result. In any case, if a large stone did travel towards Bridport some little way, it would soon be brought back by the prevailing tendency of the wind towards the east.

With regard to the large stones which are found in considerable numbers on the Fleet side of the beach away from the sea, they have doubtless been thrown over the ridge in gales whilst travelling along, and, once on the inside, there is nothing to further disturb them, so that they do not move up to the Portland end like those on the seaside. It will be noticed that the travelling of stones over the surface of sand faster than the grains of sand themselves is another somewhat extreme instance of what I have observed on the Chesil Beach with regard to the large stones, and is probably to be explained in the same

way.

A stone, weighing say

And it seems to me that the same cause is quite sufficient to account for the accurate placing at that point of the Chesil Beach, where similarly sized stones are found, of any stone or stones which are supplied to the Beach on the seaside at Bridport Harbour. ounce, starting at Bridport Harbour, would go on travelling towards Portland, with various stoppages and retrograde movements owing to easterly winds, until it reached a point where it ceased to be larger than the shingle around it. This would occur in the neigbourhood of Fleet Coastguard Station, where the average weight of a pebble is given by Dr. Cornish as 342 ounce, which is almost exactly this size. It would then lose its individuality and form a permanent particle of the whole beach at that point, until from the very slow grinding process its weight became reduced and fitted it for some "smaller" position.

The plan does not lay claim to extreme accuracy as it was made without instruments, but may be taken as fairly correct.

Returns of Rainfall, &c., in Dorset

in 1901.

By HENRY STORKS EATON

(Past President of the Royal Meteorological Society).

n°

O addition has been made to the staff of observers, though there are some slight changes in the arrangement. By the removal of Mr. W. Symes the Portisham register came to an end at the close of June, but Mr. Symes started a fresh station in Poole Road, Bournemouth, without delay; and Binnegar Hall, which in former reports has come under the head of Wareham, now more appropriately appears under East Stoke, in which parish it is situated.

The deficiency of rain at Portville, Bridport, noticed in last year's report, has not been satisfactorily explained, and the returns are therefore rejected. The comparison this year is :Coneygar, 34'97in.; Portville, 28.94in.

At Herringston an ordinary 5-inch gauge has been substituted for the original instrument, in which a defect had developed. In the result the amount of rain collected is greater. For the first time more has been measured at Herringston than at Dorchester. Lying close under the lee side of Ridgeway Hill, and nearer to it than Dorchester, the larger rainfall at Herringston accords with what is generally observed under similar

circumstances. The rainfall constant for Herringston given in the Appendix to the Report for 1898 is therefore inapplicable.

The registers from Bloxworth Rectory, Cattistock, and Cheddington are unchecked, as the schedules supplied for entering the rainfall day by day have not been returned for examination; but all the other registers have been carefully collated and discrepancies investigated. If the year has not been signalised by any marked progress, on balance there has been no falling off in the number of completed returns, which remains at 44. The resumption of observations by the Rev. S. Poole at Chickerell Rectory, and the Piddletown journal, which now comes in for the first time, makes up for the loss of Portisham and Portville.

An inch of rain fell on 13 different days; of these days 1 occurred in February, March, June, August, and October, 2 in December, and 3 in July and September. The 14th of August was the wettest day with an average of 161in. of rain at 44 stations. At Herringston 2.90in. fell in about ten hours; 2°40in. at Wollaston House, Dorchester; 2134in. at Piddletown; 213in. at Wyke Regis; 2 10in. at Dorchester Waterworks and Steepleton; 2°06in. at Fleet House; and 2.00in. at Shroton. The smallest fall on this day was 86in. at Holwell and 1'orin. at Sherborne Castle. Another wet day was the 16th of September with 205in. of rain at Blackdown and Coneygar Hill and 2.03in. at Cheddington; the average fall was 132in., the smallest, 68in., at Portland Bill, and 8oin. at the Victoria Hotel, Swanage. The last wet day that need be noticed was the 28th of December, when the average depth of rain was 90in. Falls of 218in., 2'07in., and 2'04in. were recorded respectively at Broadwindsor Vicarage, Blackdown, and Cheddington. At Swanage 36in.

was measured at Mintern House by the Rev. H. Pix and ‘37in. at the Victoria Hotel by Mr. Vincent.

The number of rainy days deduced from twenty-eight stations, chosen in the same way as last year and marked with an asterisk in Table III., was 153.

The ratio of the rainfall was 89.8 per cent., or slightly more than 10 per cent. under the average. The highest ratios were-Coneygar Hill, 106'4; Blackdown, 102; Beaminster Vicarage, 952; Cattistock Lodge, 93'2. The lowest :Houghton, 81; Gillingham, 817; and Sturminster Marshall, 82.9. In absolute depth Blackdown House heads the list with 39'33in., followed by 39 28in. at Cattistock. The smallest falls were 2371in. at Portland Bill, and 24'0zin. both at Chesil and Weymouth.

Electrical disturbances were more frequent than usual. Thunderstorms, or lightning or thunder, were recorded on the 1st and 2nd of March, 5th of May, 23rd, 29th, and 30th of June, 13th, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th of July, 14th and 27th of August, the 7th, 8th, 14th, 16th, and 30th of September, and the 1st of October. A thunderstorm on Sunday, the 28th of July, fell with great severity on Broadmayne, and to a less extent on West Lulworth, where the Rev. W. P. Schuster recorded a fall of 155in. of rain.

The following are extracts relating thereto from the Dorset County Chronicle of August 1st:-" On Sunday morning, about 10 o'clock, a terrific thunderstorm burst over the village (Broadmayne) and neighbourhood, and continued for two hours. Rain fell in torrents. So violent was the downpour that some labourers' potato plots situated on the high lands near Fryer Mayne were washed out. The rush of water was so great that it was thought there had been a waterspout burst upon the hills. . . A dairy cow on Fryer Mayne Farm was struck by lightning and killed. Many sensational stories are told about the waterspout, or the extraordinary accumulation of thunder rain thought to be a waterspout.

When the supposed waterspout swept down into the