Considering that Hong Kong lies well to the south of Calcutta, it must be confessed that the climate is wonderfully good, and one cannot but think that Major Clark would wish himself back in Hong Kong were he to negotiate an exchange to almost any station in the plains of India. On the mainland, at Canton, the climate is much less uniform, the north-east wind of the cold season rendering the nights singularly cold for so southerly a position. The China seas are visited by revolving storms of a most violent character, known locally as typhoons, but as in those of the Bay of Bengal, their more serious effects do not appear to extend far inland. The Island of Formosa, with a mean annual temperature of 74·6° F. (23·7° C.), has a typically marine climate, the difference between the coldest and hottest months, February and June, being but from 67·7° F. (19·8° C.) to 81° F. (27·1° C.), or only 13·5° F. (7·3° C.). The south-west monsoon bursts towards the end of May, and the rainfall, especially in the north of the island, is very heavy and evenly distributed, though there is a distinct dry, winter season in the south, as may be seen by the contrast of the rainfall of the following two Formosan stations--Kilung, in lat. 25° 8′ N., and Takao Anping, in 22° 47′ N. (Hann). RAINFALL IN THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA. ===========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+ | Jan.| Feb.| Mar.|April| May | June| -----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ Kilung{Ins.|17·53|14·98|14·98| 8·68|10·74| 9·33| {Mm. | 445 | 379 | 379 | 220 | 273 | 237 | | | | | | | | Takao {Ins.| 6·67| 0·58| 1·64| 2·48| 9·45|13·58| {Mm. | 17 | 13 | 41 | 63 | 240 | 345 | ===========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+ ===========+=====+=====+=====+====+=====+===== | July| Aug.|Sept.|Oct.| Nov.| Dec. -----------+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+----- Kilung{Ins.| 7·72| 7·53|16·53|9·84|11·61|11·63 {Mm. | 196 | 191 | 420 | 249| 294 | 294 | | | | | | Takao {Ins.|14·65|14·63| 4·69|1·54| 0·49| 1·08 {Mm. | 372 | 370 | 119 | 39| 12 | 27 ===========+=====+=====+=====+====+=====+===== The total annual rainfall is 122 ins. (3,581 mm.) for Kilung, and 65·25 ins. (1,658 mm.) for Takao Anping. Further north, the monsoon bursts somewhat later, very much in the same way as it does in India; but here, again, the climate is much cooler than would be met with west of the Malay Peninsula in the same latitudes. ZI-KA-WEI. LAT. 31° 12′ N.; TIME 8 HRS. 5 MINS. 43 SECS. EAST OF GREENWICH. ELEVATION OF OBSERVATORY, 22 FEET ABOVE THE SEA.