Certain points in regard to climate, _e. g._ the fact that the regions of the earth near the equator get more solar heat than those nearer the poles, and that parts of the globe are subjected to variable winds, as contrasted with those regions where the extraordinarily regular winds called "trades" blow, have of course been known for long enough. But not till the latter half of the nineteenth century did the civilised nations begin regular meteorological observations, and these observations are still scanty for the uncivilised and partially civilised regions. The meteorological raw material necessary for the exact study of climates has thus only been available for a comparatively short period, and is still incomplete. We may begin with that type of climate which has so profoundly influenced the civilisation of western Europe, and therefore also the new civilisations of America, Australia, South Africa, and so on. This is the type called Mediterranean, because it reaches its best development and has been most studied round the Mediterranean area. But it also occurs in California, in parts of Chile, in South Africa round Cape Colony, and in south and south-western Australia. Generally, it is characteristic of lands lying on the western side of continents, in the latitudes between tropical and temperate, and is therefore sometimes called the maritime sub-tropical climate. The term maritime is applied because, as we shall see, for some part of the year oceanic influences prevail, sub-tropical indicates the position in latitude. A very curious illustration of the similarity of climate in the different regions named is to be found in the fact that in parts of the Mediterranean area two introduced American plants, the agave and the prickly pear, are more obvious and abundant than most native plants; while in California, Cape Colony and southern Australia the cultivated plants are chiefly of Mediterranean origin. The main features of the Mediterranean climate may be briefly summarised. The most important character, next to the mild temperature, is the fact that no rain (or very little) falls in summer, the growing season further north, which is here largely a period of cessation of plant growth. The rain, which tends to be scanty or even absent in the interior of land masses, _e. g._ in Spain and Asia Minor, and also to the south, _e. g._ in the Desert of Sahara, in the Mediterranean region proper falls in the winter months. It is this winter rainfall and the summer drought which define the Mediterranean type of climate. The reason for this seasonal distribution of rainfall is as interesting as the fact itself, and to understand it we must turn to the circulation of air on the surface of the globe.