From June 1 to the middle of September only one storm of any importance may be expected; it is from the north-east, lasting two days, and occurs about August 20. About the middle of September a gale from the south-east is expected, but it is short in duration, not over eight hours, and if other storms come from the east or north-east, they are always foretold two or more days in advance by the Weather Bureau, prompt notice of them being published in every daily paper in the section threatened; north-east, east, north-west storms are always heralded by the same office; the south-east storms are the only ones that come unforetold. Thunderstorms and sudden squalls are becoming more and more infrequent on the northern and middle Atlantic coast. It is thought that the settling of the country, with its network of railways and telephonic wires, exerts a dispersing influence on all local electrical storms; but, be that as it may, they are now little felt where once they were of almost daily occurrence in the height of summer. The generally quiet character of the water available for yachting, and the prevailing pleasant weather with moderate winds, combined to influence the form and rig of boats and yachts in use for the first half of this century, and if one carefully examines the situation, it will be found that the style of pleasure craft chiefly in vogue was well adapted to the requirements of the then yachtsman; but as years passed, new influences were at work and new requirements sought for, so that to-day the build and rig of boats and yachts used by our ancestry seem likely to disappear, save perhaps in certain localities where the shoal draught must be considered, as along the south shore of Long Island, the coast of New Jersey, and in much of the waters of the Southern States. In illustration of the effect that winds and waters have on the form and rig of yachts, one need only compare the yachts in England with those in America. The conditions of weather and sea are as different in the two countries as are their vessels; but it must also be admitted that the rules of time allowance arranged to equalise yachts of different size in racing has also had large influence in separating so widely the form of yachts in the two countries, a difference which, under the newest order of rules and intercourse, is rapidly disappearing.