1 Computed from a portion of a series of observations made during an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin under the direction of Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, and presented by him to the Smithsonian Institution. The whole series was discussed at its expense by Mr. Charles A. Schott, of the U. S. Coast Survey; and, with the exception of the fractional portions of the month of August, the foregoing classification of the winds, and the computation of the direction of the second series of resultants, is taken from his work. For a portion of the year, observations were recorded twelve times a day, and for the remainder only six. In order, therefore, to give to the latter their due weight in determining the resultants for the different seasons and for the year, the number of observations and the corresponding number of miles is doubled.

The estimated force of the wind was indicated by Beufort's scale of numbers from 1 to 12, and from Smeaton's table, and also from Bernoulli's formula. Mr. Schott makes the corresponding velocity to be as follows:

:-

Corresponding velocity in miles per hour.

TT TT

24

32

The mean velocity of any wind for any month of the year may be found by dividing the number of miles travelled by that wind in that month, as given in the second of the following tables, by the number of miles as given in the first. For full discussion see Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. XV.

No.

(Nos. 16 and 17.) Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Finmark.

Observed at the following places, viz.:—

At sea, by Parry, for 5 days, in the year 1827; by the French Commission, for 59 days, in the years 1838, 1839, and 1840; and by the German Polar Expedition, for 50 days, in the year 1868. Bear Island (near Spitzbergen), by Sievert Tobiesen, from August 6, 1865, to June 19, 1866.

Force.

Number of days.

Arctic Ocean, longitude 20° to 40° E., by members of the French Commission, for 62 days in the summers of 1838 to 1840.

Arctic Ocean, longitude 75° to 90° E., and 130° to 170° E., by Von Wrangel in the summers of 1734 and 1737. (?)

Bear Islands (north coast of Siberia), by Von Wrangel, from March 1st, to April 27th inclusive. Great Northern Tundra (Taimurland), by Waldemar von Middendorf, from May 26th to August 31st, 1843. The figures denote the number of hours estimated as nearly as practicable from the published report.

Korennoje Filipovskoje, under the direction of Waldemar von Middendorf, from April 25th to October 26th, 1843.

Ust Yansk, under the direction of Lieut. Anjou, by Surgeon Figurin, for 21 months, in the years 1820, 1821, and 1822, and classified by Wesselowski in his elaborate work on the Climate of Russia. Nova Zembla, at three places: the Straits of Kara, on the S. E. Matotschkia Schar, and Shallow Bay, on the western coast; aggregate 4 years-1832 to 1835.

1 Von Wrangel experienced contrary winds when sailing northeasterly from the mouth of the Obi up to latitude 73° 18' in the summers of 1734 and 1737.

The percentages are given for the summer and winter, and the whole number of observations for the year. 3 Von Wrangel states that near the mouth of the Kolyma river the prevailing wind is from the northwest; also that contrary winds prevented his sailing westerly from the east mouth of the Lena for 5 days in June, 1835; but miscellaneous notices of the wind, scattered through his journal, seem to indicate that, along the seas adjacent to this part of the Siberian coast, the direction is rather northeasterly.

Force.

Number of days.

62