e low ground about the mouth of the Thames
estuary and around the Wash the mean annual rainfall is less than 25
in. In the Western Division and along the south coast the driest month
is usually April or May, while in the Eastern Division it is February
or March. The wettest month for most parts of England is October, the
most noticeable exception being in East Anglia, where, on account of
the frequency of summer thunderstorms, July is the month in which most
rain falls, although October is not far behind. In the Western
Division there is a tendency for the annual maximum of rainfall to
occur later than October. It may be stated generally that the Western
Division is mild and wet in winter, and cool and less wet in summer;
while the Eastern Division is cold and dry in winter and spring, and
hot and less dry in summer and autumn. The south coast occupies an
intermediate position between the two as regards climate. Attention
has been called to the fact that the bare rocks and steep gradients
which are common in the Western Division allow of the heavy rainfall
running off the surface rapidly, while the flat and often clayey lands
of the Eastern Division retain the scantier rainfall in the soil for a
longer time, so that for agricultural purposes the effect of the
rainfall is not very dissimilar throughout the country.

_Sunshine._--The distribution of sunshine is not yet fully
investigated, but it appears that the sunniest part is the extreme
south coast, where alone the total number of hours of bright sunshine
reaches an average of more than 1600 per annum. The north-east,
including the Pennine Region and the whole of Yorkshire, has less than
1300 hours of sunshine, and a portion of North Wales is equally
cloudy. Although little more than a guess, 1375 hours may be put down
as approximately the average duration of bright sunshine for England
as a whole, which may be compared with 2600 hours for Italy, and
probably about 1200 hours for Norway.

For the purpose of forecasting the weather, the meteorological office
divides England into six districts, which are known as England N.E.,
Midland Counties, England East, London and Channel, England N.W. and
North Wales, and England S.W. and South Wales. (H. R. M.)

V. ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES

English place-names are of diverse origin and often extremely corrupt in
their modern form, so that the real etymology of