ASTRONOMY. 45 



nal of selenography. The society already numbers in its 

 ranks W. R. Birt, Rev. T. W. Webb, G. Knott, Rev. W. J. 

 B. Richards, A. A. Common, Herbert Sadler, Nath. E. Green, 

 E. G. Loder, J. W. Durracl, E. Neison, and other well-known 

 lunar observers. 



Professor Newcomb, Superintendent of the American 

 Ephemeris, has recently issued a circular to astronomers in- 

 viting their opinions upon the advisability of making certain 

 changes in the form of the annual ephemeris, which changes 

 are named in the circular. They are usually not radical in 

 nature, and have for their object the attainment of greater 

 uniformity throughout the work, as, for example, the proposal 

 to give all the ephemerides of the planets and of the sun in 

 Greenwich time, keeping only in the second part the ephem- 

 eris for time of Washington transit and omitting the ephem- 

 eris for Washington noon. Some additions are proposed, 

 principally of data relating to the satellite systems and of 

 more standard stars, with revised places for these. No radi- 

 cal change is suggested except the omission of the star con- 

 stants A, B, C, D. A committee of the National Academy 

 will report upon the plan. 



The compilation and arrangement of the American Ephem- 

 eris and Nautical Almanac for 1881 differs in only a few 

 minor respects from that of the volumes for the years imme- 

 diately preceding. The principal change consists in the 

 adoption of new positions, in both right ascension and dec- 

 lination, of all the standard stars whose apparent places are 

 printed in the Ephemeris. The right ascensions of the time- 

 stars have been corrected in accordance with a new and very 

 complete investigation by Professor Newcomb ; and all the 

 declinations are adopted directly from a paper by Mr. Lewis 

 Boss. Both these investigations are still unpublished. Ten 

 fundamental time-stars have been added to the standard cat- 

 alogue, as given in previous years, so that the complete list 

 now numbers 208. 



No change whatever has been made in that portion of the 

 Almanac intended for the use of navigators, and computed 

 for the meridian of Greenwich. 



In the few pages devoted to eclipses, we note the lack of 

 the elements for each eclipse. Complete data are, however, 

 given for computing the eclipse for any place. The data tor 



