ASTKONOMY. 33 



clearness of atmosphere, and convenience of access from the 

 City of Washington, and upon receipt of the report of this 

 commission to purchase said site, accept such plans as he 

 may deem suitable to proceed with the erection of the ob- 

 servatory and its appropriate buildings. The bill for this 

 purpose appropriates $300,000, or as much thereof as may 

 be necessary, provided the aggregate cost shall not exceed 

 that sum, and that no expenditures shall be made until ap- 

 proved. It also directs the Joint Committee on Public 

 Buildings and Grounds to take such measures as may be fit 

 and expedient to sell the present observatory reservation, 

 the sale to take effect after the removal of the observatory, 

 and the proceeds to be covered into the United States Treas- 

 ury. The bill furthermore provides for the transportation 

 and use, in the new building, of any materials belonging to 

 the present observatory. 



The transit of Venus papers of the English commission 

 are now in the hands of the printer, and the first part has 

 been issued. 



The eleventh annual report of the Board of Visitors of the 

 Melbourne Observatory describes the work of the past year 

 (to 1876, June), which has been the usual meridian obser- 

 vations, drawings of over seventy southern nebulae, daily 

 photographs of the sun, etc., etc., and describes a plan for 

 enlarged meteorological activity, which will probably be 

 adopted. 



The report of the Oxford University Observatory for the 

 year 1876-77 records the taking of 426 lunar photographs 

 (making 652 taken to date), which are to be measured micro- 

 metrically for the determination of the Vibration; 117 

 double stars have been measured during the year (259 meas- 

 ures), and six satellites of Saturn observed ; the chromo- 

 sphere has been delineated on twenty-two days. The direc- 

 tor describes a new micrometer, which appears to be similar 

 to Alvan Clark's doable eyepiece micrometer, described some 

 twenty years since. One of these is now at the Naval Ob- 

 servatory, Washington. 



The volume of the Cape Observations for 1874 is the thir- 

 teenth publication circulated by Mr. Stone, the director, 

 since his accession in 1871. It contains the mean positions 

 of 1246 stars, including all of Lacaille's stars in the Cceluni 



B2 



