HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



63 



Alg^e. — Continued. 



Spirogyra condensata. 

 Volvox globator, and 



abundant. 

 Bulbochaete setigera. 

 Ophiocytium cochleare. 

 Microspora floccosa, &c. 



Diatoms. 



Pinnularia viridis. 



„ nobilis. 



,, major. 



Pleurosigma acuminatum. 

 „ tenuissima. 



,, attenuatum. 



Navicula rhomboides. 



„ serians. 



„ amphisbcena. 

 Synedra radians. 

 Cymatopleura solea. 

 Nitzschia sigmoides. 

 Surirella bifrons. 

 Asterionella formosa. 

 Amphora minutissima. 

 Encyonema prostratum. 

 Fragillaria capucina. 

 Diatoma vulgaris. 

 Diadesmis confervacea. 

 Himantidium pectinale. 

 Gonphonema acuminatum. 

 Navicula cuispidata. 

 Cocconema lanceolatum, &c. 



I may also add for plants, Nitella 

 trans lucens, anacharis, myriophyl- 

 lum, and Ranunculus aquatilis. 

 There was in one pool many speci- 

 mens of that curious flask-shaped 

 caddis case of the Oxythira costalis, 

 supposed to be rare. 



E. H. W. 



Birmingham. 



ASTRONOMY. 

 By John Browning, F.R.A.S. 



I HAVE with great regret re- 

 ceived a-copy of the last Dun 

 Echt Circular from the Observatory 

 of Lord Crawford. These circulars 

 have been issued from the Dun Echt 

 Observatory for a series of years, 

 and have given the earliest information obtainable of 

 the advent or position of comets and many other 

 astronomical phenomena. These circulars have 

 frequently been very valuable. The Observatory of 

 Dun Echt has now been closed, and Lord Crawford 

 has presented his most costly instruments to the 

 Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, so that, henceforth, 

 they will be the property of the nation. 



Lord Crawford has expended a sum of money on 

 astronomical instruments and astronomical expedi- 

 tions that many would consider a fair fortune. On one 

 of these expeditions he had a severe attack of fever, and 

 for years he had recurrent attacks season after season. 



The exquisitely modest terms of the last Dun 

 Echt circular would give no idea of Lord Crawford's 

 great services to astronomical science for which not 

 only astronomers but the nation is indebted to him. 



r^ 



Fig. 39. — Various stages of Spirogyra. 



Dr. Otto August Rosenberger, who has been 

 Professor of Astronomy at Hull for nearly sixty years, 

 is dead. He had been an Associate of our own 

 Royal Astronomical Society for more than fifty 

 years. 



The account has been published of Professor Tac- 

 chini's observations of solar phenomena at the Collegio 

 Romano. 



Sun-spots have increased both in number and fre- 

 quency during the last quarter of 1889, and the number 

 and height of the solar prominences has increased also. 



On March 20 the sun enters Aries. Spring com- 

 mences at 4 aft. 



In March, Mercury is a morning star during the 

 first half of the month. 



Venus is an evening star in the latter part of the 

 month. 



