HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



203 



Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal 

 Planets at intervals of Seven Days. 



For the week ending 3oth"July the lowest reading 

 of the barometer was^ 29.46 in. on Tuesday evening, 

 and the highest 29.94 in. on Saturday morning. 

 The mean temperature of the air was 65.4 deg., and 

 2.7 deg. above the average The general direction of 

 the wind was S.W. Rain fell on four days of the 

 week, to the aggregate amount of 0.51 of an inch. 

 The duration of registered bright sunshine in the 

 week was 48.3 hours, against 40.5 hours at Glynde 

 Place, Lewes. 



For the week ending 6th August, the lowest 

 reading of the barometer was 29.84 in. on Sunday 

 morning, and the highest 30.20 in. on Wednesday 

 morning. The mean temperature of the air was 

 63.9 deg., and 1.2 deg. above the average. The 

 general direction of the wind was N. and E. No 

 rain was measured during the week. The duration 

 of registered bright sunshine in^the week was 63.6 

 against 69.4 hours at Glynde Place, Lewes. 



For the week ending 13th August, the highest 

 reading of the barometer was 30.05 in. on Monday 

 morning, and the lowest 29.62 in. on Saturday at 

 noon. The mean temperature of the air was 65.3 

 deg., and 2.6 deg. above the average. The direction 

 of the wind was variable. No rain was measured 

 during the week. The duration of registered bright 

 sunshine in the week was 48.5 hours, against 55.0 

 hours at Glynde Place, Lewes. 



From these reports it will be seen that the 

 rainfall from 16th July to 13th August at Greenwich 

 has been only 0.99 instead of two inches. This 

 represents a deficiency of 114 tons to each acre. 



In September the average rainfall on the East 



and South-East coasts is 2 inches, on the South 

 coast it is 3 inches and on the West and South- 

 West coast it is 4 inches. Over a good part of 

 Cornwall and North and South Wales it is 5 inches. 

 This is about 515 tons to each acre. 



Munchausen Science. — Under this heading in 

 Science-Gossip for August appears an extract from 

 Cassell's "Saturday Journal," which is a slightly 

 altered quotation from Kingsley's " Glaucus," which 

 also appears in the "North British Review," No. xliii. 

 p. 38, and to which the above designation does 

 not very gracefully apply. With some allowance 

 for the author's poetic style, and for possibility of 

 error on two points, as mentioned below, the descrip- 

 tion of Neniertes borlasii is very good, and will be 

 endorsed by every one acquainted with the animal. 

 The possible errors to which I allude are, firstly, that 

 of size; "twenty to thirty feet" would be an un- 

 common length — six to eight feet being, I think, the 

 maximum to which it attains — at least upon these 

 shores ; but is it very difficult to form an exact idea 

 of its length, owing to its great elasticity and con- 

 tractibility — for instance, a specimen measuring say 

 about six or seven feet will, on being killed by 

 plunging into spirits of wine contract to less than the 

 same number of inches, with a corresponding increase 

 of thickness, whatever amount of knot and tangle it 

 may have been involved in disappearing in the pro- 

 cess. The second error, and more important scientific 

 one, is where it is put down as the "blind assailant " 

 of the young fish, for it is not very likely that 

 Nemertes is blind, with its rather extravagant supply 

 of eyes. I forget their number, and have not a 

 specimen at hand for reference, but I think that they 

 are either twelve or sixteen, arranged in lines on each 

 side of the head. As to its voracity, an instance that 

 came under my own observation just two years ago, 

 will sound much more " Munchausen "-like than 

 anything in the extract referred to. It is where one 

 of these worms, not thicker than a straw, had made 

 the bold attempt to swallow an octopus. I must, 

 however, say that the latter was not in very good 

 health, but it was living, and Nemertes had com- 

 menced upon the thread-like extremity of one of its 

 tentacles, and engulphed some six or seven inches, 

 up to where the tentacle was about half an inch in 

 diameter, and the worm's slit-like mouth could stretch 

 no more. Johnston, in the " Catalogue of Worms 

 in the British Museum," again uses the quotation 

 which your ; correspondent finds fault with in the 

 description of Linens longissimzcs, a close relative of 

 N. borlasii, and often confounded with it, but here 

 the length given is eight or nine feet. — J. S., Jersey. 



The Editor has a limited number of dates yet 

 remaining open, for engagements for his popular 

 extemporaneous lectures on geological, botanical, 

 and zoological subjects, illustrated with diagrams and 

 lantern views. 



