HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



137 



Dr. Ogle found that antirrhinum produced no seeds 

 when protected from insects by a tent of wire gauze. 



A most interesting question arises from these 



observations : are the bees increasing in intelligence, 



and, having found that the method of puncturing 



answers so well in the case of the heaths, are they 



applying it to other flowers, which are somewhat 



difficult of access? 



Robert Paulson. 



Mars will be a morning star during the whole 

 month. Jupiter will be an evening star throughout 

 the month. 



Saturn will be too near the sun for observation. 



Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal 

 Planets at intervals of Seven Days. 



ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 



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



A T the meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 -L\- on the 9th of April, an old legal document bear- 

 ing the signature of Mr. Chester Moor Hall, who 

 was the inventor of the achromatic telescope a quarter 

 of a century before Dollond, was presented to the 

 Society by Mr. R. B. Prosser, of the Patent Office. 

 The council ordered this document to be framed and 

 suspended in the council-room. 



The remarkable new star which burst out about 

 the 17th of August last in the nebula of Andromeda 

 was observed at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, 

 up to the 10th of December, when it had become 

 reduced to a 14th magnitude, and was only just 

 discernible with an object glass of seven inches 

 aperture. Professor Asaph Hall, of Washington, 

 observed this star with a twenty-six inch object glass 

 until February 7. It was then barely visible with 

 that gigantic instrument, and did not exceed a 16th 

 magnitude. Mr. Monck, of Ireland, assumes that this 

 star is one of the swiftly moving ones that in rushing 

 through the nebula had been set on fire. Mr. Monck's 

 theory is that, "as shooting stars are known to be 

 dark bodies rendered luminous for a short time by 

 rushing through our atmosphere, new stars are dark 

 or faintly luminous bodies which acquire a short- 

 lived brilliancy by rushing through some of the 

 gaseous masses which exist in space." 



Mr. Brooks, of Red House Observatory, Phelps, 

 New York, discovered another comet, stated to be 

 bright on the evening of the 30th of April. It was 

 then almost exactly midway between a and /3 Pegasi, 

 moving slowly in a northerly direction towards the 

 latter star. 



Mercury will be at the least distance from the sun 

 on the 24th of June at 8 a.m. Venus will be at the 

 least distance from the sun on the 26th of June at 

 8 P.M. 



There will be no occupation of any star above the 

 fifth magnitude. 



The sun will enter Cancer, and summer will 

 commence on June 21st at 7 A.M. 



In June there is no real night, but always either 

 daylight or twilight. 



Mercury will be a morning star until the 24th of 

 June. Venus will be an evening star. 



Meteorology. — The mean temperature for the week 

 ending the 17th of April was 43 7', which was 3° 6 

 below the average. Rain fell on four days to the 

 aggregate amount of 010 of an inch. The mean 

 temperature of the week ending the 24th of April was 

 48 1', which corresponded with the average. Rain 

 fell on one day, the 19th, to the amount of 0^09 of an 

 inch. The mean temperature of the week ending the 

 2nd of May was 47 7', which was about i° below the 

 average. Rain fell on two da}sof the week to the 

 aggregate amount of C36 of an inch. The mean 

 temperature for the week ending the Sth of May was 

 55 2', which was 5 5' above the average. The 

 week was rainless, as only C55 of an inch (about 

 60 tons to the acre) of rain fell during the month 

 ending May Sth ; for the neighbourhood of London 

 the rainfall was but little more than half the average. 



The average mean temperature for June is 6o° 

 Fahr. from the Midlands to near the south coast. 

 The influence of the sea reduces the temperature 

 about one degree just along the coast. 



The average rainfall for June is 2 inches. 



No fewer than twelve genera of fossil Reptiles have 

 recently been described by M. Gaudry, from the 

 Permian formation of Bohemjja. They are all of 

 small size and inferior development, as compared 

 with the Reptiles of the Secondary period. 



