254 



HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



satisfactory view of the entire set of organs could be 

 given only in a plate which would trench too much 

 upon space at disposal ; and as it would only be a 

 repetition of similar forms, a very good idea may be 

 obtained from the small group selected, which 

 represents the central portion in one of the lobes of 

 the proboscis. 



Cardiff. 



ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 



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



[Mr. Browning's paper was unavoidably left out last 

 month ; but the series is too important for it to be 

 omitted, and we therefore insert it now. — Ed. S.-G.] 



THE astronomers who observed the total eclipse 

 of the sun at Grenada on August 29th, had 

 fine weather, and obtained several good photographs 

 of the solar corona, which extended nearly two 

 diameters from the sun, and exhibited a feathery 

 structure at the poles. 



The spectrum of the corona resembled that of the 

 6th of May, 1S83, which was observed on Caroline 

 Island in the South Pacific. 



Dr. Hind has calculated that the comet discovered 

 on May 22nd by Mr. Brooks has an elliptical orbit 

 of about six and a quarter years. According to this 

 calculation, it should return in the autumn of 1892. 



The forty-first volume of the Radcliffe Observations 

 has been published, containing the astronomical and 

 meteorological results obtained in 1S83. The number 

 of stars observed is 919. 



Winnecke's periodical comet was seen at the Cape 

 of Good Hope on the 20th of August, at Algiers on 

 the 23rd, and on the 2Sth at the Palermo Observatory 

 by Professor Froud, who describes it as exceedingly 

 faint, and showing traces of a nucleus. The 

 observed place at 7 hrs. 36 [min. Palermo time on 

 Aug. 28th was R. A. 13 h. 39 m. 31s. n.p.d. 96 16'. 



There will be no occultations of interest that can 

 be well observed in October. 



Meteorology. — At the Royal Observatory, Green- 

 wich, the mean reading of the barometer for the 

 week ending the 21st August was 29.91 in. ; and 

 that the variation was from 30.10 in. to 29.67 in. 

 The mean temperature of the air was 59.8. Rain 

 fell on four days of the week, to the aggregate 

 amount of 0.30 of an inch. 



The mean reading of the barometer, for the week 

 ending the 28th of August, was 29.85 in. ; the varia- 

 tion was from 30.00 in. to 29.71 in. The mean tem- 

 perature of the air, 64.4, was 3.4 above the average 

 in the corresponding weeks of the twenty years ending 

 1S68. No rain fell during the week. 



The mean reading of the barometer for the week 

 ending the 4th of September, was 29.88 in., and 



the variation was from 29.79 in. to 29.95 in. The 

 mean temperature of the air was 66.5. Rain fell on 

 three days of the week, to the aggregate amount of 

 0.25 of an inch. 



The mean reading of the barometer for the week 

 ending the nth of September, was 29.75 in. ; the 

 highest reading was 29.85 in. on Tuesday at noon 

 and at the end of the week, and the lowest 29.54 in. 

 on Friday morning. The mean temperature of the 

 air was 60.1 deg., and 1.3 deg. above the average in 

 the corresponding weeks of the 20 years ending 1868. 

 Rain fell on four days of the week, to the aggregate 

 amount of o. 55 of an inch. 



The mean reading of the barometer for the week 

 ending the 18th of September, was 30.03 in. The 

 mean temperature of the air was 59.0 deg., and 1.6 

 deg. above the average in the corresponding weeks 

 of the 20 years ending 1S68. No rain was measured 

 during the week. 



In October, the mean temperature of Edinburgh is 

 48 , of Durham, 49 , of Hull, Lincoln, and Derby, 

 50 , of Cambridge, 51 , of London, 52°, and of the 

 South Coast generally from Ramsgate to Plymouth 

 53 Fahrenheit. 



The average rainfall in October is 2 inches for 

 London and the East Coast, 3 inches for the South 

 Coast, 5 inches on the greater part of the West 

 Coast. This represents nearly 520 tons of water to 

 each acre. 



The observers who went to the West Indies to 

 observe the total eclipse of the sun on the 29th of 

 August, returned to Southampton on the 20th of 

 September. It is probable that the results they have 

 obtained will lead to some important additions to our 

 knowledge of solar physics. They were favoured 

 with fair weather generally. Observers at Carriacore 

 were most fortunate, so that at this station Mr. 

 Maunder was able to obtain a good number of photo- 

 graphs of the spectrum of the corona. Dr. Schuster 

 and Captain Darwin also secured photographs of the 

 corona at Prickly Point. 



It seems now more than doubtful whether it will 

 be possible to photograph the corona without an 

 eclipse. 



Professor Tacchini made some observations of the 

 prominences of great interest. The result was that 

 the prominences seen during the eclipse were similar 

 to the white prominences he observed on Caroline 

 Island in 1883 ; they appeared whiter and dimmer as 

 their distance from the photosphere increased. 



Mr. Turner also observed, at the same station as 

 Professor Tacchini, on the determination of the 

 currents in the solar atmosphere. The white promi- 

 nences he found were high and filamentous in 

 structure, and they are thought to be caused by down 

 rushes of matter. 



Professor Tacchini thinks that the so-called comet 



