THE FUN OF SEEING THINGS 



323 



When the spawning season arrives, 

 efforts will be made at the Aqitariiun 

 to determine whether the eggs of the 

 sea catfish are actually cared for in the 

 same way as in the gaff-topsail catfish. 

 — N. Y. Zoological Society Bulletin. 



Testing the Atmosphere. 



BY H. E. ZIMMERMAN, MT. MORRIS, ILL. 



In order to observe the humidity, 

 temperature and air currents in the up- 

 per strata of the atmosphere, an 

 arrangement such as that shown in 

 the illustration is used by the 

 United States Weather Bureau. Two 

 balloons of pure rubber, equal in size 

 and equally inflated, are attached to a 

 common cord, at the lower end of 

 which is fastened the delicate appara- 

 tus. When these reach a stratum of air 

 sufficiently rarified, one of them bursts, 

 and the basket slowly descends, as it is 

 still partly sustained by the other. So 

 gently do these instruments generally 

 fall that they are seldom broken, and 

 as the government remunerates the 

 finder for packing and shipping them 

 "express collect," they are generally 

 returned to the proper officials. 



The other illustration shows the deli- 

 cately adjusted instrument with the 

 needles that make the record on a 

 smoke-blackened cylinder. To the left 

 is the basket in which the instrument 

 is placed for protection during the as- 

 cension. The notice to the finder is 

 printed on an envelope attached to the 

 basket and containins: an addressed 



THE WEATHER BALLOONS. 



shipping tag and a postal card for the 

 finder's report. 



Balloons are as a rule used in pairs 

 only when there is a chance of their 

 falling in the ocean or other large body 

 of water. 



Ordinarily, when the balloon is likely 

 to fall on land, we use only one. The 

 meteorograph is then attached to a 

 parachute. \\'hen the balloon bursts 

 the parachute takes care of the meteo- 

 rograph during its descent. 



THE BASKET AND THE RECORD CYLINDER. 



