Mandiiuilic Plulo-sopliical Society. 93 



Observations of Halley's comet were interesting, specially before its passage of the 

 smi, when its tail was incn^asing. At o a.m. on 18th May the tail, well defined, exceeded 

 1P>° of arc, and at 3 a.m. on the l!>th the tail, very diffvised, covered the J^i.E. quarter of 

 the heavens nearly to the zenith ; at 5 a.m., no defined limits to the tail — apparently the 

 earth was in the tail. 



The dates of the comet's first appearance may be of interest. On 14th Septembei', 

 1!>09, it was seen at Yerko's Observatoiy, when the ob.served position differed only 3" it> 

 11. A. and 4' in decl. from the position calculated for the Pulkowa Observatory. On 

 18th October, 1909, it was found on a photograph-plate at Meeanee. Here it was not 

 seen till 18th April, 1910, in the constellation Pisces, where, though approaching the 

 earth rapidly, it appeared tp remain till 4th Ma}', when change of position was easily 

 perceived. On 21st April the tail extended about 45' ; on 13th May I estimated it at 

 20°, reaching about 5° above a Pegasi. The observed j)osition of the nucleus was 

 then R.A. 0° 39' 40", decl. 11° 48' N. At 5 a.m. on 18th May the tail stretched from 

 the horizon at E.N.E. to a point about 7° above .Altair — .say, 75° of arc. At 6 a.m. the 

 nucleus liad not risen, and daylight effaced the light of the comet. On 21st May I 

 observed the comet in the evening, in i30sition Pv.A. 5h. 51' 45', and decl. 18° 11' N. 

 This is near the calculated position between the 18th and 19th, but 3° further north. 

 This looks as if the comet had been retarded in its )>rogress, though I have not heard of 

 any one who observed th(^ position that evening. On the following evening, 22nd May, 

 Mr. Ward's observation ai Wanganui agrees closely with mine ; but if the comet was 

 checked, subsequent observations on fourteen evenings u]) to 24th June show that it was 

 graduall}' making up for lost time. 



Observations of sun-spots have been interesting, confii-ming me in the idea, put 

 before you some three years ago, that we must consider solar forces as converging on our 

 earth and ])lanets of our system, ratlier than that these bodies catch the chance ray.s 

 which may hit them from a body which radiates force into space, heedless whether there 

 is matter for those forces to act on. Unfortunately, times of magnetic disturbance are 

 generally accompanied by bad weather, when the sun is obscured by clouds, so simul- 

 taneous observations of spots and magnetic oscillations are rare ; but on two occasions 

 • — 25th September and 29th November, 1909 — I noted considerable movement in .spots 

 on the southern hemisphert^ of the sun, and the iSurveyor-General's report, «'hen pub- 

 lished, showed that on those days there had been magnetic disturbance in the observa- 

 tory at Christchurch. Commenting on these coincidences to the Surveyor- General, 

 I was able to draw his attention to solar disturbances w.,i h I .suspected had caused 

 magnetic disturbances between 29th September and 6th October, 1910. He referred 

 my letter to Mr. Skey, at C!liristchurch, who replied that the magnetograms showed 

 considerable disturbance from 29th September to 7th October. This encourages us to 

 ask for more observers of these phenomena, so that v.-e may get more knowledge of that 

 mysterious force magnetism. 



We have received from Messrs. Home and Thounthwaite, at a cost of 16s., an 

 eyepiece to replace the. 70-power one that was injured. 



1 have to thank Messrs. Eliott and Glendinning for kind assistance when I have 

 been unable to attend. 



Papers. — 1. "Local Vej^etable Pai-asitfs,'' by D. Sinclair, (J.E. 



This paper dealt with some of the Nev, Zealand mistletoes, lontrasting them 

 with the European species; al.so with />arti/hitt(/tu.< Tai/lori, which was stated to 

 grow on the roots of the white miri {Pitto^poni/ii), appearing about 2 in. above 

 gioimd like a fir-cone on end, and with the flower in the centre tinged with pink. 

 The plant is rare, and its means of propagation imknown. Tieference was also 

 made to various New Zealand epiphytes. 



In the course of his paper the author suggested the f(niiiati()n of a field 

 naturalist club in connection with the society. 



2. " Assumption of tlic Swoi'd of rli.^ Sutter of tlic .MuMivc Lslauds.'' 

 by W. F. Durward. 



This was an account given by tlie brother of the author, an officer on H.iM.S. 

 ■'Proserpine," of the curious ceremonies on the "assumption of the sword" by the 

 sutter of the Maldive Islands, the local equivalent to coronation. Special atten- 

 tion was called to the employment of seven as a mystical number symbolic of 

 royalty, the whole procession being arran<;ed in sevens, and the proceedings being 

 repeated at seven different stations. 



