130 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



$107,200 for the purchase, as an addition to the National Zoological 

 Park, of land lying between the present western boundary of the 

 park and Connecticut A^^enue, between Cathedral Avenue and Klin- 

 gle Road. 



After many delays in the legal steps to acquire this land, the jury 

 of condemnation presented its findings to the court on December 

 11, 1914, as follows: 



Damages appraised .$194, 438. 08 



Expenses of jury 2, 203. 85 



Total 196, 641. 43 



Benefits assessed at 66, 013. 50 



Excess of damages over benefits 130, 627. 93 



This sum exceeds the appropriation by 23, 427. 93 



On January 12, 1915, the motion of the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to confirm the verdict was received by the court and filed. From 

 time to time exceptions to the verdict were filed by various property 

 owners interested, and on June 28, 1915, the court set aside the ver- 

 dict of the assessment of benefits and costs as regards exceptors and 

 confirmed the remainder of the assessments and the awards of 

 damages. 



A recent statement from the Assistant United States Attorney for 

 the District shows that the benefits assessed by the jury that have 

 been set aside by the court amount to approximately $48,000, and 

 that, according to his figures, the total amount that will be required 

 to secure the land will be approximately $179,000 instead of the 

 $107,200 as appropriated. 



The land in question has a frontage on Connecticut Avenue of 1,750 

 feet and covers about 10 acres, which if obtained will bring the 

 park area to an aggregate of 180 acres. 



Notes on the recent work of tlie Astro physical Ohservatorij. — 

 Dr. Charles G. Abbot, director, and Mr. L. B. Aldrich, assistant, 

 have continued at Mount Wilson, Cal., their observations on the in- 

 tensity of solar radiation. 



Complete reductions of the Mount Wilson work of 1914 show that 

 the return of solar activity in that year — after the passage of the 

 minimum epoch of 1913 (in which sun spots had become fewer than 

 at any time for a century) — was attended by a very considerable rise 

 in the intensity of solar radiation. Work with the tower telescope 

 on Mount Whitney was continued, and this also confirmed the 

 variability of the sun. 



It is greatly regretted that no other observing station had been 

 equipped to share with the Institution these observations on the varia- 

 tion of the sun. Only when several observatories, widely scattered 

 in favorable regions as regards weather conditions, shall unite to 



