1866.| Astronomy. 395 
them) a constant retarding force on the rotation of the earth’s 
nucleus. 
The author concludes by saying :—“I am very happy to give 
my entire assent to the general views of M. Delaunay on the 
existence of one real cause for the retardation of the earth’s rotation.” 
C. G. Talmage, Esq., gives an account of a probable observation 
of Biela’s comet. He states that while sweeping for Biela’s comet, 
on the 4th of November last, he came upon a nebulous object which 
is thought very likely to have been the comet. From brief oppor- 
tunities afforded to Mr. Barber and Mr. Hind, it is very probable 
that Mr. Talmage’s object was really nucleus L of this comet. 
Unfortunately the weather was too unfavourable to allow of sub- 
sequent observations. 
Mr. Huggins, F.R.S., has contributed an interesting paper on 
“The Bright Granules of the Solar Surface,” to which we shall 
refer in our next number. 
Ill. BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
Russta.—The ‘ Bulletin of the Imperial Society of Naturalists 
at Moscow,’ vol. xxxviii., No. 3, 1865, contains fourteen short 
botanical papers, morphological, anatomical, and physiological, by 
Paul Reinsch, with two plates of microscopic drawings delineated 
from nature, which are very valuable contributions to science. As 
the plants which have furnished the illustrations are familiar and 
easily obtained, the observations of M. Remsch may be readily 
verified. Four of these papers are devoted to the subject of 
vegetable cyclosis, or the motion of the protoplasmic currents in 
the individual cell. The plants and the parts in which M. Reinsch 
has observed cyclosis, and which have furnished the beautiful illus- 
trations of the first plate, are—1. The cilia on the leaves of 
Sempervivum tectorum ; 2. The youngest developing cells in the 
whorls of Nitella syncarpa; 3. The individual cells of the root 
and parenchyma of Hydrocharis morsus rana; 4. The cells of 
Closterium lunula. M. Reinsch describes three kinds of cyclosis, 
viz. the rotatory movement which is confined to one portion of the 
cell; the circulatory movement, where the proto-plasmic current 
sweeps around the entire circumference of the cell ; and the rotato- 
circulatory, which is a combination of the two preceding movements. 
The rate of motion in the cells, or parts of cells, is variable, being 
accelerated and retarded by a rise or a fall of temperature. The 
quantity of protoplasm in the current is also variable. The 
remainder of these papers consist of interesting articles “On the 
reproduction of Bryum by axillary buds ;” “On the Infusoria in the 
cells of Sphagnum ;” “The development of the Stellate cell in the 
