Astronomical Soc/tiy. 229 



our (Estnis bovis is a rare and silent* insect. They were first 

 confounded by Valisnieri, who has been followed by Marty n 

 and others. It is inferred that Aristotle did not even know 

 the latter, from his assertion that no dipterous insect has a 

 sting behind. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



March 12. — The papers read at this meeting of the Society 

 were as follows: 



A letter from Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South 

 Wales, to F. Baily, Esq., accompanied by Mr. Rumker's ob- 

 servations of the Summer Solstice 1823 at Paramatta; the re- 

 sults of which are, 



For the mean obliquity of the Ecliptic 23° 27' 44"«39 



For the latitude of the place of observation 33° 48' 42 "-61 

 Also the mean of twelve months' meteorological observations 

 made at Paramatta between May 1822 and May 1823. 



A letter from Professor Schumacher of Altona, including 

 Mr. Hanson's computations of the elements of the comet of 

 1 823-4-, from observations made in the month of January 1824. 



Two letters from Mr. Taylor jun. of the Royal Observa- 

 tory, Greenwich ; the first containing the elements of the same 

 comet as computed by himself from the Greenwich observa- 

 tions of January 1824, using Boscovich's method; and the 

 second, a comparison of anticipatory ephemerides of the places 

 of this comet, from the elements computed severally by Schu- 

 macher, Carlini, Dr. Brinkley and himself, with the Greenwich 

 observations. 



On the Rectification of the Equatorial, by J. F. Littrow, 

 Director of the Imperial Observatory at Vienna. In this paper 

 the author directs his attention to those errors only which de- 

 pend upon the placing and use of the instrument, which the 

 observer himself must either be able to obviate or allow for; 

 and he therefore enumerates the greater part of them, and 

 points out means for their rectification. 



On the Utility and probable Accuracy of the Method of de- 

 termining the Sun's Parallax, by observations on the planet 

 Mars near his opposition ; by Mr. Henry Atkinson, of New- 



* Hire and others derive the Teutonic names 'iBvnme, ^remjff, &c. from 

 lironinni, urunitneii, urcmincn, murmware, sonitum edcrc, hut Wachter prefers 

 tracing them to lirctTICtl, puniifrc: from which he also brings 

 — " lilt tn, brain, a thorn (from Otfrid, a writer of the ninth century): 



brrin, UTOin, mints: — UTCm-bcvcn, bramble : 



UU'lll, genista ,• A. S. bnom, broom. 



urcmc, faiimsr, crabro, murium aculeatum, A. S. bjiimjaap. Benson, non n 

 &ip.[si%, nee a (jriunincn, bombum edere, scd a uicmcn, pungere. Inde votfs-Iu'iTn, 

 musca equia infesta, ustrus, asilus, tabanus." Probably therefore all the names 

 have a similar origin — O/rjo,- from Oi-os, sagilta, and Gad-fly, q. Goad-fly, A. S. 

 Gaa>\ 7a*. itimuius, cutjris, goad; Island. (jaOiJ.t, pungere. — Edit. 



castle- 



