February 3, tSgS] 



NATURE 



325 



a series of experiments on a tree-shrew, Tupaiafenuginea, and 

 on a bull-frog, h'ana tigrina, but the results do not appear to 

 be very conclusive. 



Dr. L. Meshcinei.i.i, of Vicenza, has issued a prospectus 

 of a proposed Iconograph of all Fossil Fungi at present known. 

 It will be published, probably in the earlier half of the present 

 year, in the form of a quarto volume, with an atlas of more than 

 thirty plates. The price to subscribers will be 30 francs, delivered 

 free. 



Ix a paper jn Natiirxl Science for August 1897, Mr. G. W. 

 Bulman adopts very much the view of Prof. Plateau, that bees 

 are not primarily attracted to flowers by their conspicuous colour, 

 especially that they have no special partiality for blue. He also 

 contests the statement that either honey-bees or wild bees are 

 constant in their visits to the same species. ' Somewhat similar 

 •'-results appear to have been arrived at by Mr. Albert Gale from 

 ^observations in Australia, of the record of which we find a 

 commencement in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 

 for November 1897. 



In our recent review of the "Vita Medica " of the late Sir 

 B. W. Richardson, the author's part in emphasising the dis- 

 tinction between " enteric and typhoid [sic) fevers " was alluded 

 to (p. 265). Our readers perceived at once, no doubt, that the 

 name " typhoid" had crept into the text in place of typhus. 



U.VDER the title of The Home University, the publication of 

 a magazine and note-book for private students of various 

 branches of knowledge has just been commenced. The idea 

 of the editors of the new periodical is to give the home-student 

 assistance on difficult points, and furnish him with aids to 

 memory. " We shall assume," it is added, " that, in addition 

 to a knowledge of their own language, our readers possess the 

 rudiments of French, Latin, German, and Greek, and that 

 respecting Geography, History, Poetry, and the Natural 

 Sciences they have made some kind of a beginning." The 

 editors purpose not so much to try to increase knowledge as to 

 convey it, and we wish them success in their undertaking, 

 notwithstanding the fact that science takes a minor place in 

 the first number of their educational medium. The periodical 

 is published by the Educational Museum, Haslemere, and by 

 Messrs. West, Newman, and Co. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Red Fox (Canis fulvus) from North 

 America, presented by Mr. F. C. Ingram ; four Virginian 

 Opossums {Didelphys virginiana) from North America, pre- 

 sented by Mr. J. D. Sprunt ; two Secretary Vultures {Ser- 

 pentarius reptilivorm) from South Africa, presented by Mr. J. 

 E. Matcham ; a Laughing Kingfisher {Dacelo gigantea), a Lace 

 Monitor {Varaniis varius), a Blue-tongued Lizard {Tiliqiia 

 sc/«^ij/^i?j), two Stump-tailed Lizards {Trachydosurus rugosits) 

 from Australia, presented by Mr. J. D. Waley ; a Leopard 

 {Felts pardus) from Ceylon, a Derbian Wallaby {Macropus 

 derbianus) from Australia, deposited ; two Uvasan Parrakeets 

 {Nymphictis uvtemsi's) from the island of Uvea, Loyalty 

 Group ; two Black-headed Caiques {Caica melanocephala) from 

 Demerara, an Ashy-black Ape {Mcuacus ocreatus) from the East 

 Indies, three Curlews (N'umenius arquata), three Oyster- 

 catchers {Hcematopns ostralegus) from Holland, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 The Solar Eclipse.— Mr. F. W. Dyson, the Chief 

 Assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, has sent the follow- 

 ing letter to the press :— " Prof. Turner telegraphs from 

 Bombay that the observations of the solar eclipse were very 

 successfiil. The photographs taken by the Astronomer Royal, 



NO. 1475, VOL. 57] 



Prof. Turner, Captain Hills, Mr. Newall, and Dr. Copeland, 

 have all been developed, and the results are excellent. Captain 

 Hills has succeeded in photographing the spectrum of the re- 

 versing layer, and Prof. Turner has obtained marked results as 

 to the amount of polarisation of the corona." 



Large and Small Proi-er Motio.ns. — In the Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten (No. 3466) Prof. Kapteyn announces the 

 discovery of a star with an exceedingly large proper motion ; 

 this is the star in the Cordoba Zone Catalogue 5*2430., of about 

 the 8th magnitude, but probably slightly variable, and having 

 an orange-yellow colour. Its position from the "Cape" ob 

 servations of 1897 8 for epoch 1875 is o = 5h. 6m. 56 "Os., and 

 5 = -44° 6o'*530, which position is in the constellation of 

 Pictor. The result of the investigations of Mr. Innes, of the 

 Cape Observatory, and Prof Kipteyn, gives the proper motion 

 in a great circle as 8"7, or in R.A., -1- 0621s., and Decl. 

 ~ 5'70' which will be seen is even greater than that of the 

 "runaway" star 1830 Groombridge, the proper motion of 

 which, it will be remembered, is 7 "05 in a great circle, or in 

 R..\. -f- 0-3463., and Decl. - 5"78. We shall await with interest 

 the determination of the parallax of this remarkable star, in 

 order to discriminate whether its large proper motion is real or 

 chiefly due to its close proximity to our system. 



In contrast with the above, Mr. J. G. Porter has re-computed 

 the proper motipn of the star Bradley 2444^ = 3250, availing 

 himself of a much longer series of observations than those from 

 which Dr. Auwersdeduced the values -t-0'0040s. and -f o"'i28 ; 

 and while Mr. Porters result of -i- o 0024s. and - o""030 (as 

 given in the Astronomical Journal, No. 422) confirms the smal! 

 motion in right ascension, it negatives entirely the motion in 

 declination ; he therefore suggests that Dr. Auwers' result 

 seems to have been due to a wrong reduction of the declinations 

 of D'Agelet and Lalande. 



The Comet of 1892 II. — It is not often that an opportunity 

 occurs of basing the determination of a comet orbit on observa- 

 tions extending over so long a period as that available in the 

 present instance. The series commenced in 1892, March 19, and 

 ended 1893, January 12, during which period the comet passed 

 over about 107° of true anomaly. The definitive orbit in this 

 case proves to be hyperbolic, and the final result is entitled to 

 considerable weight. The only unsatisfactory feature about it 

 is the amount of the residuals in some of the normal places. 

 Dr. L. Steiner, of O'Gyalla, who has made the calculations, 

 bases them on Dr. Schorr's elements, from which he derives by 

 comparison with his computed ephemeris, twelve normal places, 

 necessarily varying considerably in point of accuracy. The 

 solution of the equations of condition founded on these normal 

 places gives for the excentricity the value i "0034404. The 

 residuals to which we have referred as not being quite satis- 

 factory do not occur at the end of the series, when the comet 

 would necessarily be faintest and the observations scarcest, but 

 in the middle of the series, practically from June to October. 

 This is to some extent perhaps to be explained by the fact, that 

 the comet was about that time very faint in telescopes of 

 moderate size, and these observations, made with diflliculty, may 

 have had an injurious effect on those derived from the use of 

 larger instruments. This explanation is not entirely satisfactory, 

 for in one instance the normal place rests entirely on the 

 measures made at one Observatory, that of Bordeaux. Dr. 

 Steiner tries by alterations of the assigned " weights" to reduce 

 these residuals, but the result is not quite satisfactory. Under 

 the best circumstances, and when the excentricity is brought 

 down to 1-000345, the sum of the squares of the residuals in the 

 hyperbola is 103 "•2, while on the assumption of parabolic 

 motion the same sum is 279""5. The orbit is almost perpendicular 

 to the plane of the ecliptic. 



Wixnecke's CoMiiT = a 1898.— Fiom further observations 

 made by Prof. Perrine at the Lick Observatory a new ephemeris 

 of this comet has been determined ; this, together with the 

 elements, are given in the Astronomical Journal (No 424) as 

 follows : — 



Elements. 

 T = 1898 March 20 392 G.M T. 



o-o^l 



O = 173 21 I 

 SI = 100 51 45-5 

 ' = »6 59 340 J 

 log if = 9-854161 

 log a = 0-510521 



898-0 



