482 



NATURE 



[Sept. J 2, I 



Calandra oryza, is also brought over with Indian wheat. This 

 weevil is known in British and other European granaries, but it 

 is presumed that the heat and surrounding circumstances of 

 cargoes of Indian wheat favour its development and stimulate 

 its powers of destruction. As it breeds freely in this country, 

 the danger of its distribution is great. Besides the actual 

 money loss occasioned by these weevils, it is stated that the 

 flour made from wheat much infested by them is injurious to 

 health. 



The French Consul-General to Bolivia, in a recent Report to 

 "his Government, gives some interesting remarks on the popula- 

 tion of that remote State. The population, he says, consists of 

 about 1,300,000 persons, and is not homogeneous ; it consists of 

 the white race, descendants of Europeans, the Indian, the 

 original inhabitants of the country, and the Mestizos, called 

 Cholos, a mixture of Europeans and Indians. The Indians 

 form more than half the population, and the white race about 

 one- quarter. The manners and customs of the Bolivians vary 

 according to the social group ; the white race have much the same 

 customs as Europeans. Special mention is made of a national 

 spice probably little known in Europe. This is pimento {agi) 

 which burns the palate, and is largely used in all Bolivian food, 

 and forms an important article of commerce. The continual use 

 of such a hot condiment hardens the mouth, and explains the 

 ease with which nearly all Bolivians can take the strongest spirits. 

 The Indian has very different customs. He sustains himself 

 during work or when hunting by chewing the leaves of the coca, 

 and always carries a quantity with him wherever he goes. As 

 lie is addicted to drink, he gets drunk whenever he can. His 

 favourite drink is pure alcohol. On high ground the Indian 

 wears a particular dress summer and winter. This consists of 

 loose drawers, made of coarse linen, which leave the lower part 

 of the legs and feet bare, over these a linen tunic, and a poncho 

 which is used as a mantle. He is accustomed to a hard life, and 

 sleeps in the open air, covered only by a piece of linen, no mat- 

 ter what the weather may be. The morals of the Indian are 

 more than doubtful. His black and glossy hair never receives 

 attention, his red skin acquires a dark colour from the dust which 

 accumulates on his body and becomes part of his epidermis. On 

 f^te days, men and women cover themselves with tinsel, skins of 

 wild beasts, feathers of every shade, and dance and drink until 

 -exhausted by fatigue and drunkenness they throw themselves on 

 the ground. This race, which is interesting from the novel 

 spectacle it presents to the stranger, has but little apprehension 

 of the benefits of civilization ; it carries on, however, the agri- 

 culture of the country. The Cholo or half-castes already men- 

 tioned belong to the least estimable part of the population. They 

 get drunk frequently and work little ; they wear trousers and a 

 vest, over which is thrown a poncho. They are almost always im- 

 moral and dishonest ; wherever there is a disturbance there they 

 are to be found. They are the handicraftsmen of Bolivia, and 

 are not without some skill. 



The Meteorologlsche Zeitschrift for August contains a discus- 

 sion of the daily period of the humidity in Christiania, by J. F. 

 Schroeter, based upon an old series of hourly observations made 

 at the Observatory between 1841 and 1847. The vapour-tension 

 -exhibits the usual periods of double maxima and minima. The 

 relative humidity shows a strongly-marked maximum in the 

 morning, and minimum in the afternoon ; the epoch of the 

 maximum occurs earlier from the winter to the summer solstice, 

 and vice versA. Dr. A. Wachlowski contributes a paper on the 

 rainfall of Galicia. The yearly period is a very simple one ; 

 there is a maximum in July, and a minimum in January and 

 February. The country is divided into seven districts, in 

 •which the annual rainfall varies from 24J to 26| inches. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Marmoset {Hapale jacclms) from 



Brazil, presented by Mr. James Waddell ; three Bengal Foxes 

 {Canis bengalensis) from India, presented by Colonel Creek ; a 

 Common Badger [Meles taxus), British, presented by Mr. G. H. 

 Hulme ; a Grey Ichneumon (Herpesies griseus) from India, pre- 

 sented by Miss Colvin ; a Crested Porcupine {Hystrix cristata) 

 from Ceylon, presented by Captain Rose ; a Ringed Plover 

 {^gialitis hiaticula), British, presented by Mr. H. M. Upcher ; 

 a Red-billed Tree Duck {Dendrocygna autuinnalis) from India, 

 presented by Mrs. Alfred Oakes ; five Hobbies {Falco subbuteo) 

 from Spain, deposited ; two Upland Geese {Bernicla migel- 

 lanica, van dispar, 6 9) from Patagonia, two Spur- winged 

 Geese (Pleclropterus gambensis) from West Africa, two Black- 

 backed Geese {Sarcidiornis melanonotd) from India, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Triple Star 2 2400. — In the year 1884 a third star 

 was discovered by M. Perrotin, lying nearly midway between 

 the two components which had been discovered by Struve in 1829. 

 Mr. Burnham, writing to the Observatory under date July 31, 

 1889, now points out that the observations made of the three stars 

 show that the change in position of the two comp'anion stars is 

 wholly due to the proper motion of the principal star, that the 

 two fainter stars are substantially fixed with regard to each other, 

 and may possibly prove to be physically connected, though with 

 but slow motion, and that, thirdly, Struve's observation in 1872 

 was of the new, and not of the old, companion. It appears 

 curious that the inner companion was not discovered earlier, as 

 it is almost as bright as the outer one. The large star is moving 

 away from the fainter, so that measurements will be rendered 

 easier in the future. 



The Potsdam Observatory. — The second part of the fourth 

 volume of the Publications of this Observatory has just appeared. 

 It is given up to solar physics, the heliographic latitudes and 

 longitudes of the sun-spots from 1880-84 forming the first section ; 

 Herr Wilsing's research (see Nature, vol. xxxviii. p. 206, June 

 28, 1888) on the rotation period of the sun as derived from the 

 observation of faculae, the second ; and a description of Dr. 

 Lohse's photoheliograph, and of the method employed at the 

 Observatory for the measurement of the solar photographs, the 

 remainder of the volume. 



The Observation of Sudden Phenomena. — Prof. Lang- 

 ley, in the Sidereal Messenger for August, proposes a method for 

 greatly diminishing personality in the observation of sudden pheno- 

 mena, such as the disappearance of a star when occulted by the 

 moon. The principle of the method, which is susceptible of a wide 

 application, consists in associating a motion, real or apparent, of 

 itie object with intervals of time, so that the apparent position 

 of the ot)ject at any occurrence being noted, the time of the 

 occurrence will be known. For the apparent position, say, of a 

 star at occultation is an integral part of the phenomenon observed, 

 and does not depend for its correct estimation upon the rapidity 

 with which the mind can pass from one order of impressions, as 

 the sight of a star in the field of a telescope, to another, such as 

 the estimation of the interval that has elapsed from the last beat 

 of a pendulum. Some preliminary experiments with an eye- 

 piece, in which the star under observation was made to appear 

 to revolve once in a second, showed that it was quite possible 

 to observe an occultation with a probable error of only one- 

 fortieth of a second. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1889 SEPTEMBER 15-21. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on September 15 

 Sunrises, 5h. 37m. ; souths, iih. 55m. i"os. ; daily decrease i 



southing, 2i'2s. ; sets, i8h. 13m, : right asc. on meridia 



iih. 33 "Sm. ; decl. 2° 52' N. Sidereal Time at Sunsa 



I7h. 53m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter September 17, Sh.) rises, 2oh. 4im.1 



souths, 4h. 1 8m. ; sets, I2h. 7m. : right asc. on meridia| 



3h. 55 •3m. ; decl. 17° 7' N. 



