March 27, 1890] 



NATURE 



491 



■nugatory through the action of our county magistrates, who have 

 refused to present the requisite petition to the Home Office. 

 They must have been aware that their action doomed innumer- 

 able young birds to death by starvation, since the cHff-climbers 

 collect the eggs until July (a perfectly legitimate industry, by 

 the way, carried on by hard-working men, and producing 

 valuable food), and thus render it impossible for the majority of 

 the birds to get their young reared by the ist of August. 



And, in consequence, whenever during August I go on the 

 shore under the great cliflfs where the birds breed, my ears are 

 filled with the melancholy "piping" of the starving helpless 

 young, dying slowly on the ledges, whose parents have been 

 shot — for sport, or threepence. G. W. Lamplugh. 



Bridlington Quay. 



Locusts. 



With reference to the flight of locusts which passed over the 

 steam-ships Golconda and Clyde in the Red Sea about November 

 25 last, it would be interesting to ascertain to what species 

 they belong. The past year, 1889-90, has been marked in 

 India by the invasion of locusts belonging to the species Acriditim 

 peregrimim, which, starting, it is believed, about the end of the 

 hot weather (May or June), from the sand-hills of Western 

 Rajputana, have, during the past six months, spread in vast 

 numbers over the whole of Sind, Rajputana, the Punjab, North- 

 West Provinces, and Oudh, besides penetrating sporadically into 

 Guzerat, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Khandesh, and parts of Central 

 India, a stray flight even appearing in the Kistna district of the 

 Madras Presidency. 



This insect, which is supposed to be the locust of the Bible, 

 and which is undoubtedly the one that periodically invades 

 Algeria from the Sahara, though it is altogether distinct from 

 the locust Slaui-onoUts maroccanus, of which so much has been 

 heard in Algeria during the past two years, is likely to be the 

 species which was observed in the Red Sea. To ascertain the 

 point, however, with certainty, it is essential that specimens, 

 which I am told fell upon the deck of the ship Clyde in con- 

 siderable numbers, should be examined and determined entomo- 

 logically, and my object therefore in addressing you is to 

 endeavour to obtain some of the specimens for comparison with 

 those which have invaded India. 



It is worthy of notice that in 1869 when Rajputana suffered 

 considerably from locusts, vast swarms were also observed by 

 ships passing through the Red Sea, and it would therefore be 

 interesting to learn to what extent 1869 and 1889 were years of 

 locust invasion in the intervening countries of Arabia, Persia, 

 and Biluchistan. It is much to be regretted that in 1869 neither 

 the locusts found in Rajputana nor in the Red Sea appear to have 

 been preserved or determined, and their identity therefore cannot 

 be definitely established. E. C. COTES. 



Indian Museum, Calcutta, February 28. 



THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY'S 

 EXHIBITION. 



'T^HE eleventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal 

 -*■ Meteorological Society was held at the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers on March 18 and three following days. 

 Each Annual Exhibition is devoted to some special branch 

 of meteorology, which is illustrated by specimens of all 

 known instruments (or drawings and descriptions of the 

 same) that have been employed in its investigation. 

 This year's Exhibition was illustrative of the application 

 of photography to meteorology. Photographic meteoro- 

 logical instruments are not numerous, and those used for 

 recording the indications of the barometer, thermometer, 

 and electrometer are very costly and delicate, and are 

 only made to order. The number of instruments in the 

 Exhibition was consequently less than in previous years, 

 but this deficiency was fully made up by the large and 

 highly interesting collection of photographs of meteoro- 

 logical phenomena. 



The earliest application of photography for the con- 

 tinuous registration of the barometer, &c., was made by 

 Mr. T. B. Jordan, of Falmouth, in 1838. His plan was to 

 furnish each instrument with one or more cylinders con- 



taining scrolls of photographic paper. These cylinders 

 were made to revolve slowly by a very simple connection 

 with a clock, so as to give the paper a progressive move- 

 ment behind the index of the instrument, the place of 

 which was registered by the representation of its own 

 image. 



In 1846, Mr, Charles Brooke and Sir Francis Ronalds 

 each brought forward a method for the registration of 

 magnetic and meteorological instruments by means of 

 photography. The methods are those now in use, the 

 former at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and the 

 latter at the Observatories of the Meteorological Office. 



Although these instruments were not shown, they 

 were fully illustrated by photographs and drawings. A 

 number of the barograms and thermograms were ex- 

 hibited by the Astronomer-Royal and the Meteorological 

 Council, showing the passage of storm centres, and sudden 

 changes of temperature and humidity. A set of baro 

 grams from various parts of the world was exhibited by 

 the Meteorological Council, showing the barometric 

 oscillation due to the Krakatab eruption, August 1883. 

 The thermogram at Kew on May 8, 187 1, showed a fall 

 of about 20' of temperature during a thunderstorm 

 at 4 p.m. 



Mr. Symons exhibited a photographic scale showing 

 the intensity of sunlight during the solar eclipse of July 

 18, i860 ; and the Kew Committee showed the chemical 

 photometer devised by Sir H. Roscoe in 1863. Mr. 

 J. B. Jordan exhibited his experimental instrument for 

 recording the intensity of daylight, and also the three 

 patterns of his sunshine recorder. Similar instruments 

 designed by Dr. Maurer, of Ziirich, and Prof. McLeod, 

 were also shown. Prof. Pickering sent a photograph of 

 his Pole-star recorder, in use at the Harvard College 

 Observatory, U.S.A., for registering the cloudiness during 

 the night. This instrument consists of a telescopic 

 objective attached to a photographic camera and directed 

 to the Pole-star ; the camera is provided with very 

 sensitive plates which are inserted in the evening, and a 

 shutter, worked by an alarm clock, is closed before dawn. 

 If the sky be clear during the night, the plate, after 

 development, shows a semicircle traced by the revolution 

 of the star around the North Pole, but if clouds have 

 passed across the star, the trace is broken. 



The photo-nephograph designed by Captain Abney 

 for the registration of the velocity and direction of motion 

 of clouds was exhibited by the Meteorological Council, as 

 well as a model showing the manner in which the pair 

 of photo-nephographs are mounted for use at the Kew 

 Observatory. One of the instruments is placed on the 

 roof of the Observatory, the other being at a distance of 

 800 yards ; the observers at each end are in telephonic 

 communication. Both cameras being oriented with refer- 

 ence to the same point of the horizon, the distant observer 

 is instructed as to the direction and elevation of his in- 

 strument. The chief observer controls the exposure, both 

 cameras being exposed simultaneously ; another pair of 

 plates are exposed after an interval of one minute. A 

 slide rule designed by General R. Strachey for obtaining 

 the height and distance of clouds from the pictures 

 yielded by the cloud cameras was also exhibited, as well 

 as photographs of an experimental apparatus designed 

 by Mr. G. M. Whipple for the same purpose. 



The Exhibition Included a large and interesting col- 

 lection of photographs of clouds. Padre F. Denza sent 

 a set of 80 cloud photographs which had been taken 

 during the past twelve months at the Specula Vaticana. 

 Rome. M. Paul Gamier exhibited a magnificent set 

 of 17 large photographs of clouds taken at his ob- 

 servatory, Boulogne-sur-Seine, Paris. These are the 

 best photographs of clouds that have been seen in th's 

 country, and they were consequently very much admired. 

 M. Gamier has not yet explained the method he 

 adopts for obtaining 5uch beautiful pictures. Dr. Riggen- 



