March 20, 1879] 



NATURE 



469 



a connection, little expected, between these bodies falling 

 from the heavens, and the lower strata of our globe, and 

 this circumstance has caused an increased amount of 

 attention to the researches of his pupil and follower, M. 

 Meunier, who finds by his recent work that the analogj' 

 alluded to is not confined alone to mineralogical consti- 

 tution, but that it is extended to the relation which these 

 cosmical materials, disseminated in space, present when 

 compared amongst themselves, as is done for the con- 

 stituent rocks of our globe. The Commission considered 

 that M. Meunier had reason to conclude, from his expe- 

 riences, that all these masses once belonged to a con- 

 siderable globe, like the earth, of true geological epochs, 

 and that later it was decomposed into separate fragments, 

 under the action of causes difficult to define exactly, but 

 which we have more than once seen in operation in the 

 heaven itself. Such a conclusion, it is remarked, adds 

 greatly to the interest attaching to these "minute stars : " 

 the astronomer, once occupied only with their motions 

 and their probable distribution in space, finds himself 

 confronted with a sidereal geolog}', as he already was 

 imder the necessity of having regard to celestial physics, 

 celestial chemistry, and celestial mineralogy. The medal 

 is awarded with the view to encourage ^I. Meunier to 

 follow up his studies, so interesting in regard to the con- 

 stitution of the solar system. 



The Valz prize was adjudged to Dr. Julius Schmidt, for 

 his great chart of the moon, and the immense labour 

 which its production has involved during a period of 

 thirty-four years. The report of the commission for this 

 prize contains a brief resume of earlier work in this direc- 

 tion, concluding with a remark, the truth of which will be 

 sufficiently obvious, that Dr. Schmidt's work, "aujourd'hui 

 deja si precieux, senira dans I'avenir de base k de nom- 

 breuses investigations, et nous pensons que le temps ne 

 fera qu'en accroitre la valeur." 



The Damoiseau prize, first proposed in 1869 for a re- 

 vision of the theory of Jupiter's satellites, discussion of 

 the observations, and redetermination of the constants 

 involved, with the formation of tables of the satellites, 

 has been renewed without effect in 1872, 1876, and 1877, 

 and is further remitted to 1879. The value of this prize 

 is 5,000 francs. 



F.^ve's Comet. — Dr. Axel Moller, continuing his elabo- 

 rate investigations on the motion of Faye's comet, which 

 he has conducted with so much success during the 



,last twenty years, has communicated to the Stockholm 

 Academy elements and an ephemeris for the next appear- 

 ance, which it now appears will not take place under such 

 favourable circumstances for observation as has been 

 stated elsewhere. From November, 1874, to April, 1876, 

 the distance of the comet from Jupiter was less than 

 twice the mean distance of the earth from the sun, and in 

 June and July, 1875, ^^^s not more than 1*5 ; the effect of 

 this has been to retard the next perihehon passage by 

 more than thirty-eight days, or to delay it till January 22, 

 1 88 1, imder which conditions the theoretical intensity of 

 light can at no time be half as great as at the date ef 

 discovery by M. Faye in 1843. At the last return only 

 four observations appear to have been secured, owing to 

 the comer's excessive faintness, three by M. Stephan, at 

 Marseilles, on September 3, November 28 and 30, and one 

 by Dr. C. H. F. Peters, at Clinton, U.S., on December 23 ; 

 so admirably had the calculations of the perturbations 

 during the preceding revolution been effected by Dr. 

 Axel Moller, that M. Stephan's first obsenation gave the 

 comet's position only four seconds 0/ arc from the pre- 

 dicted place. The chief disturber of the motion of this 

 comet is, of course, the planet Jupiter, but Dr. Moller 

 takes into account also the effect of the attraction of 

 Venus, the earth, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus. The 

 amount of perturbation during the actual revolution is 



■greater than in any other since the comet's discovery. The 

 next perihelion passage takes place 1881, January 22-665, 



G.M.T., the comet at this epoch moving in an ellipse 

 with a period 56*526 days longer than at the previous 

 perihehon passage in July, 1873. Dr. Axel Moller's 

 ephemeris extends from 1880, July i, to 1881, January i ; 

 the comet will be nearest to the earth on October 3, 

 distance = i '09, and situate at this time spme ten degrees 

 south of a Pegasi. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES ^ 



'"■ ."n* 

 Fossils of the Amazonian Devonian. — ^Mil R- 

 Rathbun, late of the Geological Survey of Brazil, has 

 pubhshed a list and description of the Brachiopods of the 

 three Amazonian-Devonian localities, showing that of the 

 twenty-one species recorded from the Mascuru, thirteen 

 were also found on the Carua, including all the commoner 

 species of the former. There is not so close a relation- 

 ship between the Erere fauna and the Maecuni. Several 

 of the commonest Mascuru species do not occur at Erer^, 

 and vice versa. At Ererd there are five species of LingiUa, 

 four of Chonetes, four of Spirifera ; at Maecuru there are 

 no species of Lingula, four of Chonetes, and six of Spirifera. 

 Several of the Amazonian shells are identical with those 

 of the North American Devonian ; three in the Maecuru, 

 and Carui, viz., Spirifera duodenaria, Amphigenia 

 elongata, and Strophodonta perplana. Two forms of these 

 are only knoAvn in the Comiferous limestone and Schoharie 

 grit of North America. The Erere beds are more closely- 

 related by their fossils to the Hamilton group than to any 

 other North American group. In Para, on the whole, 

 there is the same general succession of species as in the 

 Comiferous and Hamilton groups of North America, and 

 a similar intermingling of forms. The lamellibranchs are 

 not pubhshed yet, but it appears probable that many 

 species are identical with New^ York State forms. Among 

 the Trilobites are species of Homalonotus, Phacops, and 

 other genera, {Proc. Boston Society of Nat. Hist., 1878-) 



Australian Fossil Corals. — The subject of Aus- 

 tralian fossil corals has occupied much attention among 

 palaeontologists of late years. The investigations of the 

 forms foimd in the deep sea has brought the tertiary 

 forms into prominent notice. Following in the line 

 of the researches of Prof. Duncan, the Rev. J. E. T. 

 Woods has recently published {Journal and Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. xi., 1878) 

 a paper on some Australian tertiary corals, in which he 

 describes some new species from Muddy Creek, near 

 Hamilton, in Western Victoria, Some of the species are 

 very interesting, and the author concludes his paper by 

 asserting : — i. That there is no species of the genus 

 CaryophyUia hving in the Austrahan seas, or to be found 

 fossil in its rocks. 2. That there are three well-marked 

 and peculiar forms of Deltocyathus. 3. That of the two 

 species known of Sphenotrochus in Australia, one is still 

 Uving {S. variolaris, n.s.) at a depth of seventy fathoms. 

 4. That there are two fossil analogues of the li\Tng Cono- 

 cyathus sulcatus, which itself is supposed to be identical 

 with a European miocene form. 5. That there is a fossil 

 form in the miocene rocks of Australia, of the cretaceous 

 genus Smilotrochus. The Rev. W. Woods mentions 

 that he is preparing a monograph of the recent species 

 of Australian corals. 



Herring Culture. — Dr. H. A. Meyer has published 

 an interesting contribution to the natural history of this 

 important fish, as part i of a series of short papers to be 

 issued by the Commission for the Scientific Investigation 

 of the German Sea (Berhn, 1878). In this he supple- 

 ments his previous researches into the influence of the 

 temperature on the development of the spring herrings' 

 eggs. It may be remembered that in the large report pub- 

 lished by the Commission it was found that the escape, of 

 the herring from the tgg, in the case of the autumn 

 herring, could be verj' considerably delayed by keeping 



