438 



NATURE 



[March 15, 1877 



taking place either at the spring or autumn node for several 

 years, and hence the greater necessity for continuous obser- 

 vation of the sun at the period named. 



Extensive preparation has been made on the recommendation 

 of M. Leverrier ; the Astronomer-Royal availing himself of the 

 telegraph, has notified observers at Madras, Melbourne, Sydney, 

 and at Wellington and Canterbury, New Zealand, and we believe 

 intends to organise a careful watch upon the sun's disc at the 

 Royal Observatory, Greenwich. We know that a similar scru- 

 tiny will be carried into effect in American longitudes, so that it 

 is not probable that a planet can present itself upon the sun on 

 this occasion without being detected. Photography will be 

 brought into requisition at more than one station. Where it is 

 not available in the event of a planetary body being detected, it 

 will be necessary to determine the differences of right ascension 

 and declination from the sun's limbs at frequent intervals as long 

 as the object is projected upon the disc ; from such observations 

 carefully made the position of the orbit will be very approxi- 

 mately determined, and we should be enabled to follow up the 

 new member of the solar system. 



The New Observatory at Kiel. — Prof. Peters has issued a 

 brief description of the new observatory just erected a little to the 

 north of Kiel, the present head-quarters of the Astrononiischc 

 Nachrichten. The unfavourable position of the observatory at 

 Altona, so long directed by Prof. Schumacher, and the desire to 

 bring the establishment into nearer relation to the university at 

 Kiel, led to successful negotiations about twelve years since for a 

 suitable site near the town. The buildings were commenced in 

 1 87 1 and are now completed. There is a free horizon and a con- 

 siderably better climate than at Altona, and no interruption from 

 surrounding buildings. 



The instruments in the new observatory include Reichenbach's 

 meridian circle, formerly at Altona, which was so far improved 

 by Repsold, as described in the AstronomiscJie Nachrichten, that 

 it may be considered a new instrument. The Repsold equatorial, 

 also at Altona, is mounted in one of the smaller towers, and in 

 another, a parallactically-mounted comet-seeker, to which is 

 attached a 4-feet refractor, its optical axis being parallel to that 

 of the comet-seeker. Prof. Peters explains that the refractor 

 being provided with a high power, may be useful in deciding 

 whether any nebulosity caught up in the seeker is a comet ^ or a 

 star-cluster. 



About two months since, an equatoreally mounted refractor by 

 Steinheil of Munich, with an object-glass eight Paris inches in 

 diameter, was added, of the performance of which Prof. Peters 

 promises details at a future date. The meridian circle is at 

 present employed in the observation of all stars to the ninth 

 magnitude, within 10° from the pole, the same class of work, 

 indeed, in which Schwerd and Carrington so long occupied 

 themselves'. 



The position of the new observatory at Kiel is in longitude 

 oh. 40m. 35 "5 E. of Greenwich, and latitude 54° 20' 297". 



Besides its connection with the Kiel University, the observa- 

 tory is also in relation to the Danish Marine, and contains faci- 

 lities for testing the rates of chronometers at different tempera- 

 tures, and a time-ball, apparently very similar to the one at our 

 Royal Observatory, which is dropped at noon, mean time at 

 Kiel. 



65'OPHIUCHI (Fl.). — Of this star Baily says, " Observed by 

 Flamsteed on May 6, 1691, at I4h. lom. 58s., and regularly 

 reduced by him. . . . But no such star is now to be found. It 

 is neither Piazzi xvii. 308, nor xvi, 251, as conjectured by that 

 astronomer. Prof. Airy has been kind enough to look for this 

 star, at my request, but has not been able to discover it." The 

 place of this star, given in the British Catalogue, brought up to 

 1850, is — 



R-A lyh. 51m. 37 •6s. Precession + 3*5o6s. 



N.P.D. ... 1070 59' 18" „ + 0732" 



There is no star in this position in Argelander's southern zones, 

 nor in the zones observed at Washington ; neither is there any 

 star in these zones with which it can easily be identified, on 

 admitting' any probable error of observation. Did Flamsteed 

 observe an object of the class which we are accustomed to term 

 "new stars ? " The Chinese annals record the appearance cf an 

 extraordinary star in the year 386, which remained stationary 

 from April to July in the same "sidereal-division" that 65 

 Ophiuchi would fall, and then disappeared. It may be worth 

 while to watch any small stars near its position. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 

 Flora of New Guinea. — Letters from Sydney of January 

 12 state that the Italian traveller, D'Albertis, had returned 

 there from his last trip to New Guinea, and was engaged in 

 preparing an account of his voyage up the Fly River. His 

 fine collection of dried plants is in the hands of Baron von 

 Mueller at Melbourne, who is describing many of the new plants 

 in his "Papuan Flora," Among them is a grand Hibiscus, 

 which Baron von Mueller has named Hibiscus albertisii ; its 

 nearest affinity is with Hibiscus tupilijlorus of Hooker, of Gua- 

 daloupe and Dominica, in the West Indies. There is also a new 

 Mtuuna, which he has named Mucuna bennetti. D'Albertis 

 describes this as one of the most beautiful of all the flowers seen 

 in New Guinea ; it is abundant on the banks of the Fly River, 

 and the pendulous masses of large red blossoms cover the loftiest 

 trees from the base to the summit and form one of the most 

 gorgeous sights it is possible to conceive. There was also a yellow 

 flowering species of the same genus which was rare, and only 

 met with in the interior of New Guinea, in lat, 6° south, on the 

 banks of the Fly River. The flowers of this species were only 

 seen en the tops of the trees, forming a dense mass of blossoms. 

 T'"i;re was likewise another species of Alucuna met with, bearing 

 blue flowers. All these and a number of other novelties will 

 duly appear in Baron von Mueller's forthcoming part of his 

 ' ' Papuan Flora. " 



Sai-mo Arcturus, — We are informed that the Salmonoid 

 brought home by the Arctic Expedition from Grinneli Land is a 

 new species of Charr, described by Dr, Giinther under the name 

 of Salmo arcturus. It resembles in some points the Loch Killin 

 Charr from Inverness-shire, 



Prof, Ovsiannikoff on the Functions of the Cere- 

 bellum, — In the seventh volume of the Memoirs of the St. 

 Petersburg Society of Naturalists Prof, Ovsiannikoff communi- 

 cates the results of experiments he has made in collaboration 

 with M, Weliky on the physiological functions of the cerebellum. 

 Preventing, by the tying of the carotid artery, the effusion of 

 blood which usually accompanies the cutting out of the cere- 

 bellum, Prof, Ovsiannikoff proved by a series of experiments 

 that the last operation does not at all paralyse the co-ordination 

 cf motion. A rabbit remained alive during two weeks after all 

 the upper half of the cerebellum was cut out, and did not show 

 any traces of such paralysis, nor did it lose its faculty of co-ordi- 

 nating its movements after all the cerebellum was cut out, until 

 an effusion of blood produced this result, A long series of 

 varied experiments made by M, Ovsiannikoff on rabbits, pigeons, 

 fishes, and frogs, confirms this result, as well as some well- 

 known pathological cases reported by Brown-Sequard, Marc, 

 Combetta, and others. 



Fauna of Lake Gokcha. — The seventh volume of the 

 Metnoirs of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists contains 

 interesting information, by Prof, Kessler, on Lake Gokcha, lying 

 in the Erivan government (Caucasus), at a height of 6,419 feet. 

 It is surrounded with mountains from 9,000 to 12,000 feet high, 

 and occupies about 660 square miles. Altogether its average 

 depth is from 150 to 250 feet, reaching only in one instance t 



