66 



NATURE 



{Nov, 17, 1887 



failed this autumn on the north and east coast, on account of the 

 drift-ice, but they have been good on the south coast. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Mongoz Lemur {Lemur mongoz 6 ), an Olive- 

 gray Lemur {Hapalemiir olivaceus) from Madagascar, presented 

 by Capt. J. Bonnerville ; an Anubis Baboon {Cynocephalus 

 anubis) ; an Angolan Vulture {Gypohierax angolensis) from 

 West Africa, presented by Capt. Augustus Kent ; a Peregrine 

 Falcon {Falco peregi-iniis), European, presented by Mr. J. G. 



Keulemans ; a Scops Owl [Scops ) from Baltcitan, 



Himalayas, presented by Mr. John H. Leech, F.Z. S. ; two 

 Rough-scaled Zonures {Zonurtis cordylus) from Robben Island, 

 South Africa, presented by Mr. W. K. Sibley. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Astronomical Society of France. — The science of 

 astronomy has become so increasingly popular in France within 

 the last few years, and Frenchmen have done so much to aid 

 its progress that there is ground for wonder that hitherto there 

 has been no Society in France explicitly devoted to its interests. 

 Such a Society, on lines very similar to those of our own Royal 

 Astronomical Society, has at length been founded, and its first 

 meeting was held on October 12, M. Camille Flammarion, the 

 President, being in the chair. MM. Paul and Prosper Henry, 

 General Parmentier, and M. E. L. Trouvelot are the Vice- 

 Presidents ; and MM. Gerigny and Gunziger the Secretaries ; 

 whilst Dr. Lescaibault, M. G. Secretan, and M. Ch. Trepied 

 are aiiongst the members of Council. At the first meeting, M. 

 Trouvelot read a paper on a remarkable double shadow of the 

 first satellite of Jupiter, observed by him in 1877 when at Cam- 

 bridge, U.S. ; and M. Ch. Mousette exhibited a fine photograph 

 of a sunspot, and some large-scale photographs of portions of the 

 solar spectrum. 



The Lick Observatory. — The Sidereal Messenger for the 

 current month states that Mr. E. E. Barnard,' of Nashville, 

 Tenn., and Mr. J. M. Schaeberle, of the Ann Arbor Observa- 

 tory, both well known for their cometary discoveries, have been 

 appointed as astronomers at this Observatory. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1887 NOVEMBER 20-26. 



/■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 November 20 



Sun rises, 7h. 29m. ; souths, iih. 45m. 44-8s. ; sets, i6h. 3m. : 



right asc. on meridian, I5h. 42 •4m. ; decl. 19° 42' S. 



Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2oh. cm. 

 Moon (at First Quarter November 22, iih.) rises, I2h. 15m. ; 



souths, i6h. 43m. ; sets, 2ih. i8m. : right a-c. on meridian, 



2oh. 41 'om. ; decl. 17° 52' S. 



• Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



26 



23 



Mercury at least distance from the Sun. 



Neptune in opposition to the Sun. 



Venus in conjunction with and i° 6' north 



of Uranus. 

 Mercury stationary. 



Star. 



U Cephei . 

 R Arietis 

 \ Tauri... 

 U Ophiuchi. 



3 Lyrse... 

 7j Aquilse 

 S Sagittae . 



5 Cephei 



M signifies maximum ; 711 minimum. 

 Meteor- Showers. 

 R.A. Decl. 



The Andromedes ... 24 ... 44 N. 

 Near ju Ursx Maj oris. 155 ... 40 N. 



Very slow ; with 



trains. 

 Swift ; streaks. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The Owen Stanley Range of New Guinea, which has been 

 so long known at a distance, has at last been ascended. Mr. E. 

 H. Martin, of Queensland, in August last, reached the summit 

 of the range, which he found to be 13,205 feet high. He reports 

 the north side of the range to be a paradise with great tree-fern~, 

 palms, and other magnificent tropical vegetation. Mr. W. R. 

 Cuthbertson, the leader of the Australian Geographical Society's 

 Expedition, started for Port Moresby on July 20 last, with Mr. G. 

 Hunter as interpreter. Mr. Cuthbertson has not yet succeeded in 

 ascending to the highest point of the Owen Stanley Range, as 

 he intended, but ascended Mount O'Bree, 10,240 feet. 



In No. xi. of Petermanns Mitteihingen, Dr. Paulit.schke de- 

 scribes Captain Stuart King's journey into the country of the 

 Ejssa and Gadaburssi Somali, some 70 miles to the south of 

 Zeyla, in 1886. The paper is accompanied by a map. Dr. von 

 Jhering and P. Langhans conclude their long and elaborate 

 memoir on the southern colonial region of Rio Grande do Sul. 

 Dr. Hans Schinz, who has been so long in the Lake Ngami 

 region, criticizes severely Mr. Farini's narrative of his journey 

 to the Kalahari Desert, the conclusion b;ing very adverse to 

 the trustworthiness of Mr. Farini's narrative. Perhaps the most 

 important contribution to this number is a beautiful map of the 

 Russo Afghan frontier region, based upon the work of Colonel 

 Holdich's Commission. It is remarkable that while Colonel 

 lloldich's work is carefully locked up in the India Office as 

 " confidential," so far as English geographers are concerned, it 

 should be accessible to the geographers of other countries. 



Herr KRAtJSE has returned to the German settlement of 

 Togo, on the Gold Coast, from his journey from Salaga through 

 Dahomey. He has collected from 600 to 800 specimens of 

 plants and seeds, a large number of insects, and numerous 

 specimens of prehistoric articles found between Mosi and 

 Timbuktu. 



The principal paper in the third part of this year's Bulletin 

 of the Paris Geographical Society is an account of a journey 

 made in 1881 by Count de Chavagnac, from Fez to Morocco, 

 north-east to Mekenessa, and eastwards across the numerous 

 wadis that run south into Wed Mellouja, and as far as Ajda. 

 There is also a paper containing a good deal of useful informa- 

 tion, and accompanied by an excellent map, on the ports of 

 Tonquin, by M. J. Renaud. M. Datreuil de Rhins concludes 

 his useful summary of our knowledge of Eastern Tibet. 



The session of the Royal Geographical Society began on 

 Monday, with a paper on Siam, by Mr. J. McCarthy, Super- 

 intendent of Surveys in Siam. Mr. McCarthy has been at work 

 for seven years on the survey of Siam, and some of the results 

 he described in his paper, and embodied in the map by which 



