yunei, 1875] 



NATURE 



87 



Beagle, it was collected and sent for inspection to Ehrenberg, and 

 results of great scientific value accrued. Had our great philo- 

 sophic naturalist not been there, this dust might still have fallen 

 on ships to the present day, been swept away as a nuisance, and 

 unrecognised as of any possible interest. That errant species 

 must frequently visit vessels was shown me on a voyage to the 

 East a few years ago. Thus, in the early part of September, in 

 about lat. 12* N. and long. 26° W., a dove flew on board, which, 

 after resting for a short time, again pursued its journey. In 

 about lat. 9° N. and long. 25° \V. a moth, apparently S. con- 

 volvuli, reached the vessel just before the arrival of a squall. In 

 reply to my inquiries, both the officers and crew stated that these 

 were simply very common occurrences. 



I think we may feel confident that most vessels sailing this 

 course meet frequently with like objects, and the interest would 

 be increased by finding whether the same were observed by 

 vessels still further from the nearest land. Could some means 

 be devised for obtaining records of these migratory species, or 

 could some large shipowner be induced to have the same care- 

 lully recorded in the log-books kept on board his vessels, I feel 

 little doubt that we should be astonished by the number and 

 constancy of these wanderers from other lands. The entry in 

 the log-book would ensure the date and approximate latitude 

 and longitude which would bj necessary factors in dealing with 

 this biological question, and would doubtless bear further proof 

 to Mr. Darwin's view of colonisation by chance or occasional 

 visitants. 



So much might be done by some of our present means of 

 unendowed research that it seems weary waiting for the day 

 when a broader education will tend to induce our sailors to 

 reap that abundant harvest of scientific information which they 

 so constantly have the means of acquiring. There is surely 

 some branch of science which might be indebted to every vessel 

 that sails from this country on a foreign voyage, could the pre- 

 liminary information and impetus for inquiry be given to the 

 officers or crew. I believe the "Religious Tract," or some 

 kindred society, provides many of our vessels with devotional 

 literature ; could not our learned societies also compile and pro- 

 vide some scientific works and questions for solution which 

 might be placed in the hands of our sailors, thus affording a 

 pleasure for a long voyage, and producing effects to be appre- 

 ciated by science at home ? 



We should not expect the results of a " Challenger Expe- 

 dition," but then Government outlays for that purpose are some- 

 times few and far between. W, L. Distant 



Streatham Cottage, Buccleuch Road, West Dulwich 



Muraencpsis tridactyla 



With reference to Mr. Kent's letter in your last number 

 (p. 69), I beg leave to point out to you that it is very doubt- 

 ful, according to the best authorities, whether the so-called 

 Murcenopsis tridactyla is even specifically different from Amphi- 

 uma means (i.e. the two-toed form of the same animal). Of the 

 latter this Society have had several living specimens in their 

 collection. One of them (purchased December 6, 1870) is still 

 living in^the Society's Gardens. P. L. Sclater 



Zoological Society of London 



Hardened Glass 



The account of hardened and malleable glass given in 

 Nature, vol. xi. p. 474, interested me greatly. 



It seems hardly possible that a change in the molecular con- 

 stitution of glass can take place without affecting its optical 

 properties. May not this glass, therefore, possess refractive and 

 dispersive powers unlike those of the kind usually employed in 

 lenses ? If it can be made of sufficient purity and is found to 

 have a higher refractive power, it will enable us to make thinner 

 lenses with smaller curves, thus contributing to the further im- 

 provement of optical instruments. James H. Logan 



Jacksonville, Illinois, U.S.A., May 6 



Yorkshire Exhibition "Guide" 

 Will you kindly allow me, as a member of the Science Com- 

 mittee of the Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, 

 held at Leeds, to point out that the Yorkshire " Guide " referred 

 in Nature, voL xii. p. 76, is entirely an unofficial publication. 

 No competent member of the Committee was applied to for 

 information respecting palladium or any other exhibit. The 

 first intimation the Committee had of the wild statements 



contained in the " Guide " was received from a member 

 who purchased a copy in the usual way, and immediate steps 

 were taken to secure that more trustworthy information should 

 be contained in future editions of the *• Guide," unofficial 

 though it be. You will, I think, see that it is rather hard that 

 the Committee should, as by inference they may be, be made 

 responsible for the statements you indicate, and will, I hope, 

 give me space for this repudiation of them. 



H. POCKLINGTON 



Primroses and Cowslips 



In answer to Mr. J. J. Murphy's inquiry in Nature of 

 May 13 (vol. xii. p. 34) I beg to state that the locality in which, 

 as far as I am aware, no primroses are found, is formed by the 

 outcrop of the chalk in the south of Cambridgeshire and north 

 of Hertfordshire, and is bounded on the north and south by the 

 outcrop of the chalk marl and the edge of the London Basin, 

 and east and west by the Great Eastern and Great Northern 

 main lines ; it is, from the nature of the underlying beds, very 

 dry. I have always thought, but perhaps without foundation, 

 that primroses are not generally found in the districts in which 

 cowslips are common, and vice z/ersd, and Mr. Murphy's remark 

 seems to bear out this. 



I have not noticed any instance of the removal of the ovules 

 of cowslips by birds ; and even primroses, in other parts of the 

 garden than those first attacked, have been left untouched, 



Odsey, near Royston, Herts H, George Fordham 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Melbourne Catalogue.— We have received the 

 " First Melbourne General Catalogue " of stars, which is 

 founded upon the observations taken with the Transit 

 Circle under the direction of Mr, EUery, the Government 

 Astronomer, at the New Observatory of Melbourne, 

 between the middle of the year 1863 and the end of 1870. 

 It has been reduced and prepared for publication by Mr. 

 E. J. White, the first assistant, from the materials printed 

 in vols. ii. iii. and iv. of the Melbourne Observations. 

 Vol. i. contained a catalogue of 546 stars resulting from 

 the meridian observations taken previous to the removal 

 of the Observatory to its present site, and called the 

 " Williamstown Catalogue : " in the new publication we 

 have the positions for the beginning of 1870, of 1227 

 stars, with few exceptions observed at least three times, 

 and accompanied by the terms of precession to the third 

 order, proper motions, and Bessel's reduction-constants 

 (as in the British Association Catalogue), with the 

 synonyms in Lacaille, Piazzi, Brisbane, and Johnson. 

 Great care appears to have been taken in calculating the 

 precessions from the mean year of observation to the 

 epoch of the catalogue, and a detailed account of the 

 process employed is given in the introduction. The 

 proper motions of the stars have also been discussed 

 where the means were available, the more uncertain 

 results being distinguished from those possessing greater 

 claim to acceptance by enclosure in parentheses. 



Many of the most interesting stars of the southern 

 heavens are included in this Catalogue, and we note that 

 the remarkable one e Indi has not been overlooked. In 

 this case the recent Melbourne observations, as compared 

 with Jacobs' at Madras in 1852, assign an annual proper 

 motion of 4"'58 in arcjof great circle, thus quite confirm- 

 ing values previously obtained from less reliable data. 

 We hope that at no distant period an attempt will be 

 made to determine the parallax of this star. Large 

 proper motion is indicated for the stars B. A. C. 5719, 

 Arfe, and 7816, Indi ; but on comparing the Melbourne 

 positions with those in Gilliss's Santiago Catalogue, in 

 the Washington volume of observations for 1868, not 

 mentioned by Mr. White amongst the authorities he had 

 consulted, it is not confirmed in either case. 



The " First Melbourne Catalogue " is a handsome 

 specimen of typography from the Government Printing 

 Office. It must lonn ^n essential work of reference for 

 every southern astronomer, who has now, with the " Cape 



