Nov. 8, 1888" 



NATURE 



The thirteenth yearly Report of the Forest Meteorological 



Stations of the German Empire, for the year 1887, published by 



Dr. A. Miittrich, contains monthly and yearly results for sixteen 



-ins. The temperature and humidity are observed in the 



; country, in the forests, and in the crowns of the trees. The 



rt contains, besides, other data of interest, such as evapora- 



ind rainfall, and the dates of first and last frosts. 



In a lecture delivered at Trevandrum by Lieut. Harold 



Ferguson, and reproduced in the Madras Mail, on " Some 



Popular Errors about Snakes," poisonous snakes are divided 



into three classes: (l) sea-snakes; (2) viperine snakes; and 



(3) poisonous colubrine snakes. All members of the first class 



noisonous. The second class have flat triangular heads, 



may be subdivided into pit vipers and true vipers. The 



vipers are recognizable by having scales and not shields on 



cad, and the pit vipers by a deep depression between the eye 



nostril. It is not easy to distinguish the third class at first 



from the harmless snakes, but it is an unfailing sign that 



itter are covered on the head with large flat scales, which 



bsent from the head of poisonous colubrine snakes. With 



1 to Southern India, the poisonous snakes are not 



Icrous. The largest is the dreaded \\d,xa-Mlrj2,A{Ophiophagus 

 rt, which is very rare. Other poisonous snakes found in that 

 B are the cobra, the bungarus or krait, the callophis (four 

 ks), two species of Trinicrcsitnis, Daboia elegans, and Echis 

 fala. In all there are about twelve species of poisonous 

 ts, five of which inhabit the low country — namely, the 

 I cobra, the two species of bungarus, the daboia, and the echis ; 

 the others are met with only in the hills. 



fi: British Vice-Consul at Candia, in Valencia, in a recent 

 !t on the agriculture of his district, refers to the insect pests 

 of that province. He says that almost all men and boys there 

 are fond of shooting, and they ruthlessly slaughter the small in- 

 sectivorous birds. The result is, of course, disastrous to the 

 farmers. The apple-trees in the district have been almost all 

 destroyed by a worm called locally " hanarriqucr" which eats 

 its way into the trunks of the trees, and then spins a thick cob- 

 Web over the branches. The eggs, which number from thirty to 

 fifty in each nest, are easily found ; but this is rarely, if ever, 

 done. Strange to say, the worm confines its attention to apple- 

 trees ; other fruit-trees flourish there. At Lucerne, in the same 

 district, two species of insect pests are found, both caterpillars 

 — ortiga verde and gusaro negro. The latter is difficult to deal 

 with, as it burrows under the roots of plants, but the former 

 is easily swept off the leaves by a net. The pea crop is attacked 

 by the cadell, a worm, and the hlanquita, an aphis. To com- 

 plete a list of the ills from which agriculture suffers in that region, 

 mildew has this year attacked the vine. 



The Journal de la Chambrc dc Cominerce dc Constantinople 

 states that a method of solidifying petroleum has just been dis- 

 covered. A small quantity of soap is added, and the mixture is 

 heated. When the mixture is allowed to cool, the product can 

 be cut into small cubes like those of compressed charcoal. Thus 

 petroleum can be used as a combustible, it being now easy to 

 transport and manipulate it. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 """ ' week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus Q ) from 

 presented by Miss D. Hughes ; a Vervet Monkey {Cerco- 

 :is lalandii <j ) from West Africa, presented by Miss 

 Helena Blow; a Common Cienet {Gnc/ta 7 ulgaris) from Anda- 

 lusia, presented by Lord Lilford, E.Z. S. ; a Fox {Canis 



) from India, presented by Colonel Sir Oliver B. C. St. John, 



K.C.S.I., F.Z.S. ; an Axis Deer {Ccrvus axis 9 ) from India, 

 presented by Captain W. Miller ; two Hobbies (Falco suhbuteo) 

 from France, presented by M. P. A. Pichot ; a Peregrine Falcon 

 (Falco fercgrinus), captured at sea, off the coast of Florida, pre- 



sented by Captain J. Smith ; a Knot {Tringa canutus), British, 

 presented by Mr. C. Whymper, F.Z.S. ; a Pallas's Sand-Grouse 

 (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) horn Fifeshire, N.B., presented by Mr. 

 John Duncan ; an Egyptian Vulture {Neophron percnopterus) from 

 North Africa, presented by Captain A. Kent ; a Polar Bear 

 (O'rsus maritimiis) from the Arctic Regions, a Ruffed Lemur 

 {Lemur varius) from Madagascar, a Yak {Poiphagus grunniens 

 9) from Tibet, deposited; a Blue Jay {Cyanocitta cristata) 

 from North America, purchased ; a Crested Pigeon {Ocyphaps 

 lophotes), a Bolle's Pigeon {Columba bollii), bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Observation of Faint Minima of Variables.— Mr. S. 

 C. Chandler has followed his Catalogue of Variable Stars by 

 another much-needed piece of work. Pointing out how deplor- 

 ably deficient is our knowledge of the light-changes of such 

 variables as become too faint for ordinary telescopes to follow 

 them, he strongly urges {Astr. Journal, No. 183) upon the 

 possessors of the great modern refractors that they could not better 

 employ their high optical powers than in this neglected field. 

 And in order to afford the greatest possible inducement for them 

 to undertake such a research, or at all events to remove as many 

 hindrances out of their way as possible, he has supplied the data 

 necessary for identification for some sixty-nine or seventy stars, 

 the minimum for which is fainter than the 12th magnitude, 

 together with a hypothetical ephemeris for the time of minimum 

 for those stars which are likely to pass through that phase during 

 the next fourteen months. The time of minimum has been 

 assumed to precede that of maximum by 0*45 of the period. 

 Mr. Chandler believes that he has discovered a curious relation 

 between the form of the light-curve and the period. He does 

 not, however, give this relation, but expects that the minima 

 will fall earlier than predicted for stars with periods of from five 

 to ten months or longer than^ thirteen months, but that in stars 

 with periods from ten to thirteen months the minima will 

 probably fall a little late. Argelander's method of observation 

 is recommended. 



Oxygen Lines in the Solar Spectrum. — M. Janssen 

 has made a very toilsome, not to say somewhat dangerous, expe- 

 dition in order to determine whether the groups of lines seen 

 in the solar spectrum, and which he had shown to belong to 

 oxygen, were wholly due to the influence of our atmosphere, or 

 partly due to the absorption of oxygen in that of the sun. He 

 therefore resolved to ascend Mont Blanc at a late period in the 

 season, when the cold would be sufficiently intense to secure the 

 absence of any appreciable amount of water vapour from the 

 atmosphere. The station chosen was that of Les Grands Mulcts, 

 on account of the cabin there, which would afford shelter to t he 

 observers during the period that it might be necessary to continue 

 the observations. The ascent was made on October 13, and 

 the following day was devoted to the adjustment of the instru- 

 ments. October 15 and 16 were most fortunately very fine days, 

 and the observations were made under the most favourable con- 

 ditions. The result was to show that both the bands and lines 

 of oxygen, as identified by M. Janssen in the solar spectrum by 

 his previous experiments, are due entirely to the earth's atmo- 

 sphere. The system of bands— those in the red, in the yellow, 

 and the blue, the intensity of which varied with the square of 

 the density of the absorbing oxygen — was altogether wanting, 

 and the groups of dark lines, viz. A, B, and a, which M. 

 Janssen had found, in the experiments above referred to, to vary 

 as the simple density, were so much enfeebled as to leave little 

 doubt but that they, loo, would disappear could we wholly 

 eliminate the influence of our atmosphere. Of course this result 

 does not prove the absence of oxygen from the sun, but merely 

 that it does not show its presence by the same characteristic 

 bands and groups of lines as it does in the case of our own 

 atmosphere. 



New Minor PLANETS.—Herr Palisa has discovered three new 

 minor planets. No. 279 on October 25, No. 280 on October 29, 

 and No. 281 on October 31. Of these No. 279 may possibly 

 prove to be Medusa, No. 149 ; and No. 280 was at first thought 

 to be Oppavia, No. 255, but is more probably a new planet. 



