114 



NA TURE 



\Nov. 29, 1 1 



"Sometime ago," he says, "a boy brought in an egg found 

 near a waterhole, which was placed with other eggs under a 

 sitting hen, and in due course hatched out a wood-duck. The 

 wood-duck was reared among a clutch of chickens, was as well 

 tended as her other chicks by the mother hen, and reached adult 

 age. On one occasion a hen brought cut a brood of chickens, 

 and the wood-duck kept in close companionship with the hen and 

 chicks for several days, until the hen took umbrage at the duck's 

 constant attendance, and several fights between the hen and duck 

 ensued. Eventually the duck drove away the hen, and took sole 

 charge of the chickens throughout the day, the hen following 

 round disconsolately till night-fall each day, when the duck sur 

 rendered her charge, allowing the mother to brood over them at 

 night, but again taking charge of them in the morning. This 

 continued till the chickens were able to take care of themselves. " 



The writer of the article on " The Opening of the Pasteur 

 Institute " (Nature, November 22), informs us that by an 

 oversight a misprint occurs on p. 74, in the first line of the 

 second paragraph. Class C. should read Class A. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Black-eared Marmoset {Hapale penicillata) 

 from South-East Brazil, presented by Miss B. Pollock ; a Mal- 

 brouck Monkey {Cercopithectis cj/nosurus) from We it Africa, 



presented by Mr. David Baumann ; a Toad {Bitfo ) 



from California, presented by Mr. D. E. Cardinall ; a North 

 American Turkey {iMekagris gallo-pavo) from North America, 

 presented by Mr. F. J. Coleridge Boles ; a Tawny Owl {Syrnium 

 aluco), European, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1888 e (Barnard, September 2). — Dr. f>. Becker, 

 who has recently computed elements for this come t by the method 

 of variation of the distances, finds {Dun Eck( Cij-cular, No. 164) 

 that the most probable orbit is hyperbolic in character, the 

 residuals for the intermediate observations being much larger for 

 the most suitable parabola than for the hyperbjjic orbit. 



The elements are as follow : — 



T =1889 January 29-90453 G.M.T. 



^ = 339 54 32-1 

 a = 357 15 59-1 \ 

 I = 166 22 24-3 ) 

 I q ~ 0-2595204 

 J ^ = 0-0135800 



Mean Eq. 1888-0. 



Ephevteris for Greenwich Midnight. 



18S8. R.A. DecL \^oz :>.. Log r. Bright- 



h. m. s. o / ness. 



Nov. 29 ... 2 28 2 ... 5 57*3 S. ... 0*0501 ... 0-2971 ... 12-1 



Dec. I ... 2 15 18 ,„ 6 21-D 



3 ....2 3 9 ... 6 41*4 ... 00669 ... 02928 ... 11-4 



5 ... I 51 40 ... 6 58-4 



7 ... 1 40 50 ... 7 12-2 ... 0-0887 ••• 0-2887 ... 10-5 



9 ... I 30 42 ... 7 23-2 



II ... I 21 15 ... 7 31-5 ... 01131 ... 0-2847 ••• 9"6 

 13 ... I 12 29... 7 37-5 



15 ... I 4 21 ... 7 41-2 S. ... 0-1390 ... 02810 .. 87 

 The brightness on September 2 has been taken as unity. 



Dr. Berberich has, however, computed parabolic elements 

 using an observation made at Karlsruhe on October 28, the 

 ephemeris from which satisfies well an observation obtained at 

 Kome as recently as November 7. 



According to Dr. Becker's ephemeris, the comet will pass 

 within i|' of a bright nebula, 100 y I Ceti, a litt'e before mid- 

 night on December 10, and as the head of the comet is of very 

 considerable size, the nebula will be completely involved in it. 

 Th J moon will be near setting, so that, though the comet will 

 be low, about 75° Z. D., spectroscopic observations . might be 

 obtained if the night were clear. Dr. Berberich's elements 

 would place the transit some three hours later, when the comet 

 would have set to English observers, but makes the transit 

 nearly a central one. 



Comets Faye and Barnard, October 30.— The following 

 ephemerides for theje objects for Berlin midnight are by Drs. 

 Lamp and Spitaler respectively {Astr. A'ach., No. 2867) :— 



Dec. 



Dec'. 



29-2 N. 

 12-8 



57-2 



42 -6 



289 



16-2 

 4-5 



53-9 



44 "4 



36 I N. 

 The brightness on December 19 of Faye's 



the brightness at discovery ; of Barnard's, 0-9: Both comets 

 change but slowly in brightness, as the distance from the earth 

 is diminishing, whilst the distance from the sun is increasing. 



The Satellite of Neptune.— Mr. A. Marth pointed out 

 in the Monthly Notices (vol. xlvi. p. 506), some two years ago, 

 that the values for the inclination of the orbit of the satellite of 

 Neptune and its ascending node, as deduced from the observa- 

 tions obtained in Malta in the years 1852 and 1864 by Lassell 

 and Marth, and again at the Washington Naval Observatory from 

 1874 to 1884, show a well-marked, progressive, and regular 

 change. Referring these values to the plane of the orbit of the 

 planet, they are as follows : — 



Date. n. /(motion coiisijered direct). 



1852 176-20 i48'33 



1864 180-41 14619 



1874 182-59 I44'04 



1883 184-31 142-38 



Mr. Marth offered no theory by which to account for this change, 

 but begged for continued observations. Prof. Asaph Hall also 

 has more recently urged the necessity for farther observation, 

 and by fresh observers, avowing at the sa-oie time his suspicion 

 that these changes are due to systematic errors in the ob.serva- 

 tions. But M. Ti.sserand, in a late communication to the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences of Paris, shows that the changes can easily be 

 explained by the theory of a slight flattening of the surface of 

 Neptune. In this case the angle between the plane of the 

 planet's equator and that of the orbit of the satellite will be 

 constant, and the pole of the orbit will revolve in a small circle 

 round the pole of the planet, a complete revolution taking more 

 than 500 years. The inclination of the orbit of the satellite will 

 be considerable, probably greater than 20° ; but the flattening of 

 the surface of Neptune can only be slight, too small to be de- 

 tected by direct measurement. Further observations may enable 

 the amount of the inclination to be more exactly determined, 

 and, at the same time, will show whether the changes in question 

 are due or not to this one cause alone. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1888 DECEMBER 2-8. 

 /■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 December 2 

 Sun rises, 7h. 48m. ; souths, ilh. 49m. 49-os. ; sets, I5h. 51m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, i6h. 36-8JI. ; decl. 22° 5' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2oh. 39m. 

 Moon (New on December 3, loh.) rises, 6h. 3m. ; souths, 

 loh. 56m. ; sets, I5h. 39m. : right asc. on meridian, 

 I5h. 42-7m. ; decl, 15° 23' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. , / 



Mercury.. 6 26 ... 10 51 ... 15 16 ... 15 378 ... 18 26 S. 

 Venus ... 10 41 ... 14 27 ... 18 13 ... 19 14-9 ... 24 21 S. 

 Mars ... II 18 ... 15 24 ... 19 30 ... 20 11-8 ... 21 25 S. 

 Jupiter ... 8 12 ... 12 12 ... 16 12 ... 16 58-9 ... 22 17 S. 

 Saturn ... 21 20*... 4 46 ... 12 12 ... 9 323 ... 15 38 N. 

 Uranus... 3 6 ... 8 31 ... 13 56 ... 13 17-3 ... 7 3° S. 

 Neptune.. 15 22 .. 23 6 ... 6 50*... 3 55-4 ... 18 36 N. 

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

 that of the following morning. 



