I04 



NATURE 



[December 3, 1891 



In the period of maximum solar activity the bright line 6676*9 

 was on several occasions seen in the spectroscope, while the 

 height of the chromosphere was being measured at Stonyhurst on 

 the C line of hydrogen. At these times C was always very 

 bright, and generally displaced in the prominences in which 

 6676*9 was seen. The latter line was not seen in the observa- 

 tions taken between March 9, 1886, and September 10, 1891. 

 Although both Young and ThoUon attribute the line to iron, 

 no iron line is given in this position by either Angstrom or the 

 catalogues of the British Association. Duner, quoted by Thollon, 

 considers ths line variable with the state of solar activity, but 

 Angstrom seems to have made an error in drawing it as a fine 

 thin line, as Kirchhoff, Burton, Fievez, Smyth, Thollon, and 

 Higgs give it as a strong dark line. Finally, Young, Burton, and 

 the Stonyhurst observers identify it with Kirchhoff's ray 654*3, 

 and Thollon with 641, which latter is a calcium line. There 

 would, then, appear to be some differences of opinion with regard 

 to this important line (cf. Monthly Notices R.A.S., vol. li.. 

 No. I, p. 22.) A. L. CORTIE. 



St. Beuno's College, St. Asaph, November 19. 



Peculiar Eyes. 



I LABOUR under the peculiar inconvenience of having a right 

 eye of normal power and a short-sighted left eye. The numerals 

 on the face of a clock | of an inch high are visible to the right 

 eye at 12 feet distant ; but in order to discern them as clearly 

 with my left eye I require to bring that organ of vision as near 

 to the figures as 8 inches. On looking at my gold chain hang- 

 ing on my breast in daylight and with both eyes, the chain, 

 coloured yellow and towards the left, is perceived by the right 

 eye, while a steely blue chain, another, yet the same, is per- 

 ceived about an inch to the right and a little higher up. By 

 artificial light the same phenomenon presents itself, but the 

 difference of colour is not so apparent ; the yellow to the right 

 is only dimmer. Again, when a page of Nature is being read 

 with the short-sighted eye, there appears, about an inch to the 

 left, part of the same column, small, and the black, under 

 artificial light, like weak purple. The right-hand side of this 

 ghost-like column is lost to the right eye, being commingled with 

 the larger, darker letters seen by the short-sighted left, which 

 cover it like the more recent writing on a palimpsest. Middle 

 life was reached before the discovery was made. These ex- 

 periences must be gone through with intent, for objects generally 

 being perceived altogether with the right eye, all that the left 

 seems good for is to supply a little more light. The perception 

 of the difference of colour is as good with the one eye as the 

 other, and the short-sighted eye can read smaller type. 



As the inferior animals, so far as I know, have no habit of 

 peeping or looking with one eye shut and the other open, it 

 occurred to me that this ability might be a limited one. I tried 

 the experiment with school children, and to my surprise found 

 that a few were quite unable to keep one eye shut and the other 

 open at the same time, and a'few did it with an effort, making 

 in all about a fourth of the number. Adults were likewise under 

 similar limits, but to a less extent. This may be the reason why 

 the discovery of inequality of vision, as Sir John Herschel 

 remarks, is often made late in life. Indeed, he mentions an 

 elderly person who made the unpleasant discovery that he was 

 altogether blind of an eye. JAS. Shaw. 



Tynron, Dumfriesshire. 



Zoological Regions. • 



The last number of the Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, Ivii., 

 which has just appeared, contains (pp. 277-291, pi. x.) an 

 article by Prof. Mobius, dealing with the zoological regions of 

 the earth, chiefly with a cartographical and " museological " 

 object, in which a set of regions is proposed differing in some 

 respects from that most generally in use. The number of land 

 regions is raised to twelve instead of the usual five or six, and 

 the marine world is likewise subdivided into a number of 

 regions. A part of what may appear innovations is in fact 

 nothing but a reversion to the zoological subdivisions of the 

 world proposed by Schmarda ("Geographische Verbreitung der 

 Thiere ") in 1853. It seems extraordinary that, although al- 

 luding to the works of the principal authorities who have dealt 



NO. II53, VOL. 45] 



with zoogeography since Schmarda, Prof. Mobius should 

 not have referred to that author otherwise than in a second- 

 hand quotation. For not only did Schmarda lay down the 

 basis on which zoological regions have since been elaborated, 

 but his attempt is, everything considered, in many respects 

 superior to that of his immediate successors in the same 

 field. 



It will be seen, on comparing Schmarda's and Mobius's maps, 

 or the table annexed to this note, that several of the regions 

 independently proposed by these authors coincide in their 

 limits, the principal difference being that Schmarda divided 

 the world into a greater number of "Reiche," some of which 

 are merely amalgamated in Mobius's "Gebiete." 



G. A. BOULENGER. 



SCK.MARDA, 1853. 



A. Festland. 



I. ArctischesReich 

 II. Mittel-Europa .. 



VI. 



:vii. 



VIII. 

 X. 



XI. 

 Xtl 

 XIII. 

 XIV. 

 XV. 

 XVI. 

 XVIT. 



xviir. 



XIX. 

 XX.. 

 XXI. 



Mittelmeer Reich ..\ 

 Kaspische Steppen- I 



lander / 



Wiiste I 



Centralasiatische \ 



Steppen | 



China i 



Japan ) 



Nordamerica 



Westafrika \ 



Hochafrika I 



Madagascar 



Indien 1 



Sunda-Welt j 



Australisches Reich .. 

 American. MittelreichJ 



Brasilien I 



Ardo-peruan.-chil. R. \ 



Pampas j 



Patagonien / 



Polinesien 



Meere 



Mobius, 1891. 



A. Landgebiete. 



I. Nordpolar Gebiet. 

 II. Europaisch-Sibirisches G. (-(- 

 part of Schmarda's I.R.). 



XXII. Arctisches M. ... 



XXIII. Antarctisches M. 



XXX. Sudl. Atlant. Oc. 



XXXT. Sudl. Stiller Oc 



XXIV. Nordl. Atlant. Oc. 



XXV. S. Eur. Mittel-M. 



XXVI. Nordl. Stiller Oc. 



XXVII. Trop. Atlant. Oc. 



XXVIII. IndischerOc. ... 



XXIX. Trop. Stiller Oc. 



::.\ 



= III. Mitteln 



= IV. Chinesisches G. 



= X. Nordamerikanisches G. 



= VI. Afrikanisches G. 



= VII. Madagassiches G. 



= V. IndischesG. 



= VIII. Australisches G. 



:= ■ XI. Sudamerikanisches G. 



fVIII. (Part). 



\ IX. Neuseelandisches G. 



B. Meergebiete. 



Nordpolar M. 



Sud-M. 



Nordatlant.^M. 

 Mittel-M. 



Nordpacifisches M. 

 Siidatlantisches M. 

 Indisch-Polynesische 

 Peruanisches M. 



VIII. 



II. 

 III. 

 VII. 

 IV. 



{ v^: 



Scientific Nomenclature. 



A propos of Prof. Parker's interesting article on scientific 

 nomenclature in your issue of the 19th inst. (p. 68), I should 

 like to call attention to the misuse of the term involucre in 

 regard to the Anemone, &c. The so-called involucre of the 

 Anemone is really, morphologically, a calyx, and until the 

 flower-bud has grown to the height of an inch or two from the 

 ground, it to a certain extent performs the ordinary functions of 

 a calyx. Then an internode is developed between the calyx 

 and corolla. But the presence of this internode, long as it is, 

 should no more prevent our assigning to the calyx its proper 

 name, than does the slight internode existing between the calyx 

 and corolla of Lychnis diiirna. 



Great Malvern. » H. St. A. Alder. 



"The Darwinian Society." 



I WOULD call Mr. White's attention to the fact that the name 

 of this Society is not "The Darwinian Society," but '.'The 

 Edinburgh University Darwinian Society " — a name which, con- 

 sidering Darwin's connection with the University and with a 

 similar Society here, I think we are quite entitled to assume. 



-John S. Flett, 

 University of Edinburgh, [Secretary. 



November 24. 



