548 



NA TORE 



[October 5, 189^ 



hifpocrepia, and the Decapod Crustacean Atlianas ni/cscens. 

 The floating fauna has presented hardly any appreciable change : 

 numbers of young Geryonia a/<J>enciiculala, some Margelid 

 medusas and swarms of Obelia, have formed the chief Ccelen- 

 terate element. Nocliluca is generally present in fair quantity. 

 The Ascidian Cioiia intcstinalis is now breeding. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. Duncan Mackintosh ; two Lions {Felis 

 Ico, 9 9jew. ) from Somaliland, presented by The Lord Dela- 

 mere ; four Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerbilliis longifroiis) from 

 Tunis, two Long-tailed Field Mice {Mns sylvaticns) from 

 France, presented by Mons. Albert de Lautreppe ; a Ring- 

 tailed Coati (Xusiia riifa) from South America, presented by 

 Mr. H. Rich ; two White Storks {Ciconia alba) European, 

 presented by Mr. Walter Winans, F.Z. S. ; an Adelaide Parra. 

 keet {Plilycercus adelaulcr) from Australia, presented by Mrs. 

 Waterhouse ; two Common Sheldrakes (Ti^i/iJ'-wa viilfaiiscr) 

 from Scotland, presented by Mr. Francis Alexander ; three 

 'D\ia.xi C\\3me\eon%(C>iaiii(rlci)n piimilns) from South Africa, 

 presented by Mr. Henry Beamish ; an Alligator (Alligator 

 mississippiensis) from Florida, presented by Mr. H. Venn ; a 

 Serval (Fclis serval), a Cape Crowned Crane {Balearica chrys- 

 opelargus), a Secretary Vulture (Serpeittarius reptilivorus), a 

 Black-winged Kite {Elanus cirr.nlcus) from South Africa, a 

 Grey Squirrel [Sciuriis cinerctis) from North America, de- 

 posited ; three Viscachas [Lagostomiis trichodactybts), a Hairy 

 Armadillo {Dasypus villosus), two Ypecaha Rails (Aramides 

 ypecaha), a Great Grebe [ALc/imophonts major) /rom South 

 -•America, a Prctres Amazon {Chrysotis pretrii) from Brazil, 

 purchased ; four Indian Wild Swine (Sus crislatus) born in the 

 Garden?. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



On the Parallax of thf. Planetary Nebula B.D. 

 •f 4i°'4C04. — During the summer of 1892 Dr. J. Wilsing 

 began a series of photographs of Webb's planetary nebular 

 B.D. -t- 4l°'4O04, using the new photographic refractor of the 

 Potsdam Observatory, with the intention of determining the 

 parallax. In the current number of Astronomische Nach- 

 richtcn (No. 3190) he gives an account of the measurements 

 made. The undertaking seems to have been especially difficult 

 on account of the numerous errors that were lial)le to arise, and 

 also to the lack of sharpness of the image of the nebula on the 

 photographic plate. From June 1892 to June 1893 he obtained 

 thirty-four plates with two exposures on each of eight minutes 

 duration, and they were all measured with the Repsold's mea- 

 suring apparatus, a description of which instrument is given in 

 vol. V. of the Publications of the Potsdam Astrophysical Obser- 

 vatory. Six stars were used fir comparison, and the distance 

 of the nebula was measured from two of these star?, the others 

 being used for finding the value in seconds of arc of the measured 

 distances, &c. The distances measured show a distinct decrease, 

 as will be gathered from the following table, when N. 3 and 

 N. 6 denotes the di^ances from the two companion stars 

 respectively : — 



1892-93. 



lune 25 

 July 13 

 Aug. 8 

 Sept. 23 

 Oct. 18 

 Nov. 10 

 Jan. 2 

 June 5 



N. 3. 



24 40 



24-53 

 24 '42 



24"43 

 24'23 



24'32 



24 56 



N. 6. 



13 972 

 9'77 

 9-56 



971 

 9 61 

 9 '60 



943 

 13 961 



Wt. 



Assuming the nelnila di-tinces from these stars ,ts 7' 24 ''40 

 -f 13' 9""6o for iS92'0. the position, correction', relative 

 yearly proper motions, and llie relative parallaxes, when taken 



NO. T24O. VOL. 48] 



into account, gave the following numbers for the equation, 

 observed — calculated 



O - C. 



N, 3. 



N. 



N. 6. 



The negative relative parallax thus obtained shows, as Dr. 

 Wilsing in his concluding remarks says, that the distance of 

 Webb's nebula from the sun cannot be assumed in any way to 

 be less than the distances of both the eleventh-magnitude 

 comparison stars. 



Solar and Lunar Ephemeris for Turin.— In vol. 

 xxviii. of the R. Accademia delle Scieme di Torino, Dr. Alberto 

 Manaira contributes the ephemerides of the sun and moon 

 which he has calculated out for the horizon of Torino for the 

 year 1894. For each day of the month throughout the year he 

 gives the time of rising, meridian pasi.nge, and setting of the 

 sun and moon. Brief reference is also mide to the eclipses 

 visible in that year, giving the time (mean time Rome) of the 

 chief contacts. 



GEOGRAI'HICAL NOTES. 



The MoHvemeril Giographiijue publishes a sketch map of 

 Dr. Baumann's exploration to the northeast of Lake Tan- 

 ganyika, in the country of Urundi. He has traced out the head 

 waters of the Kagera, which take their rise close to Tanganyika 

 and flow down the long slope to the Victoria Nyanza, being 

 thus the ultimate source of the Nile, if it is possible to apply 

 that name to any of the streams which feed Lake Victoria. The 

 mountains between the basin of the Kagera and that of the 

 Rusiji are called by the Warundi Misozi a Mtuedi, or Mountain 

 of the Moon. Some of the summits were apparently abou 

 10,000 feet above the sea. The Rusiji River, which flows int 

 Lake Tanganyika at its northern end, is represented provisional! 

 as flowing from the reported Lake Oso, which receives the 

 drainage from the southern slopes of the JIfumbiro mountains, 

 the north slope of which drains to Lake Albert Edward. If 

 this topography turns out to be correct, the Mfumbiro range 

 form.s the only barrier across the great meridion.al furrow which 

 runs from the Mediterranean to the Zambesi, and includes 

 Lakes Albert, Albert Edward, the possible Oso, Tanganyika, 

 and Nyasa. 



Mk. H, F. B. Lynch, with his brother and a Swiss guide, 

 succeeded, after seven and a half hours' climbing, in making an 

 ascent of Mount Ararat, on September 19, and promises some 

 interesting information regarding his observations on his return 

 to this country. He took some photographs of the mountain 

 scenery. 



Prince Krapotkin publishes his address on the Teaching 

 of Physiography, given at the Teachers' Guild Conference at 

 Oxford, in the October number of the Geographical Journal. 

 He deprecates the exclusive use of the HeimatskunJe in intro- 

 ducing children to thestudy of the earth, and approves rather of 

 teaching geography by considering the earth as a whole, 

 insisting, however, on the importance of personal work by the 

 scholars in their own neighbourhood to extend and give reality 

 to theoretical teaching. 



.\n interesting history of the mapping of the state of Mis» 

 souri, by Mr. Arthur Winslow, assisted by Mr. C. F. Marbut, 

 h.is been published in the Transactions of the .\cademy o 

 Sciences of Missouri. Starting with the dictum that the civili- 

 sation of a people is proportional to the accuracy with which 

 their country is mapped, Mr. Winslow tr.aces the gradual im- 

 provement of the maps of Missouri in a readable way. He 

 gives rough sketches of the more interesting early maps. Fran- 

 quelin's map of l688 is the first on which the name "Mis- 

 sourils " appears, but the river to which the name was applied 

 is very imperfectly drawn. In Sinex's map of 1710 the position 

 of the Mississippi is shown nearly sixty miles too far west, and 

 the mouth of the Missouri twenty-five miles too far north. In 

 Hu Pralz' map of 1763 the error in bolh directions is doubled. 

 Lieutenant Ross, of the British Army, in 1765 made a survey 

 of the .Mississippi, accurate as to latitudes, but wrong in longi- 



