6o6 



NATURE 



[October i8, 1900 



The October issue of the Entomologist contains a summary 

 of the capture of rare British insects during the past summer 

 and autumn. In addition to the swarms of the pale clouded 

 yellow butterfly (Coitas hyale), to which allusion has been 

 already made, no less than ten examples of the Camberwell 

 beauty ( Vanessa antiopa) are recorded as having been taken in 

 the south-east and east of England. Caterpillars of the death's- 

 head moth {Acherontia atropos) have been extraordinarily 

 abundant in potato crops during the season, and many other 

 rarities are recorded. 



The Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society for 

 October contains a useful list of courses in mathematics 

 announced by seventeen German universities for the 1900-1901 

 session. 



The Department of Mines, Victoria, has issued No. 7 of the 

 Reports of the Victorian Coal-fields, by Mr. James Stirling, the 

 Government geologist. It consists of descriptions, with illustra- 

 tions, of the fossil flora of the Jurassic beds of South Gippsland. 



A SIMPLE description of the movements and obvious character- 

 istics of the members of the solar system, and other celestial 

 bodies, is given in Mr. W. T, Lynn's " Astronomy for the 

 Young" (pp. 51), the second edition of which has just been 

 published by Mr. G. Stoneman, London, E.G. 



The lecture syllabus of the Hull Scientific and Field 

 Naturalists' Club for the winter session ranging from October 

 to March has just reached us, and gives promise of a lull and 

 interesting winter's work. Judging by the contents of the Trans- 

 actions of the Club for 1900, a copy of which has also been sent 

 to us, the institution is in a healthy and vigorous condition. 



County floras have at present been pretty much confined 

 to flowering plants and fern allies. We welcome the precedent 

 set by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union in issuing an Alga-Flora 

 of Yorkshire, being a complete account of the known freshwater 

 algse of the county, by Mr. W. West and Mr. G. S. West. The 

 present publication, which is only a first instalment, includes 

 208 species. 



The October number of the Contemporary Keveiiv contains 

 two articles of scientific interest, one, by Prof. Marcus Hartog, 

 on " Interpolation in Memory," and one by Mr. A. Shadwell, 

 entitled " The true aim of Preventive Medicine." The current 

 issue of the Humanitarian has in it a very readable contribution 

 on " Heredity as a Factor in the Interpretation of Disease," from 

 the pen of Prof. D. J. Hamilton of Aberdeen. 



A PROOF of old Semitic influence in South Africa is aff'orded, 

 according to K. Meinhof {Globus, Band Ixxviii. p. 203), by the 

 occurrence of the word "darami" or " ndalama " in various 

 Bantu dialects for " gold." An ancient Arabic word for gold was 

 "dirhem,"pl. " darahim." According to the phonetic system 

 of the Bantu languages this would necessarily be transformed 

 into "ndalama." 



Mr. C. Fox-Strangways contributes some interesting notes 

 on Spitsbergen and Iceland in the Transactions of the Leicester 

 Philosophical Society for April, 1900. Having spent only a 

 short time on these islands, the author does not claim to record 

 much that is new regarding them, and his article is written 

 chiefly in explanation of a series of photographs which are 

 reproduced to accompany the notes. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Brown Capuchin {Cebus Jatuelliis) from 

 Guiana, presented by Mrs. W. L. Gower; two Yellow-whiskered 

 Lemurs (Lemur xanthomystax) from Madagascar, presented by 

 Mr. J. B. Joel ; a Common Genet {Genetta vulgaris), European, 

 presented by Baron de Soutellinlio ; an Alligator (Alligator 

 NO. 1616, vol. 62] 



mississippiensis) from North America, presented by Mrs. 

 Bazalgette ; a Porose Crocodile {Crocodiltis porosus) from the 

 East Indies, presented by Miss Gwendoline Waite ; a Broad- 

 nosed Lemur (Hapalemur simus) from Madagascar, four Indian 

 Fruit Bsii?, {Pteropus medius), six Starred Tortoises (Testudo 

 elegans) from India, a Dusky Sloth [Bradypus infuscatus) from 

 Colombia, an Illiger's Macaw {Ara maracana) from Brazil, two 

 Salvin's Amazons {Chrysotis salvini), an Annulated Terrapin 

 (Nicoria anmilata), a Brazilian Tortoise (Testudo tabulata), an 

 Electric Eel (Gymnotis electricus) from South America, four 

 Wrinkled Terrapins {Cyclemmys scripta rugo'sus) from the West 

 Indies, a Common Water-Buck (Cobus ellipsiprymnus) from 

 South Africa, deposited ; a Violaceous Night Heron {Nycticorax 

 violaceus) from South America, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Ephemeris for Observations of Eros :— 



R.A.' 



Decl. 



Oct. 



2 36 36 GO 



35 3095 



34 21 37 



33 7-26 



31 4874 



30 25-82 



28 58-65 

 2 27 27-35 



New Planetary Nebula.— Mr. R. G. Aitken writes to the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten (Bd. 153, No 3667) announcing that 

 the object catalogued as star BD -t- 83°-357 is a small planetary 

 nebula. With the 36 inch Lick telescope the object appears to 

 have a stellar nucleus of about 10 5-1 1 magnitude centrally 

 placed in a circular nebulous envelope about 5"-6" of arc in 

 diameter. The complete object is about 9-5 magnitude, and 

 its position is : — 



+ 50 47 I3"4 

 51 4 38-6 

 51 21 32-0 

 51 37 51-5 



51 53 35-1 



52 8 41 -o 

 52 23 7-4 



-1-52 36 52-0 



h. m. s. 

 RA. 12 29 10 

 Decl. -i- 83° 21' -8 



}(i85S'o). 



Paris Observatory, Annual Report. — In his report of 

 the work accomplished at the Paris Observatory during the year 

 1899, M. Loewy, the director, states that a considerable part of 

 the time was spent in preparing for the Exposition. Special 

 photographs on a large scale were taken of the moon about the 

 time of first and last quarter, giving an image about i jSm. in 

 diameter ; considerable difficulty was encountered in the pre- 

 paration of the plates for these, and special mention is made of 

 the services rendered by MM. Lumiere in this matter. Among 

 the new instruments adopted are (a) the mercury bath designed 

 by M. Hamy for registering earth tremors, {b) a new micrometer 

 by Gautier for measuring the chart plates, [c) a new form of 

 chronograph designed by M. I'Abbe Verschaffel, director of the 

 Abbadia Observatory. This latter has been introduced for use in 

 the proposed new determination of the diff"erence in longitude 

 between Paris and Greenwich. 



For the chart photographs ninety-six sheets have been issued, 

 and the first part of the catalogue, giving the exact positions of 

 stars down to the eleventh magnitude, will ba issued during the 

 present year. An investigation is in progress for determining 

 more accurately the photographic magnitudes of stars. Valuable 

 help has been given by M. I'Abbe Verschaffel, of Abbadia, who 

 has determined the coordinates of 3700 fundamental stars of 

 reference for the chart photographs. A fourth volume of the 

 ' ' Atlas de la Lune," containing seven plates, has been published, 

 accompanied by a descriptive memoir. 



M. Bigourdan has continued his study of the nebulae, having 

 now measured the poiitions and made detailed study of 6000 of 

 them ; to complete his programme of work 400 more still remain 

 to be examined. 



The small equatorial Coude, which was the first instrument 

 of this type, has been entirely remodelled. A new objective has 

 been made by MM. Henry, of longer focus than the old one 

 (5-25 metres instead of 4 "22), the silvered mirrors protected 

 more from the action of atmospheric gases, and the whole in- 

 strument encased in a thick layer of felt. These modifications 

 have removed all the defects existing in the old telescope. 



