494 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1891 



An Oviparous Species of Peripatus. 



Mr. Dendy's observation of the extrusion of incompletely 

 developed eggs in Peripatus is not, as he appears to think, 

 entirely new. Captain Hutton was the first to observe it, in 

 P. nova-zealandia, and I confirmed his observation for the same 

 species in my monograph of the genus. No one knows whether 

 the eggs so extruded undergo complete development. I am 

 inclined to think that the process, which has only been observed 

 in animals in captivity, is an abnormal one, and is caused by the 

 alteration in the conditions of the animal's life. We know that 

 the New Zealand species does bring forth fully-developed 

 young, 



I hope that Mr. Dendy will carry out his intention of fully 

 investigating the development of the Australian species. 



A. Sedgwick, 



Trinity College, Cambridge, September i8. 



A Rare Phenomenon. 



On a visit to Dunecht, I was just leaving the Observatory 

 about II. 18 G.M.T. on the loth inst., when I saw a sharply- 

 defined straight streak of light arching the sky from east to 

 west. It was about l° in width, and of uniform brightness from 

 side to side, but more intense towards the western horizon, 

 where it disappeared behind the trees at an altitude of some 4°. 

 Eastward it extended across the constellation of Andromeda, 

 near the girdle, quite beyond the convergence point of auroral 

 rays, or fully 120° from the western horizon. This much I saw, 

 but cannot say if the streak passed north or south of the Great 

 Nebula. 



Endeavouring to lay down its course, I perceived that it was 

 rapidly fading, and at the same time drifting southwards at a 

 rate of, perhaps, 1° in five minutes. At iih. 2rom. G.M.T. 

 the western portion was considered to cross the celestial equator 

 in R.A. 2624°, passing through a point in R.A, 310° and Decl. 

 -f 23" (1840-0). In the meantime the eastern portion had faded 

 away. Although there was a bright aurora in the north-north- 

 west, I did not think that the streak was auroral in character, 

 but rather that it had been caused by the passage of a large 

 meteorite. Next day, however, I stumbled on an account of a 

 similar appearance seen, together with an aurora, by the Rev. 

 Edmund Barrel, at Sutton at- Hone, in Kent, on March 30, 

 1717 (O.S.). In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xxx., after 

 describing an ordinary aurora, the account runs : — 



"Near Eleven a Clock, there was (besides the Northern 

 Brightness) a long Streak, not very broad, extended East and 

 West : Which beginning in the Serpent's- Head, near Hercules'' - 

 Club, and covering Arcturus, proceeded near Berinices Hair, 

 and so went over Cor Leonis, and thence to Canicula, [Procyon, 

 for Sirius had already set] and ended a little beyond that Star. 

 It shone very bright at first, but faded away in about Eight or 

 Nine Minutes. If it had Motion (which I am not sure of) it was 

 Southward. I waited for the next Fit of Brightness of the 

 Aurora ; and in about Seven Minutes, the Eastern Part of the 

 Streak, viz. from the Serpent' s- Head to near Bei-inices Hair, 

 became visible again tho' dim, and was quite effaced in Four or 

 Five Minutes more : And I did not yet perceive any Change of 

 its Place." 



The course described agrees fairly with the arc of a great 

 circle 120° in length, joining Procyon and the head of Serpens. 



Assuming the Dunech^ arch to have been also part of a great 

 circle, its highest point rhust have been 8° 50' east of the 

 meridian, at an altitude of 62° 24' above the southern horizon. 

 The Magnetic Survey of Profs. Riicker and Thorpe gives the 

 point to which the dipping-needle is directed as 19° 49' E. ; alti- 

 tude 71° 3', for 1891-69. 



A letter signed " Wigtownshire " in the Scotsman of Septem- 

 ber 14, dated September 12, says:— "There appeared here 

 last night, between nine and ten, a very bright, luminous arch, 

 reaching froin south-west to north-east. It extended directly 

 over the zenith from horizon to horizon, and formed a very 

 interesting spectacle while it lasted, which was only about half 

 an hour. It seemed to be of electric origin Trom its wavy 

 motion, and was slightly tinged pink at the eastern point just 

 above the horizon. ..." 



Assuming the correctness of the dates on which the arch was 

 observed — and of the Dunecht date I am quite certain — it 

 seems that this rare phenomenon was visible on two successive 

 nights. Ralph Copeland. 



Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, September 21, 



NO. 1143, ^'OL. 44] 



Last Friday, the llth, my attention was called at 9 p.m. to a 

 most remarkable appearance in the slcy. It consisted of a 

 luminous band stretching from the eastern horizon to the west, 

 and passing a little to the south of the zenith. It was first seen 

 here at 8.20, and began as a luminous ray coming up from the 

 west, but when I first saw it, it had extended as described from 

 west to east. It was like a straight tail of a large comet with 

 its head below the horizon, or the track of the beam from a 

 powerful electric search light. Its eastern end lay a little to the 

 south of the Pleiades, which were just rising ; and in the west it 

 passed through Corona Borealis. The night was a brilliant 

 starlight one, and small stars could be seen through the luminous 

 band. It was seen in the Co. Kildare, 50 miles from here, and 

 there it passed through the zenith also, which would show that 

 it was at a great altitude. It gradually faded away, and was 

 gone at 9.30. It would be of interest to know if it was 

 observed in other pans of the country. 



W. E. Wilson. 



Daramona, Streete, Co. Westmeath, September 16. 



SOME NOTES ON THE FRANKFORT 

 INTERNA TIONAL ELECTRICAL EXHIBITION. 



I. 



r\ N arriving in Frankfort one finds oneself in a lofty, 

 ^-^ palatial railway station, compared with which 

 King's Cross looks mean and Victoria Station is a 

 shanty. This new terminus at Frankfort is not, as with 

 us, an hotel with trains whistling and shunting in the 

 back premises ; it is essentially a railway station, standing 

 proudly alone at the western extremity of the town. 

 And the practical Englishman is as much impressed by 

 the completeness of its internal arrangements as by the 

 anti-Ruskin lesson it teaches, that architectural skill when 

 fitly applied to a railway station can produce as noble an 

 edifice as when bestowed on a temple. 



Leaving the railway station all is changed. We are on 

 the outskirts of the town, amid unfinished houses, heaps 

 of bricks, vacant plots strewn with rubbish, and the 

 restless hammering of the house contractor. The Exhibi- 

 tion is close at hand, composed at first sight mainly of 

 wooden hoardings, temporary structures, " restaurations," 

 and bier hallen : it is the Chalk Farm fair again of our 

 early youth, or Chicago in 1873, a month after the great 

 fire. Presenting at the entrance a letter bearing the magic 

 pass-words " Priifungs Commission der Internationalen 

 Electrotechnischen Ausstellung/' we are ushered past the 

 barrier with bows, and find ourselves surrounded on all 

 sides by shows— Siemens and Halske's Miniature Theatre, 

 admission 7.\,d.; Electrical Ballet, admission i^.,2j'.,and ■},s.\ 

 Diving Pavilion, seats ^d., standing room ihd. ; Electrical 

 Race Course, i\d.; Siemens and Halske's Dancing Flames, 

 i\d. ; and so on, all over the Exhibition grounds. Have 

 we come all these miles, at an invitation conveyed to us 

 through the English Foreign Office, merely to visit a 

 collection of what are literally twopenny-halfpenny shows ? 



We try one of them, the Miniature Theatre, passing 

 in by the stage door, through the courtesy of Messrs. 

 Siemens' representative, and thus avoiding the crowd of 

 people that flocks in at every one of the many afternoon 

 and evening performances. In view of the audience are 

 48 handles, which work a large puppet show, but a puppet 

 show without puppets, without music, without acting, 

 without even a joke. Turning any one of 36 of these 

 handles towards the left turns on a group of little white 

 or red or blue incandescent lamps placed at the sides, at 

 the top, and at the bottom of the little stage, but hidden 

 by the scenery from the audience. Turning any one of 

 these handles to the right also turns on the respective set 

 of lamps, but now their brightness can be gradually 

 diminished by revolving one of the remaining 12 handles, 

 which gradually introduces resistance into the particular 

 circuit. For example, either the red, or the white, or the 



