l62 



NA TUKE 



[June i6, 1892 



and declination amount to ± o"o5 and ± o"-o5 respectively; 

 the actual probable errors somewhat exceeding these values, as 

 they involve the scale inaccuracies and other possible sources 

 of error. 



The Planet Mars.— In the early morning Mars is now 

 visible on our eastern horizon. This period of 1892 will be the 

 most favourable for observation that we have had since the 

 year 1877. The opposition takes place on August 4 next, 

 when the planet is near perihelion, so that its proximity to us 

 will not be quite so great as was the case in 1877. The longi- 

 tude of the planet at the time of its perihelion passage will be 

 333° 49'. but our earth will not reach this until August 27. 

 The apparent diameter on the i8th of this month will amount 

 to I7"'66, while on August 5 it will be 24"78; the phases 

 for these two dates will be respectively i" -34 and o" 05. The 

 positions for the 17th, 21st, and 25th of this month are as 

 ollows : — 

 June 

 17 

 21 



25 



R. A. 

 .. 2ih. i6ai. 

 .. 2ih. 20m. 

 .. 2ih. 22m. 



Decl. 



-20° 4' 



20° 7' 



20° 13' 



L'Asironomie for June contains a very interesting article by 

 M. Camille Flammarion, in which tome quite recent observations 

 of this planet are inserted. There are al.so several illustrations 

 of the physical features, including the new map by M. Lohse 

 and the drawings made by M. Nieston during the year 1888. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES, 



The French Ministry of Public Instruction has authorized M. 

 Ch. Almand, of the Natural History Museum of Limoges, to 

 study the Seychelles Islands in detail with special reference to 

 their fauna. 



The Geographical Society of Lima has just issued the last 

 number of the first volume of its Boletin, a most creditable pub- 

 lication containing many articles bearing on the geography of 

 Peru and the Andes. Amongst the more important papers in 

 the current issue are a monograph on Lake Titicaca, a dis- 

 cussion of the climatology of Peru, by Dr. Luis Cairanza, and 

 the report of a recent Commission sent out by the Peruvian 

 Government to inspect the new road across the Andes leading to 

 the highest navigable point on the eastern rivers. The road 

 starting from Chicla, the temporary terminus of the Oroya rail- 

 way, crosses the watershed at Casapalca at 17,500 feet of eleva- 

 tion, passes Tarma, Palca, La Merccd, and thence runs north- 

 ward through a liitle-known region inhabited by native tribes to 

 Puerto Tucker, at the junction of the Pichis with the navigable 

 tributaries of the Ucayali. In referring to this road at a recent 

 meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, the Peruvian 

 Consul pointed out that it would be easy, if a railway were con- 

 structed following the line of this road, and connecting steamers 

 run on the Amazon and Ucayali, to reach Lima from London in 

 twenty days instead of a month as is now necessary. Other 

 papers in the Boletin deal with the archseology of the Andes 

 region ; all branches of geography being well represented. 



A NEW Russian Expedition to Eastern Tibet and Sze-chuan 

 in China has been decided on, and will set out next year, under 

 the leadership of M. Potanin. It is intended to spend three years 

 in the exploration, a sum 0130,000 rubles (about ;^300o) being 

 granted by the Russian Government towards the expenses. 

 Capt. Roboroffski accompanies the expedition, on the staff of 

 which various scientific specialists will also be placed. 



At the May meeting of the Paris Societe de Geographie the 

 great gold medal was presented to M. Elisee Reclus for his 

 " Nouvelle Geographie Universelle," a work which, though 

 unfinished, is of unique value, and is respected and consulted in 

 all countries. This award is significant of the feeling that care- 

 ful and conscientious collation and generalization of the work of 

 explorers anA travellers occupies a much higher place in the 

 science of geography than has been hitherto accorded it. Amongst 

 those to whom other gold medals werea warded are the Prince of 

 Monaco, for oceanographical research ; M. A. Paine, for explora- 

 tions in Indo-China ; M. J. de Morgan, for travels in Persia 

 and Kurdistan ; M. H. Coudreau, for ten years of exploration 

 in the interior of French Guiana ; and M. Alfred Fourneau, for 

 exploration in French Congo. 



NO. II 8 I , VOL. 46] 



NAPLES ACADEMY OF SCIENCES} 



'T'HIS volume has been much delayed on account of a memoir 

 •^ by Prof. Trinchese on Khodope veranii. That paper 

 should have constituted the first of the present volume, but a 

 notice leaf after the title-pa^ie informs us that it will be sent later 

 on as a separate pamphlet. 1 n c nsequence the volume starts with 

 an elaborate paper in French, of 72 pages and three plates, by 

 M. S. Kantor, "Sur la solution canoniqueduproblemedes trans- 

 formations birationnelles periodiques," iv.^ partie. This memoir 

 treats of " Methodes et problemes ; les caracteristiques internes 

 et les caracteristiques permutables ; les caracteristiques a 6, 7, 8 

 points ; theorie arithmetique des caracteristiques de transforma- 

 tions birationnelles ; les complex anallagmatiques de singularitcs 

 et de la reductibilite des caracteristiques par equivalence 

 birationnelles ; les groupes impropres ; les matrices birationnelles 

 de M. de Jonquierc ; et sur plusieurs groupes de caracteristiques 

 et de transformations." 



Prof. F. Bassani contributes a paper on the Miocene Ichthyo- 

 lites of Sardinia, from specimens collected and placed in his 

 hands by Prof. L ovisato. The tables, cross references, and index 

 are admirable, and of great use to specialists in this branch. 

 Many of our English workers, and above all. Societies, should 

 take a [e.-son from this. It is occasionally the author of a paper, 

 but far more frequently the responsible authorities of some 

 scientific body, that are the cause of such valuable details not 

 appearing in a paper. How often does it occur that for a paltry 

 economy, a valuable memoir is cast upon the world a dismembered 

 trunk, little comprehensible to the reader, and often a curse to the 

 writer, who is exposed to all sorts of absurd criticisms because 

 his original statements have been pruned to deformed stumps 

 and his tables entirely suppressed. 



Several old species are more fully illustrated by descriptions 

 and neat plates drawn by Mrs. Bassani, as well as a new species 

 of Thyrsites, Thynnus, Lamna, Myliobatis, &c. 



Prof. Eugenio Scaccbi has a memoir on the crystallography of 

 certain new salts obtained by Prof. F. Mauro. The fluoxi- 

 molybdate of copper is found to be monoclinic. Hypofluoxi- 

 molybdate of copper is also monoclinic, whilst the hypofluoxi- 

 molybdate of zinc is rhombobedral. Observations were difficult 

 on account of the great deliquescence of these salts . The memoir 

 is accompanied by one plate of crystal drawings. 



Dr. Otto Schmiedeknecht, on his return from an entomological 

 excursion to the Ionian Islands, placed in the hands of Prof. A. 

 Costa all the Tenthredinidge and Cephina that he had collected 

 there. Prof. Costa describes these under 68 species, 9 of which 

 are new. This is followed by a new genus of Italian Tenthre- 

 diiiidas, named Laurentia, represented by the species Laureniia 

 Craverii. The third section of this "Miscellanea Entomologica" 

 is constituted by the description of four species of Armenian 

 Hymenoptera : Hyloto7na cyamira, Allantus violaceipmnis, 

 Lissonota ducalis, and Lissonota decorata. The "Miscellanea 

 Entomologica " terminates with a new African Blattid, the 

 Derocalyinma Brunneriana, and is illustrated by one plate of 

 figures in black. 



Prof. G. Nicolucci, in a "Glimpse at the Ethnology of Egypt," 

 discusses the different theories concerning the origin of the 

 ancient Egyptians. By comparing the results obtained from 

 historical records, monuments, anatomical observations, and 

 descriptions of the people by ancient writers, he concludes (i) 

 that the Egyptians belong to a white family related in prehistoric 

 times to a Semitic branch ; (2) that their physical characters form a 

 type apart, which is clearly revealed in the monuments and the 

 skulls obtained from the tombs of all periods ; (3) that this type 

 is the purer the more remote is the period of the monuments ; 

 (4) that it is true the immigration of other people into Egypt 

 modified in part the primitive type of the population, but that 

 the principal part of the Egyptians have always retained their 

 primitive characters ; (5) at the present, although the type has 

 been crossed by intermarriage with different people in the cities, 

 and other points frequented by strangers, it retains its original 

 character in the Fellah, who are the true and legitimate 

 modern descendants of the constructors of the Pyramids. 



Prof. Nicolucci considers the Copts to be descended from 

 ancient Egyptians, but with some infiltration of negro blood. 

 The paper is accompanied by two plates, one of several modern 

 Egyptian types, and one of the portrait of Rameses II. side by 

 side with that of a Fellah. 



I Atti della Realc Accademia delle Scienze Fhiche e Mateinaluhc di 

 Napoli, Serie Secjnda, vol. iv., Napoli, 1891. 



