4S0 



KNOWLEDGE. 



December. 1911. 



METEOROLOGY. 



By John A. Curtis. F.K.Met.Soc. 



The weather of the week ended October 21st. as set out in 

 the Weekly Weather Report issued by the Meteorological 

 Office, was at first fair and very warm, but became unsettled, 

 with rains and thunderstorms. Temperature was very high in 

 all districts, and the excess above normal amounted in places 

 to over S°-0. and at Birr Castle to as much as 9°-l. The 

 highest readings reported were 68° at Guernsey, and 67° at 

 Jersey and Margate. The minimum was below freezing point 

 at only two stations. Balmoral 31°, and Nairn 30^. In the 

 English Channel the temperature did not fall below 52°. On 

 the grass readings of 26' at Ci'athes and at Glasgow were 

 reported. Rainfall was below the average in most parts, but 

 was in e.xcess in Scotland W., Ireland and in England. S.E. 

 .\t several places falls of upwards of an inch in twenty-four 

 hours were reported, the greatest being 1 • 7 inches at Brighton 

 on the 21st. Sunshine was less than average. The sunniest 

 stations were Jersey 25-4 hours {34%). and Gordon Castle 

 25-3 hours (35%). In Shetfield the total duration for the 

 week was only 1-2 hours (2%). The mean temperature of the 

 sea water round the coasts ranged from 46-0 at Kirkwall to 

 5S -1 at Newquay. 



Aurora was seen at Fort William on the 17th. 



The week ended October 2Sth, was unsettled throughout.- 

 There was much rain, some snow or sleet in Scotland and 

 many reports of thunderstorms. Temperature was in defect 

 in Scotland, but was not far from the average elsewhere. 

 The highest maxinuun was 62^ at Westminster, on the 22nd. 

 while minima of 32° or below were reported in all districts 

 except the English Channel, where the lowest reading was 

 45". The lowest of the minima were 21° at Fort Augustus 

 and Kilmarnock. On the grass temperature fell to 16° at 

 Llangammarch, and to 17° at Newton Rigg. Rainfall was less 

 than the average in Scotland, N. and W., but was in excess 

 elsewhere, very greatly so in the Channel Islands. Sunshine 

 was in defect except in Scotland N. and in Ireland, but except 

 in the extreme N. and extreme S.. the difference was not 

 large. Falmouth reported the largest aggregate, 28-4 hours 

 (41°i,l, Tenby coming next with 7-2 hours (39%). The mean 

 temperature of the sea water varied from 45 • 1 at Kirkwall to 

 57' -3 at New(iuay. 



During the week ended November 4th, the weather 

 remained unsettled with freeiuent heavy rain. Thunderstorms 

 were reported in the North. Temperature differed but little 

 from the normal : the highest reading was 61° at Shields on the 

 30th, the lowest 15° at Balmoral on the 29th. On the grass, 

 however, the minima were as low as 8° at Llangammarch. 

 and 13° at Balmoral. Rainfall was in excess in all districts, 

 except England N.E. and the English Channel. In Scotland 

 it was from two to three times as much as usual. At Fort 

 .\ugustus the total for the week was 6-49 ins., as compared 

 with an average of 1-80 ins. Sunshine was in excess in the 

 Eastern districts, but in defect in the West. The aggregate 

 ranged from 31-1 hours (46%) at Felixstowe to 2-9 hours (5%) 

 at Baltasound and Fort Augustus. The temperature of the 

 sea water ranged from 42 at Kirkwall to 58° at Salcombe. 



The week ended November 11th was also very unsettled. 

 There were frequent rains but also bright intervals. Thunder- 

 storms were observed over a wide area. Temperature was 

 below the a\erage nearly exerywhere, the difference from 

 average reaching 4-0 in Ireland. The highest maxinuun was 

 61° at Tottenham on the 5th. the lowest minimum being 2F at 

 West Linton on the 10th. In the English Channel the 

 temperature did not fall below 40 . On the grass the lowest 

 reading was 11' at Llangammarch. 



Rainfall was in excess of the average in all districts except 

 England, N.E. In England, S.E., and the English Channel, 

 the total was more than twice the average. Bright sunshine 

 was above the normal in all districts, the greatest excesses being 

 in England, N.E., and the Midland Counties. Sheffield 

 reported the highest aggregate. 32-0 hours (51/'o). At Green- 

 wich the amount was 26-3 hours (41%). The temperature 



of the sea water varied from 40' at Scarborough to 55 

 Newquay and Salcombe. 



at 



KITES IN THE UPP1;R AIR.— On October 21st a kite 

 flown at Pyrton Hill, Oxon, from 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., 

 reached a height of 1,600 feet, and experienced a very strong 

 and gustv wind, during which the pull on the wire ranged from 

 10-lbs. to ISO-lbs. 



GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL.— The Meteorological Office 

 has commenced the issue of the Geophysical Journal, which 

 comprises not only Meteorological Observ.ations but also 

 the daily record of observations of Solar Radiation. Seismo- 

 logy, Atmospheric Electricity and Terrestrial Magnetism. 

 The contributing observatories are three in number, namely 

 Valencia. Co. Kerry; Kew. and Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire. 

 .A feature of the publication is the introduction of the 

 Centimetre-Gramme-Second System of Units for all the data. 

 Thus the barometer readings are given in " bars," i.e. 

 megadynes per square centimetre, where one " bar " is 

 approximately ecjnal to the pressure of 750 mm. of mercury : 

 temperatures are given in units on the Kelvin .Absolute Scale, 

 i.e.. in Centigrade degrees measured from a zero 273 below 

 the freezing point of water ; vapour pressure in " Millibars," 

 and wind velocity in metres per second. 



The Seisiitological data is for Eskdalenmir only, and is 

 based upon the records of a Galitzin Seismograph, giving 

 both period and amplitude of the microseisms. The Electrical 

 data provided for include the potential gradient, the number of 

 ions per c.c. and their velocity, the conductivity and the 

 strength of the air-earth current. The Magnetic data are very 

 full, and are based principally upon continuous automatic 

 records. 



It is belie\ed that this is the first publication of its kind to 

 be issued in any country. 



MICROSCOPY. 



By A. W. Sheppard, F.R.M.S., 

 xc'ith the assistance of the follotving niicroscopists : — 



.\R1KVR C. Bankielu ARTHUR Earlanij, F.R.M.S. 



The Rev. E. \V. Rowki.l, .M.A. Richard T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. 



James Birton. Chas F. Roussei.et, F.R.M.S, 



Charles H. Caffvn. D. I. ScoiREiEi.n. F.Z.S., F.R.M.S. 



C. D. Soar, F.L.S.. F.R.M.S. 



THE INFUSORIAN MICRON U CLE US IN 

 REGENERATION. — The behaviour of the infusorian 

 micronucleus in regeneration was dealt with by K. R. 

 Lewin, B..\., in a paper read before the Royal Society, on 

 November 2nd. 



The variety of Sfylonrchia niytiliis used was that 

 possessing two micronuclei, and when a specimen is cut in 

 two so that each merozoon receives one member of the 

 meganucleus and one micronucleus, both fragments exhibit 

 in favourable circumstances complete regeneration. This 

 involves segmentation of the meganuclear member, and 

 division of the micronucleus. 



If a portion of the cytoplasm be removed from the hind 

 end of the animal without disturbing the nuclei, there may 

 occur during regeneration a division of one. usually the 

 posterior, micronucleus. The result is to furnish the 

 regenerated infusorian with three micronuclei instead of two. 

 i.e., the division does not restore but actually disturbs the 

 nuclear relations characteristic of the race. When the 

 regenerated individual proceeds to fission, all three micro- 

 nuclei divide. That an extra division can be introduced into 

 the normal cycle of mitoses shows that the organella is in a 

 fit state to divide before the whole animal is ready for 

 spontaneous fission ; that the supernumerary mitosis occurs 

 during regeneration suggests that the stimulus causing the 

 micronucleus to divide may be the condition of the 

 surrounding cytoplasm which obtains during the constructive 

 activities of regeneration. 



The cases in which regeneration occurs without either of 

 the micronuclei dividing can be supposed to be those in 



