1 84 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[July, 1905. 



(" Rhopalocera Africae Australis ") will always render 

 his name well known in the annals of African zoology. 



In 1895 Mr. Trimen resigned his appointment for 

 reasons of health, and in December of that year Mr. 

 William Lutley Sclatcr, at that time a science 

 master at Eton Colleg'e, was selected by the trustees to 

 succeed him, and was appointed Director of the 

 Museum. 



Mr. Sclater arrived at Cape Town in March, 1896, 

 just in time to preside at the removal of the collections 

 from the old quarters in which they had been previously 

 kept, to the new and commodious building which 

 had been completed in 1895, and which is situated in 

 the public garden in the best part of Cape Town near 

 the Cathedral and House of Parliament. The building 

 is of two storeys, the ground floor being devoted to the 

 geological and mineralogical collections and the inver- 

 tebrata, and the upper floor to the exhibition of the 

 mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes of South Africa, 

 of which there is a very good illustrative series, though 

 many hicunce remain to be filled up. Mr. Sclatcr, 

 I)esides his general duties as Director, has charge of the 

 collection of vertebrates. As regards the invertebrates, 

 he is ably assisted by Mr. L. .\. Peringucy, the Assistant 

 Director, who is a well-known authority on Coleoptera 

 and other insects. Tlie first assistant. Dr. W. !•". 

 Purcell, who is also well known for his original re- 

 searches on the scorpions and spiders of South Africa, 

 has charge of a portion of the invertebrata. \ fourth 

 member of the zoological staff is Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist, 

 who is honorary keeper of the marine invertebrates, 

 but whose main duties are to develop the fisheries of the 

 Cape seas, which are under the charge of the -Agricul- 

 tural Department of the Colonial Government. 



The keeper of the important department of geology 

 and mineralogy at the South African Museum is Dr. 

 G. S. Corstorphine, who is associated with Mr. E. H. 

 L. Schwarz, of the Geological Survey of the Colony, 

 and they have the care of the fossils and other speci- 

 mens collected by the Survey. 



Two good pieces of work have been started by the 

 present Director since his appointment. These are a 

 .series of manuals on the fauna of .Africa south of the 

 Zambezi, and a periodical called " Annals of the South 

 African ^[useum." Of the first of these the two 

 volumes on the mammals were prepared by Mr. .Sclater 

 in 1900 and 1901. 



The " Birds of South .Africa " was entrusted to the 

 late Dr. Stark, a well-known authority on the subject, 

 and the first volume was published in 1900. But .Stark, 

 who volunteered for the medical service of the linglish 

 Army, unfortunately lost his life in the siege of Lady- 

 smith, and the second and third volumes on the birds 

 have been written by Mr. Sclater, with some assistance 

 from .St.ark's field notes. 'Hie fourth volume concluding 

 this work is now in the press. 



The " .Annals of the .South -African Museum " contain 

 scientific memoirs, prepared mostly by the members of 

 the official staff of the Museum or other naturalists 

 working with them. Two vfilumes and twelve parts 

 have already been issued. 



Naturalists will sec, therefore, that much good work 

 has been done in the South .African Museum, and that 

 more is likely to come from it. We should also be 

 grateful to the three Trustees nf the Museum, Mr. 

 Merriman, Sir David Gill, and Dr. T. Muir, .Superin- 

 tendent-General of Education, three well-known per- 

 sonages in Cape Town, who have assisted in every way 

 the efforts to increase the usefulness of the institution. 



Sta^r Mslp No. 12. 



The So\itK Pola.r Region. 



This map, though not issued in its proper order of sequence 

 (Nos. 1, 2, and 3 having appeared in the last three issues of 

 " Knowledge "), may be useful to those visiting the Southern 

 hemisphere. 



The Southern Cross (Crux) is alw.iys considered as the 

 ruling constellation of austral skies. It is situ-ited in the 

 Milky Way, just to one side of the " Coal Sack," a space quite 

 devoid of stars. Another group of stars of very similar 

 arrangement (e and 1 Carina;, with 5 and k Vahe) are often 

 mistaken for it, and is consequently known as " The False 

 Cross." 



Two peculiar objects are the Great and Little Magellanic 

 Clouds, looking like detached portions of the Milky Way. 

 Examined with a powerful telescope, these are found to con- 

 sist of masses of star clusters and detached nebuhe, and would 

 seem likely to be altogether separate " universes " at a vast 

 distance off. 



Around the actual South Pole is a noticeable absence of 

 conspicuous stars, and though this feature alone enables one to 

 judge of the general position, it is more difficult to recognise 

 the true South from the stars than it is to find true North when 

 Polaris is visible. Vet beyond 20 to 30 degrees from the Pole 

 occurs a number of bright and easily recognised stars. The 

 upright shaft of the Southern Cross points nearly North and 

 South, and the line l>cing continued through the South Pole, 

 runs into the Little Magellanic Cloud. To be more exact, 

 however, one should continue this line further, and thus find 

 Achernar (a Eridani). A line joining this with /i Centauri (the 

 nearer of the so-called "pointers" to the Southern Cross) runs 

 directly through the .South Pole, which is just about midway 

 between the two. Among the more specially interesting 

 objects in this region are : — 



Cluster 47 Toucani (oh. 20m. — 72° 30'). A fine star cluster 

 visible to the naked eye as a hazy star. Over 2000 stars, in- 

 cluding 6 variables, are included in it. 



o Criicis (Acnix) XILh. 2:m. — 62° a') is a triple star. 

 Magnitudes, i'3, i'8, and 6. 



K Cnicis (XH. h. 43m. — 59° 30') is a cluster of over 100 

 stars. They are of many different colours, and present a 

 beautifiil sight in a good telescope, 



a Ccittiiuri (Ki<iil ill Keiilaunis) (XI\'.h. 23m. — 60' 26') is well 

 known as being the nearest star. Vet its distance is not easy 

 to realise. It is computed to be about two htmdred thou.snnd 

 times the mean distance of the Sun from the earth. The light 

 takes over 3.I years to come to us. This star has a parallax of 

 o"75. It is a binary, the two stars being at a distance of 2 i"'(j, 

 and of nearly equal size. 



aArgus(Ciinofiiis) (Vl.h. 21m — 52° 3S')is the second brightest 

 star in the heavens, being classified at - I'o magnitude. 



1) Carina or Ar/^iis ( X.h. 41m. — 59" 10') is a most peculiar 

 variable. Two hundred years .ago it was of the 4th m.agnitude. 

 In 1837 it increased in brightness till it became a ist magni- 

 tude. It then diminished a little, but six years later had a 

 brilliancy comparable to that of Sirius, after which it gradu- 

 ally dwindled away to the 7th magnitude. It is surrounded 

 by a remarkable nebula, known as the " Keyhole "on account 

 of the well-defined dark opening in its centre. 



Ouite recently careful photographic surveys have been made 

 of the Small Magellanic Cloud at the Arequipa Observatory. 

 These prove the existence of a very large number of variable 

 stars, there being within this region a proportion of one vari- 

 able to every 30H stars, which is nearly ten times the ordin.iry 

 proportion. One star of the 13th magnitud<' was fo'uid to 

 have a proper motion amounting to -j- o'i3 s. in K.A., and 

 -|- o"'42 in Dec. 



