70 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Maech 1, 1895. 



We have said that aauropodous dinosaurs have long 

 been known from Europe and North America, and some 

 years ago the writer had the good fortune to make known 

 the occurrence of a member of the same group in the 

 Cretaceous rocks of India, under the name of Titanosaurns. 

 The same genus was subsequent!}' identified from the 

 corresponding rocks of England, and only last year the 

 writer was enabled to describe the remains of yet another 

 species from the approximately corresponding deposits of 

 Patagonia. 



We have thus evidence that gigantic sauropodous 

 dinosaurs ranged over Europe, India, Madagascar, and 

 North and South America during the Jurassic and Creta- 

 ceous periods ; one of the genera being common to such 

 widelj'-separated areas as Madagascar and England, and a 

 second to India, England and South America, while several 

 probably ranged over Europe and the United States. It is 

 further evident that when the Bdtliriospondi/hi.i flourished 

 in Madagascar, that island was joined to Africa, as it is 

 most unlikely that such a gigantic animal could have been 

 restricted to such a comparatively small area as the former ; 

 and we may accordingly assume that the group then 

 ranged over Africa, which we know from other evidence to 

 have been land during the epoch in question. Accordingly, 

 we conclude that during Jurassic and early Cretaceous 

 times almost the entire world was inhabited by closely- 

 allied gigantic land reptiles, and thus not only that its 

 fauna was practically similar, but that all the great con- 

 tinents were intimately connected with one another, and 

 that the insulation of large areas like peninsular India, 

 Africa south of the Sahara, and South America, which 

 formed such a remarkable feature of early Tertiary 

 geography, was then quite unlmown. Since Australia, at 

 or about the same epoch, was apparently more or less 

 closely connected with Asia, we conclude that both the 

 evolution of distinct regional faunas and the separation of 

 large southern island-continents (now, for the most part, 

 reimited with more northern lands) took place during the 

 Tertiary period. 



We may mention, in conclusion, that geologically 

 Madagascar may be roughly divided into two distinct 

 areas by a north-and-south bisecting line. To the right, 

 or east, of this line the country is composed of granite, 

 gneiss, basalt, and other rocks of igneous origin ; while to 

 the left, or western, side it consists of sedimentary strata 

 ranging in age from the Jurassic to the Tertiary epoch. 

 The old crystalline area may very probably have existed as 

 land ever since the period when the giant dinosaurs ranged 

 over its surface ; and it maybe suggested that the Jurassic 

 and Cretaceous sea separating this old land from the 

 continent was merely a gulf, and that either the southern 

 or northern extremity of Madagascar was then in union 

 with the mainland. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR MARCH. 



By Herbert Sadler, F.R.A.S. 



FINE groups of spots still occasionally appear on the 

 solar surface. There will be a small partial 

 eclipse of the Sun on the morning of the 25th 

 (magnitude of the greatest phase 0-86) which is 

 just visible at Greenwich, where the eclipse com- 

 mences at 9h. 5Gm. a. jr., at an angle of 49^ from the north 

 pole towards the west ; greatest phase lOh. 10m. a.m. 

 (magnitude about yjgth); ends at lOh. 23m. a.m. Condi- 

 tions improve as we go west, about y\;th of the disc being 

 obscured in the west of Ireland. Conveniently observable 

 minima of Algol occur at Oh. 89m. p.m. on the 19th, and 

 6h. 28m. P.M. on the 22nd. 



Mercury is too near the Sun during March to be available 

 for the purposes of the amateur. 



Venus is an evening star, and is getting into a better 

 position for observation. On the 1st she sets at 7h. 88m. 

 P.M., or 2h. after the Sun, with a southern declination of 

 0° 8', and an apparent diameter of lOf", y^^^ths of the disc 

 being illuminated. On the 12th she sets at 8h. 13m. p.m., 

 with a southern dechnation of 5° 38', and an apparent 

 diameter of ll'O", tVo^'^s o^ '^^ '^'^^ being illuminated. 

 On the 22nd she sets at 8h. 45m. p.m., or two hours and 

 a half after the Sun, with a northern dechnation of 

 10° 36", and an apparent diameter of IItV', tW'''^^ °^ the 

 disc being illuminated. On the 31st she sets at 9h. 14m. 

 P.M., or two hours and three-quarters after the Sun, with a 

 northern declination of 14° 44', and an apparent diameter 

 of 11|", Y^jths of the disc being illuminated. During 

 the month she passes through Pisces into Aries, without 

 approaching any conspicuous star very closely. 

 Mars is, for the purposes of the amateur, invisible. 

 Jupiter is an evening star, and is well situated for 

 observation. On the 1st he sets at 3h. 26m. a.m., with 

 a northern declination of 23° 21', and an apparent equa- 

 torial diameter of 40'5", the phase on the / limb amounting 

 to 0-35". On the 13th he sets at 2h. 41m. a.m., with a 

 northern declination of 23° 23', and an apparent equa- 

 torial diameter of 39". On the 23rd he sets at 2h. 6m. 

 a.m., with a northern dechnation or 23° 26', and an 

 apparent equatorial diameter of 37|". On the 31st he sets 

 at Ih. 33m. a.m., with a northern declination of 28° 27', 

 and an apparent equatorial diameter of 36-8". He is in 

 quadrature with the Sun on the 18tb. During March he 

 describes a direct path in Gemini. The following pheno- 

 mena of the satellites occur while the Sun is more than 

 8° below and Jupiter 8° above the horizon : — On the 5th 

 an occultation disappearance of the third satellite at 

 7h. 53m. P.M., audits occultation reappearance at lOh. 48m. 

 P.M. ; an occultation disappearance of the second satellite at 

 llh. 6m. P.M. On the 6th a transit ingress of the first 

 satellite at Oh. 42m. a.m. ; an eclipse disappearance of the 

 third satellite at Ih. 4m. 43s. a.m. ; on this morning, from 

 Ih. 5m. a.ji. to 8h. a.m., Jupiter will appear to be attended 

 by one satellite only, the fourth ; an occultation disappear- 

 ance of the first satellite at 9h. 56m. p.m. On the 7th an 

 eclipse reappearance of the first satellite at Ih. 2Sm. 3s. 

 A.M. ; a transit ingress of the first satellite at 7h. 10m. 

 p.m. ; a transit ingress of the shadow of the second satelhte 

 at 8h. 16m. p.m., a transit egress of the satellite itself at 

 8h. 23m. P.M. ; a transit ingress of the shadow of the first 

 satellite at 8h. 27m. p.m. ; a transit egress of the first 

 satellite at Oh. 27m. p.m., a transit egress of its shadow at 

 lOh. 45m. P.M. ; a transit egress of the shadow of the 

 second satelhte at lOh. 57m. p.m. On the 8th an eclipse 

 disappearance of the fourth satelhte at 7h. 24m. 14s. p.m., 

 an eclipse reappearance of the first satellite at 7h. 57m. 3s. 

 P.M., an echpse reappearance of the fourth satellite at 

 9h. 18m. 28s. p.m. On the 12th an occultation disap- 

 pearance of the third satellite at llh. 49m. p.m. On the 

 13th an occultation disappearance of the first satellite at 

 llh. 51m. P.M. On the 14th a transit ingress of the 

 second satellite at 8h. 21m. p.m. ; a transit ingress of the 

 first satellite at 9h. 4m. p.m. ; a transit ingress of the 

 shadow of the first satellite at lOh. 22m. p.m. ; a transit 

 ingress of the shadow of the second satellite at lOh. 54m. 

 p.m. ; a transit egress of the second satellite at lOh. 59m. 

 p.m. ; a transit egress of the first satellite at llh. 21m. 

 P.M. On the 15th a transit egress of the shadow of the 

 first satellite at Oh. 40m. a.m. ; an eclipse reappearance 

 of the first satellite at 9h. 52m. 48s. p.m. On the 16th a 

 transit ingress of the shadow of the third satellite at 



