Mav 



1895J 



NATURE 



I 1 



fnmi the time- of pollination to the grand maximum ; one of 

 .lecline in the daily increase and rise in the daily decrease from 

 ihe grand maximum to the beginning of ripening; and the 

 ripening period. During this latter period an extended decrease, 

 due to transpiration, lasting throughout the daily hours, was 



■ |uickly followed by the maximum increase. At the time of the 

 ^rand maximum the fruit gained 782 grammes in weight during 

 I wenty-fi)ur hours. The variations in length of the intcrnodes 



■ "c-urred simultaneously with corresponding increase and decrease 

 ill the weight of the fruit. 



The Natural History .Museum acquired last )-ear some very 



lemarkalilc corals, the largest weighing as much as fifteen 



hundred pounds. Two of these specimens have furnished Prof. 



Icffrey Hell with subject for a note " On the variations observed 



111 large .Masses of Turhiiiaria,'" in the April fouriialol the Royal 



Microscopical .Society. The note is accompanied by two plates 



leproduced from photographs, and the jioint to which it directs 



attention is the considerable fliffercnce in size and form of the 



<alicles in different portions of the same mass of coral. The 



plates show totally distinct forms compar.atively close to one 



another, though the large mass, of which they represent parts, 



ii.iy be taken to Ije formed by a single species — Tiirbiiiaria 



',ieutt-ri}ia. The variability may, I'rof. Hell points out, partly 



■ count for the difficulty which all students of corals have in 



riermining specimens of the genus Turhitiarui. 



.\ YEAR ago the Hoard of Trinity College, Dublin, deposited 

 in the Dublin .Science and Art Museum the collection of 

 weajHins, ivc, chiefly from the South Sea Islands, in their 

 l)<)sscssion. .\ catalogue of the collection has now been pre- 

 jmred and published, with an introduction by Dr. V. Ball, 

 the Director of the .Museum. The collection has been known by 

 common tradition as the " Cook Collection " ; but a careful search 

 has failed to bring to light direct evidence that the oljjects were 

 really sent home by Captain Cook, though some of them are 

 identica.l with objects figured in " Cook's \"oyages." There is 

 little doubt, however, about the reality of the association of the 

 objects with the voyage, for the .Minutes of the Board of Trinity 

 College record that they were presented to the College in 1777 

 by Dr. I'atlen, who has been identified as the surgeon of the 

 A'.soiiitioii during Cook's secoild voyage. I'art of the collection 

 appears to have reached the College through the relatives of 

 (. .iptain King, who brought home the Risoliilioii and Discovery 

 after Captain Cook had been murdered. ;V brief statement as to 

 other nuiseums where collections of Cook's weapons are preserved, 

 is given by Dr. Ball in the introduction to the catalogue. It is 

 .stated that in Creat Britain the British Museum collection is the 

 best in the world. Next to it in importance, in ICngland, comes 

 Jhe collection in the Pitt-Rivers .Mu.seum. The llunterian 

 iVluseum in lilasgow University also contains .some specimens, 

 but how many is uncertain. So far as Dr. Ball has been able to 

 ascertain, the museums on the continent which po.sse.ss Cook 

 collections are, arranged alphabetically, at Berne, Florence, Giit- 

 tingen, Laus;inne, Munich, Stockholm, and Vienna. 



Messrs. Wii.i.i,\m Wesi.ev .\Nn So\ have issued a very fiill 

 •catalogue of works on geology, offered for .sale by them. The 

 catalogue contains classified titles of more than two thousand 

 ■liffereiit volumes, memoirs, and separate papers of interest to 

 ^'(•ologist.s. R. Kriedlander and Sohn, Berlin, have sent us Nos. 

 I 5 of this year's Natii>\c Nmmatcs. Bibliographers well know 

 that the ILsts form a good index to current .scientific literature. 

 We have al.so received a catalogue, from I'elix I,. Dames, Berlin, 

 • nntaining titles of works on Ihe invertebrates. 



I'HE additions to the Zoological Society's Cardens during the 



1^1 week include a Rhesus .Monkey (.l/at(ri«.r j-/;o-//.i', 9 ) from 



India, presented by .Mr. Julius .Scovell ; a Pig-tailed Monkey 



iMacaais lunustriiiiis, 9 ) from Sumatra, presented by Mr. D. 



xo. 1331, voi,. 52] 



r)rville B. Dawson ; three .Maholi Galagos (Galago ma/ioli) from 

 South .\frica, prc.^-nted by Miss \an Bcren ; a Crowned Hawk 

 Eagle (Spnaetits coronattis) from South Africa, i>resentcd 

 by Dr. Schinland ; an .Antipodes Island Parrakeel (Cyanorhani- 

 phus iinuolor) from Antipodes Island, New Zealand, jjresented 

 by Sir Walter L. Buller ; a Leopard Tortoise ( Tcsludo pardalis). 

 a Cape Wytec [Caiisiis r/ioiiibealus) from South Africa, presented 

 by Mr. J. K. Matcham ; three Green Lizards (Laccrla viridis) 

 from Jersey, presented by Masters J. S. and .\. H. Hills; a 

 Common Viper ( Vipera berits) from Hampshire, presented bv 

 Mrs. P. C. Mitchell; two iVngora Goats (C«/ra //jm«, var. 1, 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



.S.\turn's Kings. — In a recent communication to the I'toyal 

 Astronomical Society, Prof. Barnard states that his measurements 

 of the rings of .Saturn show that no changes have taken place 

 since the first systematic measures were made, and that there is 

 no ground for the .supposition that the rings are closing in upon 

 the planet. 



SE.VRcii Ei'HKMKRis lOK Co.Min I S84 11. -Dr. Berberich 

 gives the following search ephemeris for Barnard's periodic comet 

 of 1884 (Ast. N,i,-/i. 3260): 



R. A. Decl. 



li. m. s. 



-Mav 2 



June 



iS 

 26 



3 

 II 



19 



27 



- 18 24 



The positions are for Berlin midnight, and the probable error 

 amounts to 20m. in R..\. and3'in decl. The comet [Xisses 

 from .Aquarius to Cetus early in June, and remains in that con- 

 stellation throughout the month. It must be looked for before 

 sunrise. 



The II.VMBURi; Oeserv.xioky. — From the report of the 

 Hamburg Municipal Observatory we learn that the chief astro- 

 nomical researches during 1894 h.ad to do with the movements of 

 comets and minor planets, and with tlie changes in variable st.ars 

 of long period. Two memoirs of some importance have also 

 been published {Mill, dcr Hamburger Stcrnwartc, Nos. i and 2, 

 1895). The first of these is a catalogue of the po.silions of 105 

 nebuKv and star-clusters, reduced from observations made in the 

 period 1871-1880, liy Dr. I'echiileand the present director. Prof. 

 G. Kiimker. The positions have been deduced from miciometric 

 measures in relation to known comparison stars, and arc 

 tabulated for the epoch 1875. Comparisons are made with the 

 results of other observers, and, considering the difficulties attend- 

 ing the observations, there is a gooil all-round accord.ince of 

 results ; but it seems yet too early to expect much information 

 with regard to proper motions. The second memoir is an 

 investigation by Dr. Carl .Stechert of the orbit of the minor planet 

 Tycho (25S) and of the ]ierturbations produced by Jupiter and 

 .Saturn. It is shown that the probable app.irent semi-diameter 

 of the i)lanet at opposition is about o"'05, the true semi-diameter 

 being something between 50 and So kilometres. An ephemeris 

 is given for observations during the opposition of June 20, 1895. 



The L.vfE M. Trouvei.ot. — ^By the death of M. L. 

 Trouvelot, on April 22, observational a.stronomy has lost 

 one of its foremost workers. M. Trouvelot was born at 

 Cruyencourl, in 1S27, and after the <oup d\'lAt, he went to 

 Cambridge, U.S.A., where he lived until 18S2. His first 

 published works, which a]>])eared in 1866, were on natural 

 history .subjects : later he became an .a.stronomer at the Harvard 

 College Observatory, and commenced the ob.serv.ations of the .sun 

 and planets which have made his name known to all students of 

 celestial science. .Shortly after the Meudon Observatory was 

 founded, he returned to I'rance, and has since then carried on his 

 work in it. Trouvelot's important observalicms of the planet Venus, 

 jniblished in 1892. are still fresh in the minds of astronomers. 

 He also paid attention to the planets Juiiiter and S.aturn. 

 His beautiful drawings of celestial objects and phenomena 

 observed by him are to be found in many works on astronomy. 



