September i ■;, i 



894] 



NA TURE 



475 



nebular light remained at the lowest point reached by the 

 meieor, which assumed a vague oval shape and imperceptibly 

 faded away. For four minutes the nebular light was easily 

 watched ; then I ceased to note the time, and after two or three 

 minutes more I failed to distinguish it. 



The position of the nebulous remains of the meteor appeared 

 to me vertically beneath & Ursx Majoris, at a distance from it 

 rather more than one-third the distance of a from fl. I did not 

 notice any motion, but if the apparent upward movement of 

 the nebulous light were due to a north-north-west current of 

 air drifting the light incandescent ash of the meteor to the south- 

 south-west, the motion would be imperceptible to a distant 

 observer who was nearly in the same line up or down the 

 direction of the wind. Edw.^ki) F. Linto.n. 



Bournemouth, September 8. 



In case it may prove of interest, I write to say that I noticed the 

 meteor mentioned in your last number by Mr. John Earle, as 

 having been seen on the night of August 26. I was walking in the 

 country that evening, and not long after 10 p.m. I saw the 

 landscape lighted up as by a vivid flash of lightning from behind 

 me — my back being towards the north at the time. On turn- 

 ing round, I just caught sight'of the meteor as it disappeared, 

 leaving a bright track behind it, about two degrees of arc in length. 

 This track, as seen from where I stood, lay half-way, or nearly 

 so, between the last star in the tail of Ursa Major and Alpha 

 Canum Venaticorum,and in a line connecting the above two stars. 

 It lasted several minutes, as far as I could judge, gradually 

 fading away, and curled up at the lower end, after the manner 

 described by Mr. Earle ; but I did not detect any change of 

 position. It seemed to remain about half-way between the 

 end of the tail of Ursa Major and Alpha Canum Venaticorum 

 all the time it was visible to me. I regret that, not having 

 matches with me, I was unable to read my watch and take the 

 exact time of the phenomenon. T. B Cartwkight. 



Brackley House, Brackley, September 7, 



On Spring Rains in Geneva. 



The variation of rain at Geneva Observatory in spring (March 

 to May), through a long series of years, appears to have been 

 subject to a certain periodicity, to which it might be well to 

 draw attention, even if its (considerable) similarity to that of 

 the sun-spot curve should prove to be merely of a fortuitous 

 nature. In the accompanying diagram, I have dealt wiih both 

 rainfall and rain days (rain hours would have been better than 

 rain days, but these extend back only to 1S61). The dotted-Iine 

 curve shows the actual variation in the annual number of rain 

 days, and the continuous curve with it is the result of smoothing 

 with averages of five. Above is a similarly smoothed curve 

 of the spring rainfall, which is very similar (the actual varia- 

 tions are not given). Below is the ini-crtcd sun-spot curve. 



The meteor of August 26, referred to by Mr. Earle, was 

 seen at Northwich by me, and noted as remarkable owing to 

 the long continuance of the brilliant light in ihe sky. We had 

 had thunder and lightning in the afternoon, but the clouds had 

 cleared away, and the stars were visible through a faint ha.-e. 

 On entering my garden shortly after 10 p.m.. I saw a most 

 brilliant llash of what I took to be lightning. Not hearing any 

 thunder, I looked lo see from whence the flash had proceeded. 

 I then saw, almost in the zenith, but a little to the west, a 

 brilliant streak of light. This remained nearly stationary for 

 perhaps half a minute, and then one end bent till the light 

 assumed the shape of the letter J, or, according to a note 

 made at the time, the shape of a hockey stick. Whilst this 

 was taking place there was a manifest movement of the whole, 

 as I thought, towards the west. In the space of two or three 

 minutes the light faded away. The whole time, from the bril- 

 liant flash till the fading away of the phosphorescent light, 

 could not have been more than three minutes. Perhaps the 

 slight haze hid the light here sooner than at Gloucester. 



Northwich, September 9. Thos. Ward. 



Drought at Antigua. 



[Mr. Thiselton-Dyer has kindly sent us the following 

 interesting note received by him from the .Superintendent of 

 -Xgriculture, St. John's, Antigua. — En. Nature.] 



We are suffering from a terrible drought here. I thought 

 you might like to look at the accompanying average prepared 

 for ll.E. the Administrator. The Pryophyllum caSycinuni 

 weeds are drying up, and in some parts the Opuntias are dying ! 

 No single fall ol under i inch is of any use to us. 



Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. 



1891 ... 3'74 ... 2*24 ... 0*33 ... 2*82 ... 1*87 H. 4'02 ... io'04 ... =a5'o6 



1892 ... 5-81 ... o»3 ... 088 ... 118 ... 239 ... 3-28 ... 315 ... =I7"72 



1893 ... ]'77 ... I '48 ... 3'64 ... 2*14 ... 2*02 ... 2*19 ... 4-63 ... =i6'87 



1894 ... a"02 ... 1*06 ... i'3i ... 2"S4 ... 2'86 ... 1^ ... j"73 ... =i3'36 



in. *** 



Note. — 1891 was a fair year with annual fall 3"S30ver that forlasl 2oyrs. 



1892 

 1893 



very dry 



1894 promises to l^e worse than any 

 Antigua, West Indies, August 13. 

 NO. I2C)8. VOL. 50] 



7'24 bclon 

 6-73 



C. .A. Barher. 



The letters a, b, c, connect the curves with their respective 

 vertical scales on the left. It will be seen that, the sun-spot 

 minima occurring in 1843, 1S56, 1S67, iJi/S, and 1S89, we 

 have in ihe smoothed rain curves, maxima in 1S47 or 1848 

 (but note that the curves rise nearly as high in 1S44), in 

 1S57, in 1867, in 1S78, and in 18S9. In the cise of the sun- 

 spot maxima (the earlier at least) there seems to be more 

 "lag." 



It would be interesting to know what happens in other parts 

 of Europe in this respect. The Paris curve is, I think, 

 like the Geneva one ; but Bremen and Berlin present some 

 important differences. A. B. M. 



Interesting Marine Animals. 



Two rare and interesting animals, which we have had alive 

 and under observation for a week past in the aquarium of the 

 Port Erin Biological Station, are probably worthy of record in 

 the pages of Nature. The one is the yellow variety (?) of 

 Sarcodiclyan {A'hizoxcnia catenata. This was first found by 

 Forbes and Goodsir in the Hebrides, and has been described 

 since by myself from specimens dredged in Loch Fyne in 18S3. 

 We have now found it here, off the west side of the Calf 

 Island, in 25 fathoms, and have at present several colonies 

 alive with the polypes expanded. The commoner red form of 

 Sarcodulyon is rarely seen expanded, and I do not know that 

 the yellow one has ever been seen in this condition. The 

 polypes are of r. beautiful transparent white, and glisten in the 

 light like frosted silver. 



The other interesting animal is the Polynoid worm Panthalis 

 oiTSledi. We dredge in the deep water near here large muddy 

 sausage-like tubes, which sometimes contain Pa>it/:alis, but are 

 frequently empty. Some doubt has been felt, however, as to 

 whether the Panlhalii really builds the tubes, and it is there- 

 fore satisfactory to have had the matter definitely settled by the 

 formation of a new lube before our eyes by a living Panthalis 

 in the aquarium during the last few days. Mr. .\rnold Watson, 

 of Sheffield, who has been studying the formation of Polychwte 

 tubes for some years, after examining our preserved specimens, 

 became anxious to settle the Paiilhalis question, and came here 

 on my suggestion to get living material. I was fortunately able 

 to take a steamer to the ground on the 25th inst., and amongst 

 the tubes brought up in the dredge, from over 50 fathoms, one 



