\<,i,. will. No. I. I 



rortJLAJ^ soiENoi^ i<teW"^. 



11 



upon which two moths {^Rkodocerarhamtti^ 

 are resting. In the illustration they can hardly 

 he (Hstingiiislied from the leaves, and the re- 

 semblance is even greater in nature. The 

 '• dead-leaf butterfl\' " {^Lceiocampa quercifo- 

 lia) is another example of protective imita- 

 tion. 



Similar instances of resemblance will be 

 found by the careful observer on ever\- hand. 

 In almost every case the color of a caterpil- 

 lar or insect will be found to approximate to 

 that of the object on which it feeds or rests. 

 The insect known as the " walking stick " is 

 common evervwhere in this country, but it is 

 not easilv found, unless bv accident it leaves 

 its accustomed haunts, for its resemblance to 

 a bit of dried stick or grass is almost perfect. 

 A curious instance is described by an English 

 w riter of the bluish gray butterfly, the Byro- 

 phila pcrla, which will frequently alight upon 

 stone walls or those composed of gravish 

 colored bricks, but in the case of a red brick 

 wall, it will onlv aligiit upon the mortar be- 

 tween them, thus trying to harmonize its color 

 \\ ith its surroundings. We might also .speak 

 of tiie plants which imitate insects, such as 

 the butterflv-orchis or the bee-orchis, but it is 

 ])robable that these floral forms are not pro- 

 tective but serve to attract insects to them so 

 tiiat cross-fertilization mav be aflected. 



The origin of these peculiar animal forms 

 is easily explained by the theory of mutual se- 

 lection. If a butterfly or insect should, for 

 any reason, vary in form so as to slightly re- 

 semble a twig or a leaf, it would have a bet- 

 ter chance of escaping its enemies, and sur- 

 \ iving, to transmit the peculiarity to its de- 

 scendants. In the course of time these re- 

 semblances would grow more perfect bv the 

 constant destruction of the individuals lea.st 

 favored with the protective resemblances, and 

 thus the leaf-insect, or " walking stick " would 

 become a permanent species — as far as any 

 species is permanent. In this, as in every 

 other case, we find that the fittest forms, that 

 is, those most in harmonv with their environ- 

 ment, survive and transmit their advant;igeous 

 ])eculiarities to succeeding generations, while 

 those not so well adapted to the conditions of 

 life surrounding them perish, and leave no 

 sl^-n of their existence. 



<♦! 



j SpccinUv Reported for '7Tfte Pouptar Science Netrs.] 



>ri:TER()LOGY FOR NOVEMBER, 1888. WITH 



REVIEW OF TIIE AUTUMN. 



TEMPEKATURE. 



AVKBAOK TiltKMO.MKTEK. 



At 7 A. M. 

 At i V. M. 

 At 9 I'. M. 

 Whole- Month 



Last 18 Novembers 



,iS.7o- 



4777° 

 40.83' 

 4-i43° 



38.31- 



I..owest. Highest. Range. 



2.r 

 19° 



( 3' -12° 

 ( m 1874. 



Autumn of iSSS 

 I,:ist iS Autumns 



49-36'' M' 



m 1877. j 



76° 



55-57'' 

 inl88l. 



49° 



45° 

 43° 



64- 

 6.04° 



The lowest point reached bv the mercury last 



month was 12°, on the morning of the 23d, and the 

 highest 70° on the ist. , a range of 58°. The cold- 

 est day of the month averaged 182-3^, on the 23d.. 

 the warmest 63°, on the 6th, a range of 44 1-3°. 

 The entire month was 4.12° warmer than the aver- 

 age of the last i8 Novembers, and the warmest, 

 with a single exception, and that differs only one- 

 tenth of a degree. As October was 4-15° cooler 

 than the average, and November 4.12° warmer, it 

 brought the difference between the two months this 

 year to only 4. 17°, while the average difference is 

 12.44° Eleven months of the year are now past, 

 seven of which have been cooler than the average, 

 and four warmer, leaving a net average daily loss 

 thus far of 0.98° Our warm November reduced the 

 average just one-half degree per day since Jan. i . 



The present autumn has been 0.74° cooler than 

 the average in 18 years, with extremes of 47.53" and 

 53.57°, a range of 6.04°. 



SKY. 



The face of the sky in 90 observations gave 41 

 fair, 13 cloudy, 18 overcast, 15 rainy, and 3 snowy, 

 a percentage of 45.6 fair. The average fair the last 

 iS Novembers has been 54.9, Avith extremes of 40.0, 

 in 1885, and 74.4 in 1874. It has been less fair but 

 twice in 18 Novembers. 



The average fair in 18 autinnns has been 56.6 

 per cent., while this last autumn was only 4.40, the 

 lowest average during this period, but just equalled 

 in 1882. The opposite extreme was 69.2 in 1S74. 



PRECIPITATION. 



The amount of precipitation the past month, in- 

 cluding 5 inches of snow melted, was 7,28 inches, 

 while the average the last 20 Novembers as been 

 4.09, with extremes of i.io in 1882, and 7.45 in 1S77, 

 the only instance exceeding the present. A snow 

 storm, with strong wind, raged all day on the Sabbath, 

 25th. followed by a rainstorm as severe, on the 26th 

 and 27th, the amount of rainfall and melted snow 

 during the three days being 3.87 iuches, the worst 

 storm on the coast, for a series of years, doing great 

 damage to vessels, with loss of many lives. The 

 temperature on the 25th was nearly uniform at about 

 31°, while on the 26th and 27th the range was from 

 40° to 47°, and with the rain carried off nearly every 

 vestige of the snow. The amount of precipitation 

 since Jan. i has been 57.86 inches, an excess above 

 the average of 15.23. for 20 years. 



The amount of precipitation the last autumn was 

 21.47 inches, while the average for the last 20 au- 

 tumns has been only 10.96, with extremes of onlv 

 3.42 in 1874, and 21.47 '" 1888. very nearly double 

 the average. 



I'RESSrRE. 



The average pressure the last month, taken at 7 

 A. M. and 9 P, M., was 30.064 inches, with extremes 

 of 29.44, on the loth and 30-64 on the i8th, a range 

 of 1. 20. The average for the last 15 Novembers has 

 been 29 982, with extremes of 29,840 in 1878, and 

 30.193 in 1S80, the only instance exceeding the pres- 

 ent. The sum of the daily variations was 8. 17 inches, 

 giving an average daily movement of .272 inch. 

 This average in 15 Novembers has been .233, with 

 extremes of .127 .293. The largest changes were 

 .68 on the 15th, and .58 on the 19th, .55 on the 17th 

 and 25th, with four other days ranging from .40 to 

 .46, showing large fluctuations with general high 

 pressure. During the great storm, the mercury fell 

 over one inch. 



The average pressure the last autumn was 29.993 



inches, and that of the last 15 autumns 30.006, with 



! extremes of 29,881 in 1875, and 30.070 in i88o.- The 



■ average daily movement the last autumn was .207, [ 



and during the last 15 autumns. .175, with extremes 



of .115 and .216. , 



WINDS. 



The direction of the wind in 90 observations gave 



15 N., I S., 5 E., 20 W., 19 N.E., 12 N.W., I S.E., 

 and 17 S.W., — an excess of 27 northerly, and 24 

 westerly, over the southerly and easterly, and irtdi- 

 cating the average direction of the month to have 

 been W. 48° 22' N. The westerly winds in Novem- 

 ber have uniformly prevailed over the easterly for 

 19 years, by an average of 47.58 observations, and 

 the northerly over the southerly, with four excep- 

 tions, by an average of 40.90, indicating the approx- 

 imate gen eral a verage directio n in November, the 

 last 19 years to have been W. 17° 23' N., which 

 shows that the winds have been 31° more northerly 

 the last month than usual. During the great storm 

 between the 25th and 27th, and for the five days 

 previous, the wind was noted as constantly N. or 

 N.E., and 15 of the 24 observations were N.E. Dur- 

 ing these 19 years, I find no other such record of 

 con.secutive N. and N.E. winds. The relative pro- 

 gressive distances travelled by the wind the past 

 month was 36.13 units, and during the last 19 No- 

 vembers, 947.3 "such units. — an average of 49.81, 

 showing more opposing winds than usual the past 

 month. 



The average direction of the wind the present 

 autumn has been W., 49' 8' N , while the average 

 the last 19 autumns has been W. 12°, 58' N. , or 

 36° 10' less northerly than the autumn just closed. 

 The relative progressive distance travelled the last 

 fall was 1 17.7 units, and during the last 19 falls 2078 

 such units, an average of 109.4, showing less op- 

 posing winds the last fall than usual. D. W. 



Natr-k. Dec. 5, 1888. 



[Specially computed for The Popular Science Neu'S-J 

 ASTRONOMICAF, PHENOMENA FOR JANU- 

 ARY 1889. 

 JCc/ipxe.i. — There will be two eclipses during the 

 month. The first is a total eclipse of the sun on 

 Jan. I. The line of totality begins near the Aleu- 

 tian islands, extends south and east through the Pa- 

 cific ocean, meets the California coast a little north 

 of San Francisco, thence runs north and east into 

 British North America, and ends there near longi- 

 tude 96°. Total eclipse occurs in California at 

 about 2 p. M., and lasts a little more than two min- 

 utes. The eclipse will be visible as partial over all 

 of the United States, except New P^ngland, begin- 

 ning at sunset near the meridian of New York City, 

 and ending at sunset on a line from Texas to Mon- 

 tana. The sun will set while partially eclipsed, in 

 the region between these lines. West of this region 

 the eclipse will be over before sunset. 



The .second eclipse is a partial eclipse of the 

 moon. It will occur on the night of Jan. 16-17, 

 and will be visible throughout the United States. 

 The greatest obscuration is about seven-tenths of 

 the moon's diameter. The moon enters the shadow 

 at loA. 58W., p. M., middle ofeclip.se is at 127(. 30m., 

 A. M., and moon leaves shadow at 2//. im.. \. m. 

 Times are Eastern Standard. 



Moon's Phases. P^astern Standard Time, 



New Moon, Jan. i, ^h. Sm, p. m. 



First Qiiarter. Jan. 8, 7/1. 41m. v. m. 



Full Moon, Jan. 17. 12/1. 37'/«. A. M. 



Last Quarter, Jan. 24, lo/t. ^"jrii. .\. m. 



New Moon. Jan. 31, 9/1. io/«. A. M. 



The Planets. — Mercmy is an evening star verv 

 close to the sun at the beginning of the month, but 

 towards the close of the month it is in very good 

 position for observation. It reaches its greatest 

 eastern elongation on the morning of Jan. 30, and 

 attains its greatest brilliancy on Jan. 31. When at 

 its greatest elongation it remains above the horizon 

 nearly two hours after sunset, and it will be a rela- 

 tively conspicuous object low down in the western 

 sky Jean after sunset for several days near the close 



