April 23. 1903] 



NA TURE 



593 



In reference to an idea that beavers survived in Yorkshire 

 until a very late period, Mr. T. Sheppard, in the Naturalist 

 for April, explains that the item " bever-heads " occasion- 

 ally met with in old parish accounts refers to the otter. 

 He adds, however, that remains of the beaver have been 

 found near' Beverley, as well as in other parts of the 

 county. 



We have received vol. ii., part xiv., and vol. iii., parts 

 i. and ii., of the Annals of the South African Museum. In 

 the first of these Mr. S. Thor, of Christiania, treats of the 

 South African water-mites (Hydrachnidae), recording a 

 number of new forms. In the second Dr. W. F. Purcell 

 describes some new generic and specific types of Solpugidse, 

 and likewise gives an account of a collection of Arachnida 

 recently made in one district of Cape Colony ; while in the 

 third Mr. Distant continues his notes on Rhynchota. 



At Tonybee Hall to-morrow, April 24, a course of five 

 lectures on " The How and the Why of Decoration " will 

 be commenced by Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. The lectures 

 will deal with the origins of designs, art and handicraft, 

 art as a means of instruction, art and religion, and the 

 decorative art of British New Guinea as an example of 

 method. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., have added Kingsley's 

 " Water-Babies" to their Illustrated Pocket Classics, ihe 

 illustrations of Linley Sambourne are included, and it would 

 be difficult to imagine a more attractive edition of this 

 instructive fairy tale. 



The drawings contained in the three volumes of Mr. 

 W. S. Taggart's " Cotton Spinning " have been published 

 in a separate book, under the title " Cotton Machinery 

 Sketches," by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., at 2s. 6d. 

 The author believes that many teachers will find these 

 drawings useful to accompany their lectures, even though 

 they may not approve of text-books in general. 



Messrs. J. and A. Churchill have published a second 

 edition of " A Handbook of Physics and Chemistry," by 

 Messrs. H. E. Corbin and A. M. Stewart. The primary 

 object of the book is to meet the requirements of the first 

 examination of the Conjoint Examining Board of the Royal 

 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and the new matter 

 which has been added should increase the book's sphere of 

 usefulness. 



Amateur photographers will be glad to know that Messrs. 

 R. and J. Beck, Ltd., have issued a second edition of 

 "Photographic Lenses; a Simple Treatise," by Messrs. 

 Conrad Beck and Herbert Andrews. The book is intended 

 as a practical guide for the photographer to enable him to 

 use his apparatus to better advantage ; it does not profess 

 to give complete scientific explanations of the laws under- 

 lying the construction of photographic lenses. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Purple-faced Monkey (Semno- 

 pithecus cephalopterus) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. T. 

 Jenkins ; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus) from India, 

 presented by Mr. C. A. Denison ; a Long-tailed Weaver- 

 bird (Chera progne) from South Africa, presented by Major 

 R. W. P. Lodwick ; a Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla), 

 European, presented by Mr. H. Munt ; a Large Grieved 

 Tortoise (Podocnemis expansa) from the Amazons, presented 

 by Senhor Francisco Alves Vieira ; four Gallot's Lizards 

 (Lacerta galloti) from Teneriffe, presented by the Hon. 

 Rupert Drummond, R.N. ; two Smith's Dwarf Lemurs 



NO. I 747, VOL. 67] 



(Microccbus smithi) . from Madagascar, two Derbian 

 Zonures (Zonurus gigantens), four Leopard Tortoises 

 (Testudo pardalis) from South Africa, four Spanish Sala- 

 manders (Chiroglossa lusitanica) from Spain, deposited ; 

 a Shining Parrakeet (Pyrrhulopsis splendens) from the Fiji 

 Islands, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Nova Geminorum. — Further observations of the magni- 

 tude, appearance, and spectrum of this Nova have been 

 made, and the results communicated to No. 3861 of the 

 Astrotiomische Nachrichten. 



Prof. Millosevich estimated the magnitude of the Nova 

 on March 26d. (jh. (M.T. Rome) as 7-3-7-5, and recorded 

 the colour as " yellow." 



Dr. Halm, of Edinburgh, observed the spectrum with a 

 small spectroscope attached to the 15-inch refractor on 

 March 26, 27 and 28, and was convinced at first glance that 

 the object was of the Nova type. On March 27 he found 

 a faint continuous spectrum crossed by bright bands, those 

 in the green and blue parts of the spectrum, including H/3 

 and H7, being especially conspicuous. The red part of the 

 spectrum was very faint, and, although a careful scrutiny 

 was made, no trace of the C line of hydrogen could be 

 seen, but on observing the spectrum again on March 28 a 

 bright point was seen to occupy that position. Dr. Halm 

 estimated the magnitude of the Nova as about 80, and re- 

 corded the colour as a " bluish purple." 



Drs. Ristenpart and Guthnick, of Berlin-Friedenau, made 

 several estimations of the Nova's magnitude at 8 8h. 

 (Central Europe M.T.) on March 29, and found for their 

 general mean value 8.55m. 



Prof. Hartwig, of Bamberg, estimated that the Nova 

 was 0-3111. fainter on April 1 than it was on March 26, and 

 Prof. Ceraski, of Moscow, estimated the magnitude as 

 8-3 at 10.30 p.m. on March 27. The latter observer could 

 see no particular colour in the Nova, as it appeared white 

 to him. 



Spectrum of the Nebulosity Surrounding Nova Persei. 

 — On account of the extraordinary changes of position and 

 brightness in the nebula surrounding Nova Persei, Prof. 

 Perrine, of Lick Observatory, thought it advisable to 

 secure, if possible, a spectrum of the nebula, and for this 

 purpose especially designed a spectroscope to be used with 

 the Crossley reflector. The camera and collimator lenses 

 were single quartz lenses of ig-inch aperture and 6 inches 

 focal length ; the prism also was quartz, and had a re- 

 fracting angle of 50° 14'. A comparison spectrum of 

 hydrogen was photographed on either side of the nebular 

 spectrum. 



A total exposure of 34I1. 9m. was made on " condensation 

 D " of the nebula on October 31, November 1, 2 and 4, and 

 the resulting negative shows a very faint spectrum extend- 

 ing from H/3 to about A 360, its length being about o-n 

 inch. A second negative was obtained in order to demon- 

 strate that the spectrum was not due to skylight, whilst 

 a spectrum of skylight was obtained and proved to be quite 

 different to the supposed nebula spectrum, so that it may 

 be taken as proved that the spectrum obtained on the first 

 negative is really due to the nebulosity. 



Fully three-fourths of the light in the spectrum is con- 

 densed in the region extending from H/3 to H7 : above H7 

 the spectrum is very faint, and between A 380 and A 390 it 

 is entirely absent. There appears to be a line almost 

 coincident with H8, and another at A 370, but they are so 

 faint that it is impossible to certify their presence. 



It thus appears that the spectrum of the nebulosity cor- 

 responds to that of the Nova during the first few days of 

 the latter's greatest magnitude in February, iqoi. The 

 positions of the two suspected lines at A 410 and A 370 do 

 not agree at all with the strongest lines in the latest spec- 

 trum of the Nova, and there are no traces of the lines at 

 A 387 and A 397 obtained by Campbell and Wright, nor of 

 the very strong line at A 346 photographed by Mr. Stebbins 

 (Lick Bulletin, No. 8). The spectrum of the nebulosity is 

 certainly not the ordinary bright line spectrum of the 

 nebulae, and if the latter is present at all, it is in conjunc- 

 tion with another spectrum, probably continuous, extending 



