362 
NATURE 
June 4, 1914 
THE SPECTRUM OF 9 CARIN (y ARGUS).—The study 
of the spectrum of the well-known variable » Carine, 
or as perhaps known better under the name of 7 Argus, 
has been undertaken by numerous workers, but the 
latest research on this star forms No. 252 of the 
Lick Observatory Bulletin, and is contributed by 
Messrs. J. H. Moore and R. F. Sanford. The spectro- 
grams here described and studied were secured with 
the one-prism spectrograph of the D. O. Mills Expedi- 
tion, at Santiago, Chili. The iron are was used as a 
comparison spectrum, and the spectrograph was pro- 
vided with a constant temperature case. The authors 
reproduce a plate showing the spectrum secured on 
March 28, 1913, and give tables of wave-length 
determinations, with comparisons with the chromo- 
sphere, laboratory spectra, and Nova Aurige. A brief 
summary of their results is as follows :—The spectrum 
is essentially a bright-line spectrum, a number of these 
lines being identified with the enhanced lines of iron, 
titanium, and chromium. The titanium and chromium 
lines show a greater displacement towards the violet 
than do the iron lines, the latter indicating a velocity 
of approach of 28 km. a second. The iron lines are 
in general the stronger lines, those of titanium and 
chromium being classed among the weaker lines. The 
origins of several strong lines are still unknown, and 
notable absentees are the lines of helium, the nebular 
lines, and 4481 A magnesium. Some evidence sug- 
gests the doubling of the hydrogen lines. The authors 
conclude that the spectrum of 4 Carine is closely 
associated with that of nove at an early stage, and 
that possibly » Carine is a nova. Its position in a 
great nebula further supports this conclusion. 
SCOTTISH FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS.! 
H HEE Vifth Report (Northern Area) on Fishery and 
Hydrographical. Investigations in the North 
Sea and Adjacent Waters”’ is the last of a series of 
reports, issued by H.M. Stationery Office during 
recent years, which have contained the detailed 
accounts of work done in this country in connection 
with the international fishery investigations. |The 
whole series appearing under the above general title 
comprises five Blue-books dealing with the northern 
area (Cd. 2612, 3358, 4350, 4893, and 6950), where the 
work has been carried out by the Fishery Board for 
Scotland, and five dealing with the southern area 
(Cd. 2670, 3837, 4641, 5546, and 6125), where the 
work was done by the Marine Biological Association 
of the United Kingdom. Other reports dealing with 
the English statistical side of the international work 
have been published by the Board-of Agriculture and 
Fisheries (Cd. 4227, 4738, 5362, and 5686). 
In the introductory statement to the volume under 
review the Scottish Fishery Board announces that the 
results of future investigations will find publication 
among the Board’s ordinary scientific reports. As the 
southern work is now entirely conducted by the Board 
of Agriculture and Fisheries, it is to be presumed that 
the reports dealing with it will be issued in a similar 
way by that Board. It may therefore be hoped that 
this change in the mode of publication marks the 
establishment of the investigations upon a permanent 
footing instead of their being regarded as merely tem- 
porary as heretofore. From the commencement it has 
been obvious that such work could only accomplish its 
full purpose when continued over a long series of 
years, and the Scottish Fishery Board, and especially 
Prof. D’Arcy Thompson, its scientific member, under 
whose superintendence the northern investigations have 
been carried out, are to be congratulated not only 
1 Fishery Board for Scotland. Fi‘th Report (Northern Arez) on Fishery 
and Hydrographical Investigations in the North Sea and Adjacent Waters 
1908-11. Cd. 6950. 
NO. 2327, VOL. 93] 
upon the completion of the five volumes of the present 
series of reports, but still more upon the future pros- 
pects of the undertaking. 
The first four volumes issued under the direction 
of the Scottish Board dealt chiefly with hydrographical 
and statistical researches. In this fifth report, in 
addition to these subjects, we have accounts of some 
of the results of the more biological investigations 
carried out by the research steamer Goldseeker. Prof. 
D’Arcy Thompson is responsible for the first memoir, 
in which he deals chiefly with the sizes and the dis- 
tribution of plaice on the basis of the hauls of the 
research steamer and on the Aberdeen market statis- 
tics. A further report on the plaice and other flat 
fishes, by Dr. T. W. Fulton, based on special statistics 
_ of individual catches of Aberdeen trawlers extending 
over a period of ten years (1901-10) treats of the dis- 
tribution and seasonal abundance of these fishes in 
the different areas of the North Sea fished by the 
trawlers. Dr. Fulton also divides the statistics into 
two periods of five years, 1901-5 and 1906-10, and con- 
trasts the quantities of field yielded in a hundred hours’ 
fishing in the first and second periods. It is shown 
that in the case of plaice the weight landed per unit 
of fishing is less in the second period than in the 
first, but that whilst this decrease is marked in the 
case of large and medium-sized fish, there is an actual 
increase in the weight of small plaice landed during 
the second period as compared with the first. 
The same feature is also brought out by the Aber- 
deen market statistics for the years 1905-11, which 
show a progressive decrease in the average catch per 
voyage of large and medium plaice, but a progressive 
increase in the catch of small. In dealing with the 
question of the increased landing of very small plaice, 
Prof. D’Arcy Thompson expresses the opinion. that 
their destruction is detrimental to the fishery, and that 
it yields no commensurate benefit to the trade, a view 
which supports the recommendation of Prof. Heincke, 
which will come under the consideration of the Inter- 
national Council, that an international size limit of 
19 in. should be enforced for plaice. 
A second memoir by Dr. Fulton deals with the 
plaice-marking experiments. Unfortunately the num- 
ber of fish marked in Scottish waters has not been 
large; indeed, it has not been sufficiently large to give 
results of a very definite kind. There can be no doubt 
that such experiments, when carried out upon a suffi- 
ciently extensive scale, are capable of yielding informa- 
tion of quite exceptional value, and we are glad to 
learn from the Board’s introductory statement that 
since the period covered by the experiments here dealt 
with, others have been conducted upon a much larger 
scale. 
The volume concludes with a memoir by Dr. A. J. 
Robertson on the hydrographical investigations for 
tgog-10. No new features of a striking character 
were found during the two years dealt with, but the 
work has now been carried on over a sufficient period 
to show what is the ordinary, normal distribution of 
salinities and temperatures in the area dealt with, and 
a useful summary of these conditions is given. 
Bly 
THIRTEEN YEARS’ MEASUREMENTS OF 
SOLAR RADIATION. 
EN a paper entitled ‘‘ Valeurs Pyrheliométriques et 
les sommes d’insolation 4 Varsovie,’ Dr. Ladislas 
Gerezynski discusses the measurements which he has 
made at Warsaw with actinometers and_pyrhelio- 
meters during the thirteen years 1901-1913. The 
results are to some extent of a provisional character, 
and they have been published chiefly with a view of 
assisting the Commission on Solar Radiation in its 
