Jan. 15 1885] 



NA TURE 



251 



from Australia, presented by Mr. B. C. Tan' ; a Short-toed 

 Eagle (Circa: tus ^allicus) from Suez, presented by Capt. H. E. 

 Rot iins ; a Laccrtine Snake [Calopeltis lacertina) from North 

 Africa, presented by Mr. R. F. Sibbald ; a Rose-crested Cocka- 

 too (Cacatua mo ucci usis) from Moluccas, deposited ; a Black 

 .Hid Yellow Hawfinch (Myccrobus nulanoxanthus) from Yark- 



land, a Pastor (Shi> uta ) from the Andaman Islands, 



four Starred Tortoises [Ttstudo stella/a) from India, a Tuber- 

 culated Iguana {Iguana tuberculoid) from South America, 

 purchased. 



OCR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Naval Observatory, Washington. — The Report of 

 the Superintendent of this establishment, Commodore S. R. 

 Franklin, to t e Navy Department, for the year ending October 

 31, 1SS4, has been issued. Great stress is laid upon the import- 

 ance of commencing the buildings for the new Observatory. 

 The present site is stated to be notoriously unhealthy, and the 

 buildings are in a dilapidated state, and, as the ground for the 

 new Observatory has been purchased and the plans made and 

 approved, the Superintendent urges that Congress should be 

 appealed to during the coming session for a portion at least of 

 the funds required for the new Observatory. His estimate " For 

 the purpose of erecting a new Naval Observatory and necessary 

 buildings upon the site purchased under the Act of Congress, 

 approved February 4, 1880," amounts to 586,138 dollars, or 

 approximately 120,000/. The 26-inch equatorial was chiefly 

 employed in observations of the satellites of Neptune, Uranus, 

 Saturn, and Mars; in the case of Uranus, the observa- 

 tions were confined mostly to the two outer satellites, 

 and have now been discontinued, as the favourable time 

 for determining the position of their orbits has passed. 

 Since this instrument was mounted in 1873 observations of the 

 faint satellites of the planets have constituted its main work, 

 and the laborious discussion of the observations, with the view 

 to the correction of orbital elements, was commenced in earnest 

 in August 1883, and is now in a very advanced state, particu- 

 larly as regards the satellites of Saturn. A report from Prof. 

 Harkness, in charge of the work for the Transit of Venus Com- 

 mission, is ap ended : the measurements of the negatives obtained 

 at the various stations was completed last August ; the number 

 of photographic plates giving satisfactory results is 932 for the 

 northern and 639 for the southern hemisphere. Prof. Harkness 

 enters into details w ith respect to these measures, and the method 

 of conducting them, for which reference must be made to the 

 report. The Superintendent regrets that the printing of the 

 Washington observations is not so advanced as is desirable, and 

 ngress for a sum of 1000'. annually for a 

 few years, in order to bring up work to date, after which a 

 smaller sum would allow of the due publication of the obser- 

 vations. 



'Phi; Dearborn Observatory, Chicago. — The report of 

 the Director of this Observatory, Prof. G. W. Hough, dated 

 June 18, 1884, has been received within the past week. The 

 work with the IS inch equatorial was confined, as usual, during the 

 previous year to the observations ot a few special objects, includ- 

 ing Pons's comet of 1S12 on its reappearance, difficult double- 

 J;us, the planet Jupiter, and the satellites of Uranus. Thirty- 

 two new double-stars, most of which are difficult, were detected. 

 The companion of Sirius was measured by Prof. Hough on 

 eleven nights, and by Mr. Burnham on ten nights, the mean 

 result being 



iSS4'iS5 ... Position, 36° '6 ; Distance, 8" - 45. 

 which, with the observations of recent years, seems to indicate 



I I revolution of the companion is longer than 



thai indicated b) i ! y. The disk of Jupiter was observed on 



every favourable occasion, and micrometric measures made on 

 the principal spots and markings, including the great red spot 

 1 1S7N. With best vision the colour of this object 

 I was "unmistakably a pale pink." The spot is stated 

 lo have maintaini I hape, and outline during the five 



years it ha, been observed at Chicago ; in this respect experience 

 there has not fully accorded with the impressions of some 

 observers, that the spot had " lost its outline, and become 

 merged in a faint belt on the following end." The most marked 

 change I. is been in its degree of visibility, bat it was seen at 



Chicago as long as the planet was observable. Prof. Hough 

 adds that from 1879 to 1883 the spot had a retrograde drift in 

 longitude upon the surface, or, in other words, the apparent rota- 

 tion of Jupiter was increased from gh. 55m. 34'0s. in 1S79 to 

 9I1. 55m. 38'4S. in 1883. During the last opposition this drift 

 appears to have nearly ceased. The mean period from Sep- 

 tember 12, 1883, to June 11, 1884, comprising 660 rotations, is 

 9h. 55m. 38'5s., and the mean for the whole five years of ob- 

 servation is 9I1. 55m. 37 'os. The report is accompanied by six 

 tinted lithographs of the appearance of Jupiter's disk. Saturn 

 was frequently examined with the view to detecting markings on 

 the rings, but all observations so far in this direction have been 

 negative. While the rings have been sharply defined, and even 

 the boundary of the dark ring well seen, "nothing indicating a 

 division in the outer ring has ever been noticed." This is not 

 in accord with the conclusion of many other observers provided 

 with telescopes of less optical capacity than the Dearborn 

 refractor. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



A so-CALLEV) "envoy" of the Mayor of Timbuktu, lately 

 arrived in Paris, has been received by the French President, and 

 introduced to the Geographical Society at its last meeting. On 

 ision it was stated that there is no Sultan or military 

 authority in this famous metropolis of NegrolanH, but only a 

 body of merchants who yearly elect a kind of mayor from 

 amongst themselves. This statement is not quite correct, and, 

 as little is known regarding the internal affairs of the city, the 

 following facts will be acceptable: — For over 200 years Tim- 

 buktu has been administered by a " Kahia," a kind of burgo- 

 master, originally appointed by the Emperor ot Marocco 

 from the Moorish Andalusian family of Er-Rami some 

 time after the expulsion of the Arabs from Spain. The 

 office became hereditary in this family, and the present 

 Kahia, or "Amir," as he now affects to call himself, is Mu- 

 hammed Er-Rami, whose Negroid features are the result 

 of long alliances with the surrounding SothVay population, lie 

 commands little influence, and is practically a mere puppet in 

 the hands of whichever of the rival Arab, Imosharh (Berber) or 

 Fulani (Fulah), tactions happens for the time being to have the 

 upper hand. The Imosharhs command the whole district be- 

 tween Timbuktu and Arawan, and their Sheikh or " Sultan," 

 Eg-Tandagumu, seems to draw his chief supplies from the 

 plunder. d caravans passing through his territory. The Arabs, 

 as in the time of Rarth, are still ruled by the head of the illus- 

 trious El-Bckay family, a branch of the Kuntza tri'oe, whose 

 present chief is Sheikh Abadin. His policy has long been to side 

 with the Fulani, whose power here, as elsewhere in the Western 

 Sudan, is constantly on the increase, and who threaten to be- 

 come absolute masters of Timbuktu unless this place falls into 

 the hands of some European power advancing from the west or 

 penetrating up tile Niger valley from the south. 



According to the Turkestan Gazette, Dr. Grishimailo, the 

 traveller and entomologist, has concluded his investigations into 

 the natural history of Turkestan for the present. Hebe'anhis 

 travels in the Fergana Valley, and from thence he went into the 

 Altai region, which he examined thoroughly. In the course of 

 the summer he visited Osch, Arawan, Nankal, Utch-Kurgan, 

 Shahimardan, Karakazyk, Koksu, Tekelik, the River Balykty, 

 Karamuk, and Zanku ; on his return he visited Karamuk, 

 Jirgetal, Sarzbulak, Kok u, Altyumazar, and went on foot 

 through the Trans-Altai Mountains to Bordooba and Karakul. 

 The geological collections are very considerable. In lepidoptera 

 alone there are 17,000 specimens, amongst them being many 

 new kinds. The expedition was also a success from an ethno- 

 graphical and anthropological point of view. Many heights were 

 measured and thermometrical observations made throughout the 

 whole journey. The traveller met many evidences of the exig- 

 ence of a glacial epoch in Central Asia : amongst these are men- 

 tioned the presence of forms in Thian-shan, which hitherto have 

 only been found in Labrador, Greenland, Lapland, and the 

 Swiss Alps. Next year Dr. Grishimailo contemplates visiting 

 the western offshoots of the Thian-shan range, because this 

 locality has never yet been examined thoroughly from a geo- 

 logical point of view. 



At the last meeting of the Geographical Society of St. 

 Petersburg, M. Beliaffsky made a communication respecting the 

 journey which he undertook in order to explore the central road 



