278 



NATURE 



[yuly 21, 1881 



May 29-27980 ... 5 2 3"8 ■■• -3' '5 24'9 

 The comet was nearest to the earth about midnight on June 19, 

 when its distance was o*283. 



The ephemeris subjoined is for Greenw ich midnight : — 



R.A. N.P.D. Log. distance from the 



h. m. e - Earth. Sun. 



July 22 ... II 44'2 ... 8 5-0 ... 9-9290 ... 0-0065 



23 ... II 55-5 ... 8 13-S 



24 ... 12 5-9 ... 8 22-7 ... 99479 •■■ 0-0173 



25 ... 12 15-5 ... S 32-4 



26 ... 12 24-5 ... 8 42-S ... 9-9657 ■•• 0-02S1 



27 ... 12 32-9 ... S 529 



28 ... 12 40-7 ... 9 3-4 •.■ 9'982S ■■■ 0-0388 



29 ... 12 4S-0 ... 9 13-9 



30 ... 12 54-9 ... 9 24-5 ... 9-9982 ... 0-0493 



31 ... 13 1-3 ... 9 35'2 



August I ... 13 7'4 •■■ 9 4S'9 ••• 0-0131 ... 0-0597 



2 ... 13 13-2 ... 9 56'4 



3 ... 13 18-7 ... 10 7-8 ... 00271 ... 0-0700 



4 ... 13 24-0 ... 10 17-2 



5 ... 13 29'2 ... 10 27-4 ... 00404 ... 0*0800 



6 ... 13 34"3 •■• 'o 37'4 



Comet 188 i c. — Telegrams from the Smithsonian Institution 

 at Washini;ton notify the discovery of a comet at the Observatory 

 of Ann Arbor, by Mr. Schaberle, apparently on July 16 ; it was 

 situate, according to the telegrams, nearly in the right ascension 

 of Capella in 48° declination (or ? 38°). 



Near approach of Venus to 107TAURI. — Prof. Winnecke 

 has circulated a note in which he suggests a method of determin- 

 ing the solar parallax from observations of this planet, when it 

 approaches or occults a fixed star. We refer to the note at this 

 time, only t> draw attention to a close approach of the planet to 

 107 Tauri, a star of 6-5m. on the morning of July 24. Accord- 

 ing to a calculation by one of Prof. Winnecke's pupils the star 

 will be occulted, but there appears to be some mistake here. 

 Taking the star's place from the Greenwich Catalogue of 1864 

 and the Radcliffe Observations 1870-75, its apparent position 

 will be K.A. 5h. Im. 51-33S., Decl. -1-19° 42' I5"-I, and at con- 

 junction in R.A. July 23 at 20h. 26m. -2 G.M.T., the geocentric 

 difference of declination (Venus-star) is 28"-7 ; this difference is 

 reduced by the effect of paralbx at Greenwich to 22"-9, and 

 Wichmann's value of the semi-diameter of the planet being 10" 'S, 

 it appears neglecting tabular error of place, that at conjunction 

 in right ascension, the south limb of Venus will be 12" north of 

 the star. 



[Since the above was in type Dr. Gould's observations of the 

 great comet at Cordoba have been received ; they show that at 

 the end of May the elements upon which our ephemeris is 

 founded may give the comet's position with errors of + I'-o in 

 R.A., and + 3'-8 in declination.] 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin de V Acadimie Royak des Scimces de Belgique, No. 3. 

 — On the intensity of scintillation during aurorce boreales, by 

 M. Montigny. — Observations on the anatomy of the adult Afri- 

 can elephant, by MM. Plateau and Lienard. — On a general 

 property of liquid sheets in motion, by M. Vander Mensburghe. 

 — On the triangulation of the kingdom, by M. Adan. — On the 

 magnetism of bodies in relation to their atomic weight, by M. 

 Enera. — On the broadening of the lines of hydrogen (third 

 communication), by M. Fievez. 



No. 4. — Liberty, and its mechanical effects, by M. Delbceuf. 

 — Note on Prctswichia rotnndata, J. Prestwich, discovered in 

 the coal schist of Hornu, near Mons, by M. de Koninck. — On 

 the transformation of methylcbloracetol into acetone and thi- 

 acetone, by M. Spring. — On the blood of insects, by M. Frede- 

 ricq. — Note on certain co-variants, by M. le Paige. — Researches 

 on the reproductive apparatus of osseous fishes, by Mr. Mac- 

 Leod. — On the stratigraphic position of remains of terrestrial 

 mammalia discovered in Eocene strata of Belgium, by M. Rutot. 



Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, June 15- — 

 International Geological Congress at Bologna (1 881) ; report of 

 Swiss Coiiinuttee on unification of nomenclature, by Renevier. — 

 On an artificial reproduction of Gaylussite, by MM. Favre and 

 Soret. — Study on pala;ontological and embryological develop- 



ment, by M. Agassiz. — Researches on alternating generations of 

 Cynipides of oak, by M. Adler. — Observations on luminous 

 plates, by M. Dufour. — Apparatus for Lifsajou;,' curves, by the 

 same. — The telephone and return currents of telegraph lines, by 

 IL Cauderay. 



AUi della R. Accadcmiadei Lincei, vol. v. fasc. 13. — Astrono- 

 mical and physical observations on the axis of rotation and the 

 topography of Mars, at the Royal Observatoiy of Brera, in 

 Milan, with the Merz equatorial, by S. Schiaparelli. -Prelimi- 

 nary note on the volcanic ejection of tufa of Nocera and Samo, 

 by S. Scacchi. — Researches on the variations of tone in the 

 human blood-vessels, by Signori Rajardi and Mosso. — On obser- 

 vations of solar spots, faculpe and protuberances, at the Royal 

 Observatory of the Roman College, during the first quarter of 

 1881, by V. Tacchini. — On the mean monthly and annual tem- 

 1 eratures and the daily thermometric excursions deduced from 

 observations at the observatory of the Roman College, by the 

 same. — A ."-upposed new red star, by the same. — Observations 

 on small planets, by the same. — On the depolarising property of 

 saline solutions, by S. Macalu.so. — On the constitution of de- 

 rivatives of santonine, by S. Cannizano. — On the action of 

 bromine on naphthaline, by S. Magatti. — Attempt at synthesis 

 of pyragallic acid, by the same. — On a new (3rd) homologue 

 of pyrol contained in oil of Dippel, by Signori Ciamician and 

 Dennstedt. — On cadaveric poisons, by S. Moriggia. — On the 

 saccharifying ferment of wine, by S. Selmi. — Some theorems on 

 geometry of ;/ dimensions, by S. Veronese. — On the skeleton of 

 Scelidoterian exhibited in the geological museum at Bologna, by 

 S. Capellini. — Primordial fauna in Sardinia, by S. Meneghini. — 

 On botanical taximony, by S. Camel. — Ephemerides and sta- 

 tistics of the Tiber in 1S80, by S. Betocchi. — Determination ol 

 the difference of longitude between Rome and Milan, by Signori 

 Respighi and Celoria. — Absolute value of gravity at Rome, by 

 S. Respighi. — On corrections in elliptical co-ordinates in the 

 calculation of planetary perturbations, by S. de Gasparis. — Some 

 artistic, literary, and geographical fragments of Leonardo da 

 Vinci, by S. Govi. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Geological Society, June 22. — R. Etheridge, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Thomas Hart and David William 

 Jones, Coronel, Chili, South America, were elected Fellows 

 of the Society. — The following communications were read : — 

 Description of a new species of coral from the Jlidd'e 

 Lias of Oxfordshire, by R. F. Tomes, F.G.S. The species of 

 coral described in this paper was referred by the author to the 

 genus Thamnastrira and the sub-genus Synastiiva, under the 

 name of Thamnastrcca Walfordi, in honour of its discoverer, 

 Mr. E. A. Walford. The specimen was from the Spinatus-hsi?, 

 of the Marlstone, at Aston-le- Walls, Oxfordshire. Like Tham- 

 nastrira Etheridgei, previously described by the author (Q. y. G. S. 

 xxxiv. p. 190) from the Middle Lias of O.tfordshire, this species 

 piresents the same sub-generic characters as T. arachnoides of 

 the coral rag of Steeple Ashton ; and the author remarks upon 

 the fact that the only species known from the English Lias 

 resemble corallian rather than Inferior-Oolite forms. — Note on 

 the occurrence of the remains of a Cetacean in the Lower 

 Oligocene strata of the Hampshire basin, by Prof. J. W. Judd, 

 F.K.S., Sec.G.S. With a note by Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., 

 F.G.S. The author referred to the rarity of remains of marine 

 mammalia in the Lower Tertiaries of Britain, the only recorded 

 species being Zeuglodoii IVanklyni, Seeley, from the Barton 

 clay. The single specimen in his possession was obtained at 

 Roydon, about a mile and a half north of Brockenhurst, where 

 the beds exposed in the brickyard consist of sandy clays crowded 

 with marine fossils, and resting upon green freshwater clays, 

 with abundance of Unio Solandri belonging to the Headon 

 series. The author briefly referred to the question of the 

 horizon of these deposits, which he regards as belonging to the 

 same great marine series as the beds of Brockenhurst and Lynd- 

 hurst, which he holds to be Tongrinn or Lower Oligocene. The 

 Cetacean vertebra obtained by Prof. Judd was staled by Prof 

 Seeley to be a caudal vertebra, probably the eighth, but not later 

 than the twelfth, of a species belonging, or closely related to the 

 genus Balicnoptera, and especially approaching Balcvnoptcra 

 laticeps, a species of the North Sea which appears to 

 range to Japan. Prof. Seeley regarded it as representing a 

 new species, which he named Balienoptera Juddii.— Dts.m^- 



