OcrTosER 12, 1899] 
THE department of vertebrate paleeontology of the American 
Museum of Natural History reports that in 1898 the second 
expedition for Dinosaurs was sent out to Wyoming in charge of 
Dr. J. L. Wortman, with a party of four. Deposits of 
Dinosaur bones very favourably situated were found. In all 
some 60,000 pounds of fossils were secured. This splendid 
collection reached the museum entirely uninjured, and one- 
third of it has already been worked out. The fore and hind 
limbs of these monster reptiles will furnish subjects of great 
interest for the public. The exhibition hall has been enriched 
by the skeletons of two great Dinosaurs. A second party, 
under the direction of Dr. W. D. Matthew, was at work in 
1898 in the fossil beds of north-western Kansas and south- 
western Nebraska. The Bad Lands of north-eastern Colorado 
were also found to be a rich collecting-ground. Skulls and 
parts of skeletons were secured, filling many important gaps 
in the Museum collection. Portions of skeletons and skulls of 
fossil camels were found, among which is included a gigantic 
one of the size and proportions of the giraffe. The party also 
acquired a large amount of other material. It is a little sur- 
prising to notice that, though the museum is doing so much to 
promote educational and scientific advancement in New York, 
the income in 1898 was insufficient to meet current expenses. 
THE monograph, ‘‘The Later Extinct Floras of the United 
States,” left unfinished by the death of Prof. Newberry, is to be 
completed by Dr. Arthur Hollick. 
THE Essex Technical Instruction Committee have issued, 
through the County Technical Laboratories, Chelmsford, a 
report, compiled by Mr. T. S. Dymond, of a visit paid to 
Holland by Essex agriculturists in May and June of the present 
year. The report is interesting reading, and gives a brief out- 
line of the more prominent features of Dutch farming. A 
perusal of the pamphlet will supply English agriculturists with a 
few hints which in some cases might with advantage be acted 
upon in this country. 
THE report of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 
Station for 1898 has just been published, and is full of valuable 
matter. Several of the reports contained in the volume should 
be of interest and service, not only to inhabitants of the State of 
Connecticut, but to many others. 
A SERIES of illustrated articles on ‘‘ Radiography,” by Mr. 
James Quick, is begun in the October number of Sczence Gossip. 
The same issue also contains the continuation of articles on 
‘* British Freshwater Mites” and ‘‘ Butterflies of the Palearctic 
Region,” and numerous other contributions of popular science. 
THE Royal Technical Institute, Salford, has issued its 
calendar for the session 1899-1900. The list of classes is a 
large one, and, judging from the illustrations of laboratories, 
workshops, &c., given, the institute is equipped in a very 
efficient manner. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Smooth-headed Capuchin (Cedus 
monachus) from South-east Brazil, presented by Mr. M. P. 
Peeker ; a Chopi Starling (4Aphobus chop) from Brazil, pre- 
sented by Mr. W. R. Routledge ; two Orange-flanked Parra- 
keets (Brotogerys pyrrhopterus) from Western Ecuador, pre- 
sented by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin; three Palm Squirrels 
(Scéurus palmarum) from India, presented by Mrs. M. E. 
Tracy; a Brown Capuchin (Cedus fatuellus) from Guiana, a 
Guinea Baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx) from Africa, a Striped 
Snake (77opidonotus ordinatus strtalis) from North America, 
three Common Snakes (7Zy%ofzdonotus natrix), a Four-lined 
Snake (Coluber guatuorlineatus), a Tessellated Snake ( 7yofid- 
onotus tessellatus), a Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca), a 
NO. 1563, VOL. 60| 
NATURE 
om 
Glass Snake (Ophzosaurus apus), an Eyed Lizard (Lacerta ocel- 
fata), six Slowworms (Angus fragilis), European, deposited ; 
two Baillon’s Aracaris (Andigena ballon?) from Brazil, a White- 
browed Amazon (Chrysotés albifrons) from Honduras, twelve 
Dwarf Chameleons (Chamaeleon pumilus) from South Africa, 
purchased ; a Wapiti Deer (Cervus canadensis), an Axis Deer 
(Cervus axts), born in the Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
CoMET GIACOBINI (1899 E).—We have received the follow- 
ing elements and ephemeris (calculated by Herr J. Moller) from 
the Centralstelle at Kiel. 
Elements, 
T = 1899 Aug. 26'707._ Berlin Mean Time. 
o= 358 46°1) 
Q = 273 26'9 ;1899'0 
F 
log 7 = 0'23796 
Ephemeris for 12h. Berlin Mean Time. 
1899. R.A. Decl. Br. 
h. m. s , 
Oct. 5 16 3659 —3 187 . 0193 
7 39 50 2 414 
9 42 42 2ySer . 0°86 
II 45 34 1 29°5 
13 48 27 0 54°6 ... o'81 
15 51 20 -0O 20°3 
17 54 14 +0 133 . 0°76 
19 16 57 8 +0 464 
Hotmgs’ Comer (1899 @).—M. H. J. Zwiers gives in As? 
Nach. (Bd. 150, No. 3595) an extended ephemeris of this comet, 
in the hope that it may still be observed by any one having the 
necessary optical power, and thus permit of a more exact 
determination of this orbit. 
Br. 
1899. R.A. Decl oo, 
_™m Ss O 7 u (AF (ra)? 
Oct. Wey 25590145 a75: +48 10 16°1 
13 58 53°29 16 57°5 
14 57 58°94 23 18°9 
15 iy, ele 29 19°7 0°1647 0°05900 
16 56 4°85 34 598 
17 55 5°26 4o 18°7 
18 54 4°07 45 16°1 
19 253 1°35 +48 49 51°7 
THE ROTATION OF THE SUN.—In a publication issued from 
the Lund Observatory, Herr C. A. Schultz Steinheil gives the 
results of his complete discussion of Dunér’s spectroscopic 
determinations of the sun’s rotation, extending over the period 
June 3, 1887—May 18, 1889. 
Taking Dunér’s spectroscopic values for different positions 
round the limb and the centre, these are reduced to heliographic 
coordinates by a table of declination corrections supplied to the 
author by M. Dunér, and so furnish over 600 equations of con- 
dition, which when grouped according to latitude are brought 
down to 22, Solving these by the method of least squares, the 
final result appears as 
x = 2°054 + 00042 
2 = + 18°12 + 0°25 
2 = + 28°00 + 0°50 
This means that the result of the new discussion of Dunér’s 
spectroscopic observations is that the sun rotates so that a point 
on its equator moves with a uniform velocity of 2°054 kilo- 
metres per second round an axis the inclination of which to- 
wards the axis of the ecliptic is 18°'12, the longitude of the 
intersection of the sun’s equator with the ecliptic being 
+ 28°:00. 
The value of the velocity x=2'054 is not the true velocity, 
but the synodic; we get the true value by adding 2d sin a, 
where @ is the velocity of the earth in its orbit in kilometres 
per second, and w the semi-diameter of the sun, expressed in 
angular measures as seen from the earth. 
THE PoLtaris MULTIPLE STAR.—Prof. W. W. Campbell is 
reported to have stated in the Mew York Times :— 
““The recent observations of Polaris at the Lick Observatory 
