242 
North Kent Railway, on the banks of which the plant is exces- 
sively abundant) as to which could record the first blossoms. 
I think I have seen them as early as the first week in February ; 
on the other hand, it is possible that the first week in April 
is on record as the earliest appearance; almost without ex- 
ception it truly indicated that any long period of severe weather 
was over for that winter. Will this prove the case with the so- 
called ‘* wiater” of 1881-1882? 
Lewisham, January 6 R. McLACHLAN 
INDIAN FossiLs.—Dr. Gordon, of the Manse, Birnie, Elgin, 
writes that there is a pretty large collection of Siwalik fossils in 
the Falconer Museum at Forres, N.B. 
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS IN 1882 
4 pee French Ministry of Public Instruction has issued 
the Procés-verbaux of the International Conference 
on the approaching Transit of Venus, held at Paris from 
the 5th to the 13th of October last. Representatives of 
fourteen nationalities were present at the Conference, but 
regret was expressed that the United States had no dele- 
gate present Russia; also was unrepresented, but it has 
been understood that the Government of that country do 
not propose to organise expeditions beyond the limits of 
the Empire, or perhaps to undertake observations else- 
where than at the fixed observatories. M. Jules Ferry, 
then Minister of Public Instruction and the Fine Arts, 
was present at the opening meeting of the Conference on 
October 5, and stated its objects; he was named honorary 
president by acclamation, and on his proposition the 
meeting proceeded to the election of the acting-officers, 
which resulted in the choice of M. Dumas, perpetual 
secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, as presi- 
dent; Prof. Fcerster, director of the Observatory of Berlin, 
and Prof. Weiss, director of the Observatory of Vienna, 
as vice-presidents ; with M. Hirsch, of the Observatory 
of Neuchatel, delegate from the Swiss Republic, and M. 
Tisserand, the proposed chief of a French expedition to 
Martinique, as secretaries. M. Dumas pointed out that 
the expeditions in 1874 were organised by the various 
nations without any general previous understanding, each 
acting independently, adding that the necessity of co- 
operation in the arrangements of different countries for 
the observation of the approaching phenomenon is now 
generally admitted. He directed special attention to the 
desirability of coming to some definite conclusion as to 
the employment or otherwise of photography on the occa- 
sion. In the discussion which followed Prof, Foerster 
announced that the German Commission had resolved 
not to employ photography in 1882, and Mr. E. J. Stone, 
the Radcliffe Observer, directing astronomer of the British 
Commission, which he represented at the Conference, 
mentioned that it was not seriously intended to introduce 
photography in the expeditions of 1882, remarking that 
the French results from this method were not encouraging, 
and the American results had not been published in time 
to allow of due discussion before the British Commission 
was called upon to advise the Government on the best 
methods of observing the transit. 
M. d’Abbadie, however, reminded the Conference that 
good results had been obtained by Mr. Todd from the 
American photographs. M. Hirsch said the scientific 
public had been surprised to find that after the lapse of 
seven years since the transit of 1874 there was yet but a 
partial publication of results, and these in small number : 
each nation had given its solar parallax, but could not a 
different method of procedure be adopted for the transit 
of 1882? It might be worth while to forma dureau des 
calculs, charged to collect, reduce, and discuss the whole 
of the observations in 1882, and the same bureau might 
also discuss the entire series of observations at the late 
transit, and publish the final value of the sun’s parallax 
from the two transits. Prof, Foerster took a similar view ; 
Prof, Oudemanns preferred that each commission should 
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in the first place draw up and publish its separate report ; 
the definitive parallax would follow. At the second sitting 
of the Conference on October 6 M. Dumas notified the 
stations selected by the French Commission and the ob- 
servers-whom it was proposed to place in charge of the 
respective expeditions. At three of ‘the stations, viz., 
Santa-Cruz, Rio Negro, and Port-Desire or Chubut, in 
Patagonia, M. Mansilla from the Argentine Republic, said 
the French expeditions might count upon the co-opera- — 
tion of his Government, and the same was stated as 
regards Santiago, another of the French stations, by Dr. 
Moesta on the part of the Government of Chile. M. Liais, 
delegate from Brazil, mentioned that M. Cruls would 
observe at Rio Janeiro, where the sun would be nearly in 
the zenith soon after the second contact; he had also 
organised a station in a locality situated at an altitude of 
1800 metres to guard against unfavourable weather at 
Rio, and a third station would be at Pernambuco, where 
the chances of a clear sky are very great; further, M. 
Liais contemplated two additional stations, one of them 
in the Straits of Magellan; the telescopes employed in 
Brazil would be of 9 inches and 6 inches aperture. Prof. 
Foerster stated that the German Government had not 
finally decided upon the precise localities to which the 
four authorised expeditions would be sent, but it had been 
proposed to place two of them in the southern part of the 
United States, one in the south of the Argentine Republic, 
and the fourth at the Falkland Islands. With regard to 
observations in the Straits of Magellan, M. Bouquet de la 
Grye, of the French Navy, said the Chilian Government 
had for a long time past instituted meteorological ob- 
servations which, while they indicated that the proba- 
bilities of a fine sky were great at Santiago, were 
not promising for the Straits: “Il m’y a_peut-étre 
pas une probabilité de ,, de voir une partie seule- 
ment du phénoméne.” Prof. Foerster stated that ac- 
cording to his information, there existed near the 
Magellan Straits very limited localities where the con- 
ditions would be favourable in December. With regard 
to the Antilles, to which expeditions were intended to be 
sent, the conditions, according to M. Bouquet de la Grye, 
were complicated: at Martinique they would be pretty 
good, as also for Florida; at Cuba moderately so ; on 
the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico the chances of fine 
weather are small, though improving in the interior. M. 
Pechiile of Copenhagen said the Danish Government 
proposed, with the assent of the Chambers, to equip an 
expedition either to St. Croix or St. Thomas. Dr, 
Bakhuysen said, although the Netherlands Government 
had not made a final decision, it was proposed to send an 
expedition to Curagao or St. Martin in the Antilles, and 
a heliometer would form part of the equipment. M. 
Viegas, delegate from Portugal, remarking that the 
weather is usually magnificent in December n that 
country, mentioned that the observatories of Lisbon and 
Coimbra possessed large equatorial instruments, and 
suggested, if it were considered of utility, an expedition 
might be placed in the Portuguese colonies, at Benguela, 
for example. Mr. Stone reported upon the selection of 
stations by the English Commission, the principal centres 
being the Cape, Australia, New Zealand, and the Antilles. 
On the part of the Spanish Government, M. Pujazon, 
director of the Naval Observatory at San Fernando, said 
it was intended to organise two stations, one at Porto 
Rico, the other in the southern part of Cuba, where the 
chances of favourable weather will be considerable: 
equatorials of 6-inches (English) aperture to be supplied. 
At the same sitting of the Conference, M. Dumas pro- 
posed the nomination of two committees, the one to be 
charged with the distribution of the observing-stations, 
the other with the methods and instruments of observa- 
tion ; it had been previously pointed out by M. d’Abbadie 
that he was named to conduct an expedition to Cuba on 
the part of the French Government, where it was now 
