3° 



NATURE 



{May lo, 1877 



a Centauri. — The measures of this star which have lately 

 appeared in Nature show that we are yet without any satis- 

 factory orbit, and it is much to be desired that it may be closely 

 watched during the next few years. Mr. Gill it is understood 

 intends to establish a good epoch in the autumn with Lord 

 Lindsay's heliometer at Ascension. It does not appear to be 

 too late to secure measures which will possess the greatest in- 

 terest in the actual near approach of the two fine stais forming 

 this splendid binary. 



The Present Comets. — Elements of Winnecke's comet of 

 April 5 calculated by Dr. Plath of Hamburg, upon the same 

 extent of observation as those of Mr. Hind, published in this 

 column last week, are almost identical theiewitb, and conse- 

 ([uently negative the idea of ellipticity of orbit, notwithstanding 

 the certain degree of resemblance with the comets 1827 IL and 

 1S52 II., and near equality of intervals. On May 14 the comet 

 approaches within 10° of the pole of the equator, near the 55 m. 

 star, B.A.C. 1211. It will be visible with telescopic aid some 

 weeks longer. 



We subjoin positions of the comet discovered in America by 

 Mr. Lewis Swift on April II, and by M. Borrelly at Marseilles 

 three nights subsequently, also calculated by Dr. Plath. 

 For I2h. Berhn M.T. 



R.A. Decl. Log. dibtaiice. 



May 10 ... 6 8 iS 



,, 12 ... 6 27 I 



„ 14 ... 6 43 53 



„ 16 ... 6 59 5 



,, 18 ... 7 12 46 



,, 20 ... 7 25 2 



,, 22 ... 7 36 II 



„ 24 ... 7 46 15 



+ S6 7-0 ... 0-I243 



54 22-5 ... 0-1275 



52 30-2 ... 0-1315 



50 32-1 ... 0-1362 



48 30-3 ... 0-1417 



46 25-9 ... 0-1479 



44 21-8 ... 0-1545 



+ 42 17-7 ... 0-1617 



M. Wolff, of the Observatory at Paris, observed the spectrum 

 of Winnecke's comet on the morning of April 11, which he 

 found analogous to the spectra of various comets he had observed 

 since the year 186S, from the faintest to the brilliant comet of 

 Coggia in the summer of 1S74. All have exhibited the three 

 bands, yellow, green, and blue, but M. Wolff remarks that the 

 nature of this cometary matter is completely unknown. He did 

 not succeed in obtaining the spectrum of the third comet of the 

 present year, in which, like several other observers, he noticed a 

 resolvable appearance. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 

 Zoological Classification. — In a recent paper in Pfliiger's 

 Archiv, M. Hoppe-Seyler wonders at the readiness with which 

 systematic zoology has ranked amphioxus with the vertebrates, 

 from mere one-sided consideration of the presence of a chorda 

 dorsalis , and the position of the nerve-cord above, and the ali- 

 mentary canal below. A sound system groups species which are 

 similar not merely in morphological respects, but in their whole 

 organisation. Amphioxus has, beyond the chorda, nothing in 

 common with vertebrates ; it has no closed vascular system with 

 red blood corpuscles, no liver which forms a gall, no proper 

 brain, and it contains no gelatine-yielding tissue, which occurs in 

 all vertebrates and also in the cephalopoda, but in no other 

 inveitebrata. In their entire highly-developed oiginiim, the 

 cephalopoda, stand nearest to the vertebrata ; the amphioxus 

 should have a place further down. M. Iloppc-Seyler further 

 points out that comparing the composition of tissues from the 

 lower organised animals upwards, we meet first with mucin 

 yielding tissues, then with those yielding chondrin, then, in the 

 cephalopoda tissues yielding glutin ; the formation of actual 

 bones does not occur in all vertebrata, and is likewise wanting 

 in cephalopoda. Exactly the same order is seen in the stages of 

 development of an embryo, e.g. of the hen in the egg, and it is 

 difiicult to think that the agreement is accidental. 



Luminous Campanulari/E. — The late Prof. Paolo Panceri 

 recently made minute researches at Amalfi, near Naples, with 

 a view to determine the exact .seat of the light-giving organs in 

 Campanulariadx. The Gulf of Amalfi seems to be a favourite 

 haunt of these minute animals, and Prof. Panceri found them 

 abundantly on the alga; covering the rocks near the shore, parti- 

 cularly upon Fiicus cricoidcs. The light of these polyps is inter- 

 mittent, and only appears when the animals are touched or 

 moved ; fresh water, however, has the property of fixing it for a 

 little time. It was principally with species of Campanula) ici 

 Jlcxiiosa that Prof Panceri made his interesting investigations, 

 and the special question he wished to decide was whether it is the 

 external cellular .stratum {or ectoderm), or the internal one (endo- 

 derm) of which these anim.-ils'are composed, which is the actual 

 seat of the light. He found, by means of ingenious microscopical 

 contrivances that the luminous movements of these polyps have 

 their seat in the cells of the ectoderm, and not elsewhere, and 

 that these cells alternately and successively show the light and 

 again become dark, after being touched or placed into fresh 

 water. Not only the bodies of the polyps, but also their slender 

 stems and even the feet with which they adhere to the plants br 

 rocks, contain these luminous cells. Prof Panceri has published 

 an account of his researches in the January part of the Rivista 

 Scientifico-indiistriale. 



Respiration in Frogs. — Mr. A. C. Homer has sent us an 

 account of some interesting observations he has made on the 

 spawning or deposition of ova in the frog (Nana temporarid). 

 We are only able to give the conclusion of his paper : — I will 

 now give a few facts connected with respiration which I have 

 observed in these frogs. They can croak when they are immersed 

 under water, but, as no air-bubbles escape, I was at first puzzled. I 

 find, however, by holding my nose and shutting my mouth, that 

 I can make a somewhat similar sound ; but they seemed to 

 croak louder when only the head and upper part of the body 

 were under water than when their whole body was immersed, 

 and as they distend their sides in the act of croaking, I thought 

 it possible they might be able to draw in air by the rectum or 

 the pores of their skin. When a frog out of water is touched 

 suddenly, he sliuts his eyes and distends his abdomen, and the 

 same thing occurs when under water. Yet how is it that they 

 can distend their abdomen without admitting more air ? for they 

 can distend it very fully, and I should think must require to 

 expel all the air from the thoracic into the abdominal cavity. 

 When a frog is under water, his sides sometimes pulsate rhyth- 

 mically, just as when he is out of water, and about every ten 

 seconds. Perhaps it is connected with the circulation of blood. 



The Woodpecker. — In the April session of the German 

 Orriiihological Society Prof Alton concluded the recital of his 

 investigations on the habits of the woodpecker. The peculiai 

 drumming sound often caused by it was shown on various 

 grounds to be entirely disconnected with the search for insects 

 as hitherto supposed, and was regarded as a call to the opposite 

 sex. Dr. Brehm defended the woodpeckers against the charge 

 of seriously injuring the trees, and considered the slight damages 

 resulting from them as more than compensated by the colour 

 and animation which they gave to the otherwise sober and quiet 

 forests. 



The Flaminoo. — At the same session Herr Gadow stated 

 that by a study of the digestive organs of the flamingo he had 

 found that it did not belong to the duck family as hitherto classi 

 fied, but was to be placed among the storks, being very closely 

 allied to the latter, although properly an intermediate link be- 

 tween the two families. 



Copper in the Blood. — The presence of copper in the blood 

 of human beings and domestic animals has been placed beyond 

 doubt by the investigations of various chemist.s, but has gene- 



