ere ae Gee OTe) Cae! hal fe 
359 
ment, on the recommendation of Humboldt, of the ten 
magnetical and meteorological observatories, by the Em- 
peror of Russia, was one of the most valuable fruits of this 
journey. 
Among Hansteen’s contributions to our knowledge 
of magnetism, may be mentioned the establishment 
by him of a period of rrr years as the length of the peri- 
odicity of the magnetic declination—a cycle which has 
recently assumed such remarkable significance in con- 
aecting astronomical with meteorological and other ter- 
restrial phenomena. r 
Soon after his return from Siberia, the Government 
voted the necessary sum for building an astronomical and 
meteorological observatory at Christiania, which was 
erected under Hansteen’s direction. This observatory 
has done much good work, of which the meteorological 
department deserves very special commendation. The 
trigonometrical and topographical survey of Norway, 
which was begun in 1837, was conducted under Hans- 
teen’s superintendence. 
In 1856, the completion of his fifty years public services 
was celebrated, and a medal was struck in commemo- 
ration of the event. Shortly after this he ceased to lec- 
ture publicly, and in 1861 retired from public duty. 
THRE NOTORNIS OF LORD HOWE’S ISLAND 
HE last number of the Jézs (July 1873, pl. x.) contains 
a representation of a very interesting bird, about 
which, though discovered and described in the last century, 
naturalists have for a long time been doubting. This is 
the species said to be first mentioned by Callam in 1783 
(Voy. Bot. Bay), and subsequently figured in the works of 
John White (Journ. Voy. New South Wales, p. 238, App.) 
and Governor Phillip (Voy. Bot. Bay, p. 273, pl.), and 
designated by Latham (Ind. Orn. ii. p. 768) Gadlinula 
alba, No specimens are known to have been brought to 
Europe for upwards of ezghty years, and only two are 
believed to exist in museums—one in that of Liverpool, 
which was figured by White, and the other in Vienna, now 
for the first time portrayed. The species is most likely 
extinct in Norfolk Island, but a passage in a pamphlet by 
Mr. Edward Hill, published at Sydney in 1870, seems to 
show that it may still exist in that of Lord Howe—though, 
if so, doubtless on the verge of extermination through 
the pigs, with which the island is said to be overrun, for the 
bird is believed to be unable to fly. Should any examples 
-be still living, it would certainly be better that their re- 
mains should be placed in our museums, than that they 
should contribute to the formation of pork ; and I write 
these lines that they may attract the attention of some 
Australian readers of NATURE, who may be disposed to 
do a good turn to the University of Cambridge. 
This bird, which has been variously assigned to the 
genera Gallinula (moor-hen), Fudica (coot), and Porphy- 
rio, is now referred to the genus Woforn?s, containing only 
one other species, the “ Takahe” of New Zealand (JV. man- 
ze//i)—ttself nearly, or quite, extirpated. It was about 
the size of a barndoor-fowl, with the bill and legs red. 
The Vienneses pecimenseems to be entirely white; the 
example at Liverpool is mottled with purple, but not 
enough to gainsay the name of “ White Bird,” by which 
it seems to have been known both in Norfolk and Lord 
Howe’s Islands. It would no doubt, if taken alive, be 
easily kept in confinement, and I need scarcely say how 
highly a living example would be valued by the Zoological 
Society ; but this is perhaps more than can be reasonably 
hoped for, and, so far as I am concerned, I should be well 
content with a specimen in spirit, or a skin with all the 
bones accompanying it, for the Cambridge Museum. 
I may perhaps be allowed to conclude by remarking 
that the history, and especially the distribution of the 
family of birds, to which the subject of this notice refers 
’ 
~ 
NATURE 
is indeed worthy of far more attention than they have — 
hitherto received, and could that accomplished zoological — 
writer who has lately in the columns of a sporting contem- 
porary made the not very distant family of Gruid@ the — 
theme of an admirable series of essays—far probably 
from being fully appreciated by his readers—be induced 
to employ his pen on the Ralide, the results would be of 
the greatest interest. The Rails—employing the word in 
a very wide sense—are cosmopolitan in the highest de- 
gree. Some of the best known genera have their repre- 
sentatives all over the world, occurring even in oceanic 
islands, where birds generally are so scarce—Gal/inuda and 
Fulica, for instance ; and some at least of the former, 
when they get to such remote spots, seem to lose their 
volatile powers, though otherwise undergoing but little 
change, as witness the G. weszo¢zs of Tristan d’Acunha, 
made known a few years ago by Mr. Sclater, and a form 
still undescribed, of which three examples were obtained 
by my brother from Denis Island, an outlier of the 
Seychelles group (/ézs, 1867, p. 358). Then there is a 
genus equally flightless, which has lately been restored to 
light and knowledge, but, alas ! too Jate for us to knowit in 
the flesh. This is the Aphanapteryx, which survives only in 
a few bones, recovered from the mud of a Mauritian lake, 
and now in the Cambridge Museum, a painting at Vienna, 
and a fewnotices by early voyagers—a bird with a lon 
bill and dishevelled plumage, almost, it would seem, like 
that of the Afferyx, In the opposite direction almost, as 
to structure, we have Z7zbonyx ; but I should occupy far 
too much space were I now to dwell upon even the chief. 
forms of the family, From whatever point of view it be 
regarded, it will be found one of the most interesting in 
the whole series of birds, 
ALFRED NEWTON 
ASTRONOMICAL ALMANACS * 
IL. 
I1.—The “ Connaissance des Temps,” under the direction 
of the Academy of Sciences , 
"THE first to whom the Academy entrusted the editor- 
ship of these Ephemerides was Lieutaud. 
The only real modification introduced into the volume 
was the substitution, for the table of refractions published 
by Lefebvre, of a table of the refractions of Cassini, giving 
the values of that quantity in minutes and seconds for all 
degrees of height, from o” to 90°. The book was also 
somewhat increased in size. In 1707 Lieutaud introduced 
into the Coznazssance des Temps a notice of the occulta- 
tions of stars, the observation of which is of use in de- 
termining longitudes, Lieutaud edited the Connaissance 
des Temps till 1730, when it passed into the hands of a 
young academician, Louis Godin. foo 
Godin, a pupil of Delisle, was born at Paris on Febru- 
ary 28, 1704, and entered the Academy as é/eve at the age 
of 21 years. He was then known only by a keen desire 
for knowledge and a strong predilection for astronomy. 
On taking the direction of the Connaissance des Temps, 
he suppressed the aspects of the planets, which were use- 
less, and introduced the right ascension of the sun for 
every day of the year; calculated this co-ordinate and the 
declination to a second, and added the eclipses of the 
satellites of Jupiter, so that the Connaissance des Temps 
contained from this time the announcement of the eclipses 
of the superior satellites. ' 
In 1735 Godin set out for Peru for the purpose of mea- 
suring with Bouguer and La Condamine an arc of one 
degree of the meridian, and to Jean-Dominique Maraldi, — 
grand-nephew of Cassini the elder, was committed the care 
of the Connatssance des Temps. He enriched the work with 
the configuration of the satellites of Jupiter for every day 
in the year, but he suppressed the notice of occultations 
* Continued from p. 312, i 
