wards in a Tapir-like manner, below the base of which the upper 
canines descend in a way which shows that it would be impos- 
_ sible to use them for defence or obtaining food, without doing 
_ great injury to the sensitive trunk which overshadows them. 
Nothing seems more illogical than the assumption, that because 
j an animal has elephantine proportions and feet, it should possess 
aproboscis, especially when all arguments from the skull tend in 
a different direction, 
‘THE Quarterly Weather Report, from July to September, con- 
tains, in addition to the usual tabular results, a discussion of four 
years anemometrical results for Bermuda. 
WE have received the Report on the Freshwater Fish ond 
Fisheries of India and Burmah, by Surgeon-Major Francis Day, 
Tnspector-General of Fisheries in India. 
WE have received from Prof. Edward Morse an excellent 
paper, read by him before the Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory, on the Systematic Position of the Brachiopoda, in which, 
_ from a careful study of the anatomy and development of those 
animals, he has been led to endorse and substantiate Steenstrup’s 
opinion as to their affinities being with the Annelids instead of 
with the Mollusca, as generally believed. The following is his 
concise summary :—‘* Ancient Chaetopod worms culminated in 
two parallel lines—on the one hand in the Brachiopodze, and on 
the other in the fixed and highly cephalized Chaetopods. The 
_ divergence of the Brachiopodz, having been attained in more 
ancient times, a few degraded features are yet retained, whose 
relationships we find in the lower Vermes ; while from their later 
divergence the fixed and cephalized Annelids are more closely 
allied to present, free Chaetopods.” The author lays stress on 
the certainly soft and uncalcified condition of the earliest forms 
of life causing great imperfection in the earliest geological 
record. 
In the death of Mr. William S. Sullivant, which is recorded 
in the scientific columns of Harper's Weekly, and which took place 
at Columbus, Ohio, on April 30 last, the United States has lost 
one of its most accomplished botanists, especially in the depart- 
ment of the mosses, in which he was the recognised head for 
many years. From a biographical notice published by Professor 
Gray in the American Fournal of Science, we learn that Mr. 
Sullivant was born in 1803, near Columbus, in the vicinity of 
which place he resided the greater part of his life. His first 
publication appeared under the title of Musct Alleghanienses, a 
work on the mosses and liverworts of the Alleghany Mountains, 
illustrated by prepared specimens of the plants themselves. This 
was shortly after 1843, and a few years later a work on the same 
subject was published in successive numbers as a memoir of the 
American Academy. The section of Mosses and Hepaticz in 
Prof. Gray’s Botany of the Northern United States was prepared 
by Mr. Sullivant, and credited to his pen. A separate edition 
was subsequently published by the author. A work on the 
mosses of Cuba was prepared by him, illustrated by specimens 
collected by Mr. Charles Wright. He also published, in 1859, 
the account of the mosses collected by the Wilkes expedition. 
The most important of Mr. Sullivant’s publications, however, 
consists of his Zcones Muscorum, being ‘‘ figures and descriptions 
of most of those mosses peculiar to Eastern North America which 
have not been heretofore figured ”—this forming an imperial 
octavo volume with 129 copper-plates. It is stated by Prof. 
Gray that a second or supplementary volume of cones was in 
preparation by Mr. Sullivant, and nearly completed at the time 
of his death. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
past week include two Mouflons (Ours musimon) from Sardinia, 
_ presented by Mr. H. E, Holloway ; two Barbel (Barbus vul- 
garis) and a Bream (Adramis évama) from British seas, pre- 
ad 
NATURE 
391 
sented by Mr. E. S. Wilson ; two Sacred ‘Ibises (Geronticus 
ethiopicus) from Gough’s Island ; a Black-handed Spider Monkey 
(Aéeles melanochir) from Central America, purchased ; five 
Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) from California, depo- 
sited. 
SPORERS OBSERVATIONS ON THE SUN* 
ee author gives chiefly the results of his spectrum 
observations, and simultaneous spot observations, 
recorded in the Transactions of the Berlin Academy of 
Sciences for November 1871, and May 1872. To the two 
earlier instances of striking changes observed in the pro- 
tuberances, there is added an interesting observation of 
August 8, 1872. It was estimated that the prolongation 
of the upper part of the protuberance had a velocity of 
forty-two kilometres per second, parallel to the sun’s 
surface. In the case of many protuberances, it will be 
readily allowed that they are not only subject to cyclones, 
but also owe their origin to them. Protuberances of 
similar form, observed on several successive days, in the 
same heliographic latitude, Sp6rer has accounted for, by 
the supposition of volcanic eruptions, owing to the smaller 
rate of linear rotation of the deeper strata ; if, however, 
we regard these protuberances as the results of cyclones, 
the explanation of the changes of position would rest 
upon the impelling power of the storms, and their ten- 
dency to create new forms ; and the velocity of the ad- 
vancing cyclone ‘would, in several instances, average 1°4 
kilometre. 
Sporer, in this work, adheres to his division of protu- 
berances into two classes. Secchi, in his work on the 
Sun, has distinguished four classes of protuberances,. 
but afterwards accepted Sporer’s twofold division. Both 
observers are at one in this, that the protuberances, 
which Sporer has named “flame” and Secchi “ray” 
protuberances, give different spectral lines, and stand in 
intimate connection with the spots. But with regard to 
the proper hydrogen protuberances, Secchi says they 
are not in the condition to give rise to a spot, against 
which Spérer adduces examples of their influence in neigh- 
bouring spot formation, especially prominent in the inter- 
vals between considerable protuberances of hydrogen, 
The observation of the protuberance, which Secchi 
also noticed, on July 7, 1872, and which gave a well- 
marked image with the line 6543, is particularly described, 
and drawings are appended. 
With regard to observations of spots, interesting com- 
parisons are given, showing the difference between the 
two hemispheres in respect to the frequency of spots, and 
the mean heliographic latitudes. In this connection, 
Carrington’s observations, from November 1853 to the 
beginning of 1861, are gone into, so that the comparisons 
embrace a period extending from November 1853 to the 
end of 1871. With regard to frequency of spots, it 
appears that the southern hemisphere exceeds the northern 
both in maximum and minimum. The curves also show 
distinctly the rapid passage from minimum to maximum, 
and the slow decrease after the maximum. 
The mean heliographic latitudes are obtained through 
assigning to each group of spots, a factor of value (Werth- 
Jactor). The union of five-rotation periods gave a point 
of the curve for the northern as well as for the southern 
hemispheres. Carrington had obtained from his observa- 
tions the striking result, that the spots at the time of the 
minimum approach the equator, thereafter veered off to 
higher latitudes, and that then the more numerously 
spotted zones gradually approached the equator. Spérer, 
by his observations since 1861, has confirmed this result. 
* Translated from a review in Der Naturforscher, No. 29, of Beobach- 
thungen der Sonne, von. Prof. Dr. Spérer, Abhandlung zum Programm des 
Gymnasiums. Separat-Abdruck. Anklam. Verlag und Druck yon 
Richard Poettcke : 1873. 
