— 
March +, 1883] 
‘ 
NATURE 
415 
temperature of the clouds is not greater than that of the 
surface ; and when the temperature of the cloud-screen is 
lower than that of the surface, the temperature of the 
latter will fall. It is scarcely necessary to remark that in 
discussing the influence of cloud on the diurnal periodi- 
city of the wind's velocity, only such means are of real 
value as are calculated from a very large number of 
observations. : : 
During the night, when terrestrial radiation is pro- 
ceeding, the temperature of the surface falls greatly, and 
instead of an ascensional movement in the lowermost 
stratum of the air, there is, on the contrary, a tendency 
towards, and, if the wind be light, an actual descensional 
movement down the slopes of the land. The effects of 
friction being thus intensified, the velocity of the wind 
falls to the daily minimum during these hours. 
ALEXANDER BUCHAN 
EPHEMERIS OF THE GREAT COMET, 6 1882 
(Communicated by Vice-Admiral Rowan, Superintendent 
U.S. Naval Observatory) ' 
GREENWICH MEAN NOON 
R.A. Decl. Log. 7. Log, A. 
1883. ive ame ge SE ERS, 
Feb. 10°0, 6 0 37°8 ... —19 41 17 ... 0°48137 ... 0°38891 
140, 5 57 404... 18 40 13 ... 0°48909 ... 0°40520 
18'0, 5 55 19'7 17 41 17 ... 0'49669 ... 0°42132 
22°0, 5 53 327 16 44 35 «.. 0°50413 ... 0°43723 
2670, 5 52 14°7 15 50 14 ... O°51133 ... 0°45282 
March 2°0, 5 51 24°74 14 58 16 ... 0°51841 ... 0°40817 
70, 5 50 58°7 14 8 43 ... 0°52532 ... 0°48322 
100, 5 50 54°8 13 21 37 -.. 0°53200 ... 0°49790 
140, 5 51 12°3 12)37, NOw..1 O-5390L ..- O:512S1 
18'0, 5 51 47°9 II 54 52 ... 0°54508 ... 0°52635 
22'0, 5 52 39°5 II I§ 10 ... 0°55135 ... 0753995 
26'0, 5 53 46°1 IO 37 56 ... O°55751 ... 0°55316 
. 30°, 5 55 O61 10 3 6... 0°56354 ... 0756594 
April 3'0, 5 56 381 9 30 34 ... 0°56944 ... 0757828 
70, 5 58 20°9 9 O19 ... 0°57520 ... O'59015 
Ilo, 6 0 13°99... —8 32 21 ... 0°58090 ... 0°60153 
WVote—In the published elements q should be 
89° 13’ 42°70 instead of 89° 7’ 42'°70. 
Washington, February 10 E. FRISBY, 
Prof. Math., U.S.N. 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF NEW OR RARE ANIMALS 
IN THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S LIVING 
COLLECTION ? 
Sele 
29. [pee CAPE SEA-LION (Ofarta pusi/la).—It is a 
singular and as yet unexplained fact in geo- 
graphical distribution, that while the Sea-lions amongst 
Mammals and the Albatrosses amongst Birds are con- 
fined to the South Atlantic Ocean, both these groups 
reach up to high northern latitudes in the Pacific. In the 
Atlantic, no Albatross is seen “north of the line,” 
whereas these birds are familiar objects on the coasts of 
both California and Japan. No Sea-lion is met with in 
the Atlantic until we get to the Cape on one side and the 
La Plata on the other, but these animals are well-known 
objects at San Francisco, and the great supply of their 
much-valued furs comes from the far northern territory 
of Alaska. 
The Sea-lion first became an inhabitant of our Zoologi- 
cal Gardens, and thus known to Europe in a living state, 
in 1866, when a French seaman, Francois Lecomte, 
brought to this country an example of the Patagonian 
species (Ofarza jubata), and exhibited it to the public. 
The remarkable form of this animal, its extreme docility, 
and its agile movements attracted great attention, and 
* Computed from elements (NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 225) and reduced to 
the mean equinox 18830. 
? Continued from p, 154. 
led to its acquisition by the Zoological Society, in whose 
Gardens it quickly became an established favourite. 
Upon the death of this individual in the autumn of the 
same year, the Council of the Society determined to send 
out Lecomte, who had entered their service in charge of 
it, to the Falkland Islands, in order to obtain other 
specimens. Lecomte returned to this country in August, 
1867, but owing to various unforeseen circumstances only 
succeeded in landing alive one of the four Sea-lions with 
which he had started from Port Stanley. This animal, 
young and small on its arrival, throve well under Le- 
comte’s careful management, and soon supplied the void 
occasioned by the death of the original specimen. Like 
its predecessor, it exhibits extraordinary agility in the 
water, and catches the fishes thrown to it for food both 
above and below the surface with unerring aim. 
Four years subsequently, in 1871, the Society received 
from Sir Henry Barkly, then Governor of the Cape 
Colony, a present of a young specimen of the Cape Sea- 
lion, of which we now give an illustration (Fig. 29). Like 
its Patagonian relative, the Cape Sea-lion is a female, 
and although quite adult, does not attain the dimensions 
of the male sex of these animals In general appearance, 
shape, and form, the two species are very similar, and 
present little obvious differences to the casual observer, 
except that the ear-lobe is longer inthe Cape animal. To 
the two females has recently been added a young male 
of the Patagonian form, and the three individuals now 
live together in the narrow limits of their basin in the 
greatest harmony, forming one of the most attractive 
groups in the Regent’s Park Gardens. Little has been 
recorded of the mode of life of. the Sea-lion in a state 
of nature, but Mr. E. L. Layard in his “ Catalogue of the 
South African Museum,” tells us that it ‘Sis abundant 
along the whole of the coasts of the colony, and has 
given ils name to numerous bays, islands, and capes, ot 
which ‘Robben’ Islands near Cape Town is perhaps the 
best known. 
“Tt resorts to these places in great numbers for 
breeding purposes, and is sought for and slain for the 
sake of its fur and oil. The male is said to be maned, 
and to much exceed the female in size, but though double 
the market value of the skin has been offered by the 
Museum for a skin of the male of this common animal, 
as it is not the custom of the sealers to take the skin off, 
leaving in the head and feet, we have been unable to 
procure one.” 
As regards the habits of some of the other members of 
this genus, which are of the most extraordinary character, 
we have now ample details concerning the North Pacific 
species in a very interesting and well illustrated work 
prepared by Mr. Henry W. Elliott on the Seal Islands of 
Alaska and their productions.! 
Soon after the Sea-lions were established in the 
Zoological Gardens in this country, specimens of these 
animals were obtained by the principal Gardens on the 
Continent, and basins built for the exhibition of their 
aquatic evolutions. But the examples on the Continent, 
as well as those in the Aquarium at Brighton, all belong 
to one of the North Pacific species of Sea-lion (Ofaria 
californiana), which is found in enormous multitudes 
upon the Pacific coast. Of the South African species 
now figured, the example in our Zoological Society’s 
Gardens is the only one yet brought alive to Europe. 
30. BLANFORD’S SHEEP (Ovw?s blanfordi).— Every high 
mountain-tract in Northern and Central Asia appears to 
be occupied by a distinct form of Wild Sheep (Ovzs), 
while single outliers of the same genus are found far to 
the west in Sardinia and to the east in North America. 
Some of these animals, such as the celebrated ‘‘ Ammon” 
of Ladakh (Ovzs hodgsonz) and the Snow-sheep of 
Kamschatka (O. zz¢vico/a), attain a magnificent size and 
* A Monograph of the Seal Islands of Alaska. By Henry W. Elliott 
Reprinted, with additions, from the Report of the Fishery Industries of th 
Tenth Census. 4to. Washington, 1882. 
