INA TORE, 
[March 22, 1883 
R.A. N.P.D. 
ih.) ms: 5 5 
No. 57 O 21 43 147 3777 
aan 423 625 6 I2I 12°3 
Be) e1655 8 16 27 125 50°9 
ss 2181 10 37 27 125 45°0 
No. 57.—Pretty bright, small, round, much brighter in the 
middle. 
1423.—Pretty bright ; considerably large, round, very little 
gradually brighter in the middle ; 4’. 
1655.—A double star =/. 4023 in a pretty small nebula, 
among some seventy stars, 
2181.—Pretty faint, small, much extended in o°+ ; very 
suddenly, very much brighter in the middle; the 
first of three. 
The photo-heliograph was used on every fine day possible, and 
217 pictures were obtained in the year. 
The necessary funds have been voted fora new transit-circle 
more in accordance with the mcdern requirements of astronomy, 
and its construction has been intrusted to Messrs. Troughton 
and Simms. Mr. Christie, the Astronomer-Royal, was invited 
to modify the specification sent to England, if he found reason 
to do so. 
THE SUPPOSED VARIABLE « DORADUS—A SPURIOUS STAR. 
—Dr. B. A. Gould has made a very unexpected discovery, from 
which it appears that » Doradtis of our catalogues, long sup- 
posed to be a variable star, was never observed by Lacaille in 
the position he assigns it in the Catalogue of the Calum Australe 
Stelliferum, and further, that by similar error, five other stars 
observed by Lacaille on the same day, which are found in the 
reduced catalogue published by the British Association, have no 
existence in the positions given. The case is a curious one, and 
as the Calum Australe of Lacaille is now a scarce work, we 
may be excused for transcribing the observations in question as 
they stand. They were made in Zone XI., 1751, December 16, 
in parte inferiore of Lacaille’s rhomboid ; the numerals are 
our own :— 
mag. h, m s. | mag. hm. s. 
No. 1 4 17 Sodas e 6°7 | 
2Ae2 4 
» 2 7 43951] 7 - 7 | 
47 9)} 4 
7 25025) |))| eon 4 59 22 
” 3 4 2 (| 5 3 28 
ge Ol 
» 4 6°7 4 3016)|) 5 9 .. 7 6 oes 
32 38 9 8 
» 5 7 4 41 331 
43 41 
Lacaille appears to have entered correctly the times of beginning 
and ending of describing the chord of his rhomboid for Nos. 1 
and 2, but instead of gh. 25m. 23s. for the third star, the time 
was really 5h. 25m. 23s., and this error of th. runs on up to 
No. 8 inclusive ; No. 9 is correct. This will be readily seen by 
inspecting the above times. The star entered in the Catalogue 
as « Doradtis is No. 8, called 5m, in the observations but 6m, in 
the Catalogue, which gives its place for 1750°0, R.A. 76° 11' 17”, 
Decl. —62° 7/4". The place given by the B.A. reductions is 
R.A. sh. 4m. 44°3s., N.P.D. 152° 6' 57”, which is correctly 
deduced from the transits as printed. With the correction of 
+th, to the times, the position for 1750 becomes R.A. 
6h. 4m. 44'2s., N.P.D. 152° 6’ 49’, and the star ‘‘ Doradtis” 
is seen to be identical with Brisbane 1172 = B.A.C. 2000 = 
Stone 2836, in Pictor. The other spurious stars introduced in 
the Catalogue by the error which Dr. Gould has brought to light 
are Nos. 1542, 1554, 1633, 1680, and 1706. The following 
identifications of the stars really observed may be useful :— 
Spurious stars of the reduced Stars really observed by 
Catalogue. Lacaille. 
No. 1542 Reticulum 7m. = Stone 2497, Dorado 7°6m. 
x» 1554 ” 67 = »» 2532, ” 6 
3, 1633 Dorado he Se eleeehe © 55 67 
” 1680 ” 67 = Led 2707, ” 6.7 
35 1706 0 = Brisb. 1109, Taylor V. 516 
: 7 
1766 (u Doradiis) 5 Stone 2836, Pictor 5m. 
Brisbane observed a star close upon Lacaille’s erroneous posi- 
tion of his » Doradtis, and according to his general custom gave 
it Lacaille’s magnitude. Moesta (Astron. Nach., No. 1545) 
stated that he had observed this star at Santiago de Chile from 
February, 1860, to January, 1865, and had found it 84 or 9 of 
” 
Argelander’s scale; he therefore considered it to be variable, 
and thought the period of variation would prcve to be of long 
duration. 
THE CoMET OF 1812.—MM. Schulhof and Bossert’s sweeping 
ephemerides for this comet are continued in No, 2489 of the 
Astronomische Nachrichten. 
INSECTS VISITING FLOWERS 
THE interest arising out of the writings of Darwin, Lubbock, 
and Hermann Miiller relative to the part played by insects in 
their oft-recurring visits to flowers has of Jate years attracted much 
attention. The subject, in fact, has created a taste for observa- 
tion, and an incentive has been given to watch the frequency of 
visits of various species to certain flowers, and especially to the 
insects’ choice of colours of flower. While the mere register- 
ing of visits may seem a comparatively simple one, the reason why 
insects should show a preference to alight upon flowers of a 
certain colour, or choose certain species of plants, is a much 
more complicated problem than at first sight it would appear. 
Sir John Lubbeck has shown by experiment that blue is the 
bees’ favourite colour ; H. Miiller avers that in the Alps bees 
are attracted to the yellow rather than the white flowers. How- 
ever this may be, certain it is that a much larger number of 
observations are yet needed before a positive law can be deduced. 
Two papers read at the last meeting of the Linnean Society 
(March 1): one by Mr. Alf. W. Bennett, ‘‘On the Constancy 
of Insects in their Visits to Flowers,” and the other by Mr. R. 
M. Christy, ‘‘On the Methodic Habits of Insects when Visiting 
Flowers ””—point out that a strict watch and ward is being kept 
on the movements of the busy bee and its kindred. Mr. Bennett 
states that butterflies show but little constancy in their visits, 
citing only a few instances to the contrary ; but according to 
him, to some extent they seem to have a choice of colour. The 
Diptera exhibit greater constancy, though by no means absolute, 
The Apidee, especially the hive-bee, manifest still greater con- 
stancy. From these data he infers that the ratio of increase is 
in proportion to the part performed by the insects in their 
carrying pollen from flower to flower. As respects preference 
for particular colours, in a series of observations Mr, Bennett 
has noted among the Lepidoptera that 70 visits were made to 
red or pink flowers, 5 to blue, 15 to yellow, and 5 to white; the 
Diptera paid g visits to red or pink, 8 to yellow, and 20 to 
white ; Hymenoptera alighted 303 times on red and pink flowers, 
126 on blue, 11 on yellow, and 17 on white flowers. Mr. Christy 
records in detail the movements of 76 insects, chiefly bees, when 
engaged in visiting 2400 flowers. He tabulates the same, and 
concludes therefrom that insects, notably the bees, decidedly 
and with intent confine their successive visits to the same species 
of flower. According to him, also, butterflies generally wander 
aimlessly in their flight : yet some species, including the Fritil- 
laries, are fairly methodical in their habit. He believes that it is 
not by colour alone that insects are guided from one flower to 
another of the same species, and he suggests that the sense of 
smell may be brought into play. Bees, he avers, have but poor 
sight for long distances, but see well at short distances. Of 55 
humble-bees watched, 26 visited blue flowers: of these 12 were 
methodic in their visits, 9 only irregularly so, and 5 not at all; 
13 visited white flowers, whereof 5 were methodic and 8 the 
reverse ; 11 visited yellow flowers, of which 5 were methodic 
and 6 not; 28 visited red flowers, 7 appearing methodic, 9 
nearly so, while 12 were the contrary. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 
CAMBRIDGE.—In the last local examination 17 per cent. of 
those Juniors who sent up papers in Trigonometry obtained no 
marks, although some questions were of the very simplest nature. 
Among the Senjors Hydrostatics produced unsatisfactory answers. 
Many candidates had no ideas worth the name about pressure at a 
point, density, specific gravity, and weight. This is due partly 
to corresponding imperfections in some current text-books, and 
partly to the habit of teaching Hydrostatics apart from general 
physics or practical applications. The answers in Statics were 
the least satisfactory ; yet according to the examiner there are 
few subjects in which good teaching tells more quickly than in 
elementary mechanics. Thus many who passed did very good 
papers. 
