38 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 12, 1885 



the general surface of the photosphere. In Fig. 18 we 

 have the spectrum of a sun-spot as given by Young, ex- 

 hibiting this thickening in the double line D,a line which, 

 like F, is eminently susceptible to variations of pressure. 



It is, however, erroneous to suppose that the solar 

 atmosphere consists entirely of the red prominences 

 already mentioned. These denote merely (.is their name 

 indeed implies) the most violently agitated portions of an 

 atmosphere surrounding the whole sun. Lockyer has 

 named tliis atmosphere the chromosplicrc, and it extends 

 to an average height of about 4000 miles above the 

 surface of the sun. In Fig. ig we have a picture of the 

 spectrum of the sun's photosphere below and of the 

 chromosphere above. 



One prominent constituent of the chromosphere is 

 hydrogen, but we have here a very strange circumstance. 

 Besides certain well-known hydrogen lines, we have in the 

 chromosphere spectrum an orange-yellowline near D, which 

 we cannot identify with the spectrum of any terrestrial 

 substance. It is probably due to some unknown gaseous 

 body which is mixed up with the hydrogen in the atmo- 

 sphere of our luminary. Again, in the solar corona, we 

 have a green line which we likewise cannot identify ; but 

 our opportunities of examining this region are so few 

 and so transient that any conclusion we may come to with 

 respect to its lines must be regarded as provisional. 



B.ALFOUR Stewart 

 ( To he conti?iueii.) 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH 



COMMISSION FOR 1884 ^ 

 T^Cl those who are not already familiar with this publica- 

 ■•■ tion, it is necessary to explain that the bulletin is a 

 journal whose successive numbers appear at short but 

 irregular intervals, each number containing a small collec- 

 tion of brief articles, notes, and reports, on subjects con- 

 nected with the work of the Commission. At the end of 

 each year the numbers that have been issued during its 

 course are collected into a single volume and republished. 



Some of the notes and articles in the volume for 18S4 

 have but a very remote connection with fish or fisheries, 

 ^ broad as is the interpretation given to those terms by the 

 American Commission. In most cases it may be conceded 

 that the information given has some relation to the supply 

 of human food derived from aquatic organisms, or at any 

 rate some bearing on aquatic life. But it is difficult to see 

 the connection between a report on the sanitary condition 

 of the inhabitants of Old Providence Island and the sub- 

 ject of aquiculture. The Report referred to contains many 

 interesting facts concerning the fecundity, education, and 

 diseases of the people mentioned : it would form a 

 valuable contribution to a medical journal, but the fact 

 that its author was surgeon on board the Albatross when 

 he acquired the knowledge of his subject is scarcely 

 sufiicient to prevent surprise at the appearance of a 

 sanitary report in the Fish Commission Bulletin. 



A considerable proportion of the volume is occupied 

 \yith reprints and translations from journals and publica- 

 tions of other countries, and nearly all of these are in- 

 teresting and useful. By the republication of these foreign 

 papers the Bulletin becomes a guide to the knowledge of 

 what is being done in aquicultural enterprise in all parts 

 of the world. Among the reprints are several from 

 British journals— for example, the articles which appeared 

 last year in Nature on the capture of fish larva; by 

 Utricularia, and an article on the sea-serpent by Richard 

 A. Proctor, which is taken from the Nciocaslle Weekly 

 Chronicle. 



Dr. P. Brecchi's Report on the condition of oyster- 

 culture m France in iSSr, originallv published in the 

 Journal Officiel, is given in full ; and there are also 



' Proc. of the U.S. National Museum, vol. vll. 1334. (Washington, 1885.) 



several other useful articles on the subject of oyster-culture. 

 Mr. John A. Ryder contributes a description with illus- 

 trations of a new sand-diaphragm to be used in the cultiva- 

 tion of oysters in marine povids, and a report on the 

 condition of the oyster fishery at St. Jerome Creek. 

 Lieutenant Francis Winslow reports on some experiments 

 made in 1883 on the rearing of oyster larvte. The ex- 

 periments were not completely successful, and the problem 

 of establishing a working system of oyster-culture on the 

 east coast of America still affords scope for the energies of 

 the Fish Commission. 



Several articles and reports contain data from which 

 may be ascertained the extent and success of the efforts 

 W'hich are being made to acclimatise various species of 

 fish in waters far distant from their native homes. The 

 introduction of American fish into French streams has 

 been in many cases successfully accomplished by the 

 Societe Nationale d'Acclimatisation. Details of the ex- 

 periments are given in an article compiled from the 

 monthly bulletin of the Society. Pisciculture and the 

 acclimatisation of new species in Germany is treated in 

 several articles by Max. von dem Borne, who is the founder 

 and owner of a large piscicultural establishment at 

 Berneuchen. The bare record of the successful trans- 

 mission of whitefish eggs to Nelson, New Zealand, and of 

 American black bass to the river Nene in England, is 

 contained in letters which are reprinted. 



Reference to any particular article or subject in the 

 volume, in spite of its extremely heterogeneous character, 

 has been made perfectly easy by the number and com- 

 pleteness of the indexes with which it is provided. In 

 the table of contents the names of all the contributors are 

 given in alphabetical order. A topical synopsis follows, 

 in which the various subjects treated in the articles and 

 notes are given under five headings. Finally, at the 

 end of the book, is an accurate and complete general 

 index. 



The Proceedings of the United States National Museum 

 is published on the same plan as the Bulletin of the U.S. 

 Fish Commission. In the " advertisement " to the volume 

 before us (vol. vii. 1884, Washington, 1885) we are told 

 that the series was commenced in iSySto provide a means 

 for the prompt publication of descriptions of the new and 

 interesting material which was being sent to the Museum 

 l5y the activity of the collectors employed in its interest. 

 The articles are published in signatures, one of which is 

 issued whenever printed material to the extent of sixteen 

 pages has accumulated. The produce of each yea.r is 

 issued as an annual volume. The articles consist of 

 papers by members of the scientific coips of the Museum, 

 of papers by otheis founded on the collections in the 

 Museum, and of interesting extracts from the correspond- 

 ence of the Smithsonian Institution. The more extensive 

 and complete publications of the Museum are issued in 

 the series of Bulletins. Both series are published at the 

 expense of the Interior Department, under the direction 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, and with the supervision 

 of Mr. Spencer F. Baird, director of the National Museum. 

 The present volume, containing a large proportion of 

 articles on fishes, has been edited by Dr. Tarleton H. 

 Bean, curator of the Department of Fishes. 



A considerable number of new species of fish are described 

 in this volume. Dr. Bean describes a new species of Core- 

 gonus from Alaska, two new species obtained by the Fish 

 Commission, and two from Jamaica. Mr. David Jordan 

 contributes notes on a collection of fishes from Pensacola, 

 Florida, with two new species, one of Exoccetus ; and 

 nine other short papers on collections of fishes from 

 Mexico. Florida, and the Mississippi. The same natural- 

 ist, in collaboration with Ch. H. Gilbert, gives four, with 

 Seth E. Meek two, and with Joseph Swain six, notes on 

 fishes. The volume contains several additions to the 

 natural history of the Commander Islands in the Behring 

 Sea. One of these is a refutation, by Leonhard Stejneger, 



