544 



NA rURE 



[April 9, 1908 



Stuiiv of Rocks under the Microscope," by Mr. Alfred 

 Marker, F.R.S. The book has been revised, new figures 

 have been added, and a few old ones have been withdrawn. 



The U.S.. Department of Agriculture has issued, at the 

 request of librarians and others interested in entomology, 

 a complete list of the publications of the Bureau of 

 Entomology and those of the Department of Agriculture in 

 general bearing on the same subject, and pul)lished by 

 members of the Bureau or under its auspices. The list 

 has been compiled by the librarian. Miss Mabel Colcord. 



A SECOND edition of " An Elementary Course of Prac- 

 tical Zoology," by the late Prof. T. JefTery Parker and 

 Prof. \V. N. Parker, has been published by Messrs. Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd. The first edition was reviewed at 

 length in the issue of N.iture for April 12, 1900 (vol. Ixi., 

 p. 559). In the present edition some parts have been 

 slightly extended, and various modifications made through- 

 out ; in addition, short accounts have been introduced of 

 Monocystis, Nereis, and Obelia, and several new figures 

 added. 



The Carnegie Institution of Washington has published 

 an " Index of Economic Material in Documents of the 

 States of the L'nited States: New York, 1789-1904." The 

 index has been compiled by Mr. A. R. Hasse, of the New 

 York Public Library, for the department of economics 

 and sociology of the institution. The index runs to 553 

 large pages, and deals only, with the printed reports of 

 administrative officers, legislative committees, and special 

 commissions of the States, and with governors' messages 

 for the period since 1789. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet igoyd. — No. 4234 of the Astronomische Nach- 

 richten (p. 159, February 22) contains Herr Kritzinger's 

 cbhtinuation of his- ephemeris for ' Daniel's comet. At 

 present the calculated magnitude of this object is about 

 i;ov8,- and the comet is situated about 2° north of 

 fi Virginis. 



Observatory Map of the Moon. — From Mr. Porthouse, 

 of 6 Bates Street, Birch Lane, Longsight, Manchester, 

 we have received a copy of his recently published map of 

 the moon. This map is printed on a circle of 12 inches 

 diameter, the different formations being shown very clearly 

 in outline, .^t the side of the sheet is a printed list of 

 the formations, with reference numbers and the diameters 

 according to Nelson. The map can be read easily in the 

 dim light of the observatory, and can be obtained from 

 the publisher for eightpence, post free. 



The Recent Maximum of Mira Ceti. — From forty-one 

 observations of Mira, made with an 8-inch telescope, a 

 pair of field-glasses, and the naked eye, and extending 

 from September 8, 1907, to January 29, M. F^lix de Roy 

 found that the maximum brightness occurred on November 

 1, 1907, witli. a magnitude of 3-41. From October 29-5 to 

 November 4-5 the brightness of the star apparently re- 

 mained constant. A comparison with M. Roy's observa- 

 tions of the 1906-7 maximum shows the period of fluctua- 

 tion to be 318-5 days, some thirteen days shorter than it 

 is given by Guthnick from the discussion of the observa- 

 tions made during the last three centuries ; other observers 

 of the recent changes place the maximum at dates varying 

 from October 30 to November 9. 



According to Chandler's computations, a maximum of 

 Mira Cygni was due to take place on April 4-5. On 

 March 9 and 26, respectively, M. de Roy estimated the 

 magnitudes of this object to be 6-6o and 5-88 {Gazette 

 nstroiwmique, No. 4, March 31). 



Sun-spot Observ.\tions. — In No. 4237 of the Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichfen (p. 205, March 6), Herr T. Epstein 

 compares the results of his sun-spot observations made 

 during the years 1905, 1906, and 1907. The figures for 



NO. 2006, YOL "/y] 



the half-years show that the maximum daily frequency 

 took place in the second semester of 1905, and the yearly 

 values indicate a steady decrease during 1906 and 1907. 

 The ratio of the number of groups in the northern to the 

 number in the southern hemisphere was almost reversed , 

 during 1907, for whereas in 1906 it was 1-55 : i, in 1907 j 

 it was I : 1-28. 



Meridian Circle Observ.^tions of Parallax Stars. — 

 Lick Observatory Bulletin, No. 129, contains a list of 

 forty-five stars which have been observed at the request 

 of Dr. L. de Ball for use in his heliometer measures of 

 parallax. The positions given are the results of 400 

 observations, made on twenty-five nights, by Prof. R. H. 

 Tucker. 



The Recent Total Solar Eclipse. — From a note in 

 No. I, vol. ii., of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society (Canada), we learn that the Lick Observatory 

 eclipse party arrived back at Mount Hamilton on 

 January 25. Rain fell during a part of the total phase, 

 but some good photographs were obtained, for although 

 the instrimients were wet, they worked perfectly. 



A New Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere. — 

 With the object of extending Prof. Boss's fundamental 

 catalogue work to the southern hemisphere, an expedition, 

 under the direction of Prof. R. H. 'Tucker, of the Lick 

 Observatory, is to be dispatched to either New Zealand, 

 .South .-\merica, or South Africa. The Carnegie Institu- 

 tion has offered to bear the expense of the proposed 

 observatory, and it is expected that the work will take 

 about three years to carry out. The large Pistor and 

 Martins meridian circle of the Dudley Observatory 

 (.'\lbany, U.S.A.) will be employed for this worlc (Journal 

 R.A.S., Canada, vol. ii., No. i, p. 43). 



The Hamburg Observatory. — Prof. Schorr's report of 

 the Hamburg Observatory, for 1906, contains an account 

 of the new- buildings and instruments. The new observa- 

 tory lies about 20 kilometres to the south-east of the 

 present one, and is at an altitude of 40 metres above the 

 Elbe. The buildings are in the shape of a T, and cover 

 an area of 331652 square metres, .\mong the new instru- 

 ments is a Steinheil refractor of 60 cm. aperture and 

 Q m. focal length, to which is adapted a correcting lens 

 for the purpose of photography, and a meridian circle of 

 19 ' n. aperture and 2-3 m. focal length ; the circles are 

 of 74 cm. diameter, and are divided in 4' intervals. Re- 

 ports, in brief, of the 1905 and 1907 eclipse expeditions 

 and of the variable-star observations and time-service are 

 also given in the volume. 



THE ZIEGLER POLAR EXPEDITION.' 

 T N the introduction Mr. Fiala gives a somewhat scanty 

 ■*- historical account of the e.xpedition, a footnote refer- 

 ring the reader for details to his popular narrative " Fight- 

 ing the Polar Ice." One gathers that the expedition was 

 equipped by Mr. W. Ziegler, of New York — who died 

 before its return — and that the vessel which conveyed the 

 expedition to its objective, Franz Josef Land, in 1903 was 

 lost, the party being eventually rescued in 1905. 



IVIr. Ziegler had the sagacity to leave the choice of a 

 scientific leader to the National Geogr.''phic Society, and 

 its selection of Mr. Peters seems justifieO by the results. 

 Mr. Peters was himself to have prepareci the scientific 

 results for press, but shortly after his return to America 

 he was appointed to the magnetic survey ship of the 

 Carnegie Institution, and his duties as editor devolved on 

 Mr. J. .\. Fleming. The magnetic instruments, a unifilar 

 magnetometer and a dip circle, were loaned by the U.S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, and a programme was pre- 

 pared by Dr. L. .\. Bauer. Meteorological instruments 

 were lent by the U.S. Weather Bureau and the U.S. Signal 

 Corps, and the completeness of the records obtained prob- 

 ably owes a good deal to the fact that one of the members 

 of the expedition, Mr. Francis Long, was a trained 

 observer of the L'.S. Weather Bureau. 



1 "The Ziegler Polar Expedition 1933-5," Anthony Fiala, Commander. 

 Scientific Results obtained under the directKin of William J. Peter<;, 

 Edited by John A. Fleming. Pp vii-f 630 ; with maps. (Washington, D.C. 

 Published under the auspices of the National Geographic Society, 1917-) 



