Nov. 29, 188 



OJ 



NA TUKl: 



105 



in the case of London, and less but perceptibly so in that of 

 Brighton, the light has become of a more silvery hue, due 

 doubtless to the extensive use of the electric light. The distance 

 bet^veen this place (lat. 51', lona;. o) and London is about thirty- 

 five miles in a direct line, and there is no place of any ^ize 

 between these point-, so there can be no mistake about it ; and 

 that the reflection of light at such a distance should be visible 

 seems worthy of notice. It would be interesting to know how 

 far, under favourable atmospheric conditions, the reflection of 

 the London lights can really be seen. W. J. Trentler 



Fletching, Sussex, November 22 



A Lunar Rainbow 



Any of your readers who happened to observe the heavens on 

 Saturday ni^hf, the 17th in-t., at abjut 11. 15 to 11.30, could 

 not fail to notice the beautiful lunar rainbow which was then 

 visible. Though the moon had slightly passed its peri/ee, it 

 was shining with such dazzling brillimce that the marbled 

 shadows on its surface were almost eflTaced, and it hung in the 

 heavens like a spotless crystal sun. The very stars seeaied 

 farther away, as though they had shrank bactc, ashamed and 

 frighted by the silver glory. Jupiter and Sirius alone stood 

 fearless and undaun'ed — the former, beloH- her to the left, as if 

 in attendance, the latter far away in the starless south. A few 

 featherlike clouds which the moon illumined with a spl'^ndour of 

 her own, now and again sailed in stately silence across her pa'h. 

 but that portion which spread directly over her face, seemed to 

 melt and become invisible like a snow flake on a warm hand, so 

 that the cloud floated around her as a veil, fringing but not 

 covering her face. It was when surrounded by one of thee 

 clouds that the rainbow became vi-ible. I had never seen one 

 before, so cannot say whether it was more di-tinct and bright 

 than is usually the case, but 1 could see most vividly the red, 

 yellow, green, and violet bands with their intermediate shades. 

 The bow seemed formed on the cloud that shaded the moon at 

 the time, and lay round her in a perfect, though comparatively 

 small circle. It remiined ^o for some nine or ten minutes, and 

 then faded gradually away into a luminous ha'oof golden brown. 

 Those of your readers who were fortunate enough to behold this 

 beautiful phenomenon will, I am sure, agree with me that it was 

 a sight not to be forgotten. J. C. Kernahan 



The London Institntion, No-eni'm' 24 



Sudden Stoppage of Clocks 

 I HAVE four clocks in my house ; one is on a will that bears 

 north-ea.-t and south-west, while the other three ranged nearly at 

 right an^jles about north-west and south-ea-t. The times of 

 these clocks were not exactly together, there being from five to 

 fifteen minutes bet^^een the times ; but all of them stopped on 

 the morning of November iS at times as recorded by each 

 between 3.25 a.m. and 3.40 a.m. Have any other clocks 

 stopped on the same night ? This place — Lurgybrack, Le'.ter- 

 kenny, Co. Donegal, is in lat. 54° 56' and W. long. 7° 41' 52". 

 Letterkenny, November lo G. Hexry Kinahan 



Fog Bows 



On November 14, when driving about half way between 

 Convoy and Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, I observed a very com- 

 plete bow at about i p.m., due solely to a fog. For the most 

 part it was quite white, but at the springing there were slight 

 traces of prismatic colours. On November :$ at 7 a.m. at 

 Letterkenny there was also a fog bow ; this, however, had all 

 through well developed prismatic colours. The 15th aftenvards 

 came on a heavy wet day; the i5th was fine; but since then 

 there have been severe winds accoojpanied with sleet, snow, and 

 rain. G. II. Kinahan 



Letterkenny, November 19 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HERRING^ 



'T'HE Admiralty having intimated on July 31 that they 



■*• were prepared to grant the use of a gunboat to enable 



the Board to undertake some investigations into the early 



history of the herring, the convener of the Committee 

 appointed to carry on these inquiries made as complete 

 arrangements as was possible in the limited time, and, 

 along with Sir James R. Gibson-Maitland, proceeded to 

 join Her Majesty's gunboat Jackal at lavergordon on 

 August 6. Besides making preparations to collect mate- 

 rial to illustrate the growth of the herring during the early 

 stages of its development, it was thought desirable to 

 make arrangements for the examination of the spawning 

 grounds, in order to ascertain under what conditions the 

 spawn was deposited. To assist in the work Mr. J. 

 Gibson, D.Sc, of the Edinburgh University Chemical 

 Laboratory, and Mr. J. T. Cunningham, B.A., of the 

 Zoological Laboratory, were invited to join the expedition. 



The trawls, dredges, and other appliances were taken 

 on board on .August 6, and on the following da.y \.\\t Jackal 

 left Invergorden for the Moray Firth, and began the 

 work of investigating the inshore spawning grounds lying 

 between Wick and Fraserburgh. Each place examined 

 was indicated by a number on the chart, and will be 

 spoken of in the Report as a "station." During the 

 month the Jackal was at our disposal sixty stations were 

 made, and nearly as many by the Vigilant from the time 

 she relieved the Jackal to her return to Granton on 

 Oct ber 6. The plan generally adopted at the various 

 stations consisted in (i) taking the depth and the surface 

 and bottom temperatures; (2) collecting samples of water 

 from the bottom, and of the mud, sand, &c., brought up 

 by the sounding apparatus ; (3) noting the nature of the 

 surface fauna taken in the tow-net ; and (4) examining 

 and, when necessary, preserving the animal and vegetable 

 forms brought up by the trawl, dredges, and tangles. In 

 this way there has been collected a considerable amount 

 of raw material, from which important results will in due 

 time be obtained. 



Not the least interesting part of the work consisted in 

 experimenting with herring ova which were successfully 

 artificially impregnated and developed. At first experi- 

 ments were made with spawn obtained at Helmsdale on 

 August 7, from herring which had been several hours out 

 of the water; but the results being unsatisfactory, it was 

 determined to obtain, if possible, the roe and milt from 

 living fish. We, therefore, frequently remained during 

 the night on the fishing ground, and boarded the herring 

 boats tt'hen the nets were being hauled. The fishermen, 

 always pleased to see us, rendered every assistance in 

 their power. Selecting ripe fish, we expressed the roc 

 and milt on squares of glass, which were then placed in 

 carrying boxes specially designed for the purpose. The 

 boxes were conveyed by the Jackal to a small laboratory 

 near Geanies, which had been kindly placed at the dis- 

 posal of the Committee. Once at the laboratory, the 

 glass plates, with the developing eggs firmly adhering to 

 them, were transferred to hatching boxes, through which 

 a constant current of water flowed from a large tank. In 

 from three to five days well formed active embryos were 

 visible through the thin transparent egg membrane, and 

 in ten days we successfully hatched fry from the arti- 

 ficially impregnated ova. We soon discovered that suc- 

 cess depended on having an abundant supply of pure 

 sea-water at an equable temperature. Unfortunately, 

 just as our arrangements for experimenting on a large 

 scale w^ere completed, the herring fishing in the Moray 

 Firth came suddenly to an end, and it was impossible to 

 obtain further supplies of eggs. 



We next directed our attention to the nature of the 

 surface forms, which are believed to supply the principal 

 food for the herring fry, and when this, on account of the 

 weather, was no longer possible, we proceeded to examine 

 the mussel scalps in the Dornoch, Cromarty, and Inver- 

 ness Firths. 



As a full account of the autumn's work will be pre- 

 sented to the Board in time for the Annual Report, onh- 

 a s'^ort stitement is now given, indicating rather the 



