282 



NA TUEE 



[Jan. 20, i?87 



Mr. Lockhart says : " If willing helpers can be found to assist 

 in the work of collection, the success of the scheme is assured. 

 Failure can only result from want of co-operation and supp jrt." 



In a paper entitled " Thirty-six Hours' Hunting among the 

 Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middlesex," reprinted from 

 the Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science, Mr. Sydney T. 

 Klein has some interesting notes on the best meth >ds of captur- 

 ing Lepidoptera. He has found it very useful to take advantage 

 of " the attractiveness of the ladies among the Lepidoptera 

 gentry." To those who have not had experience, or have not 

 persevered in, this art, he says, the result is truly marvellous, 

 and will sound very much like a fairy tale. The good taste 

 possessed by the males of Lepidoptera is shown to the greatest 

 perfection among the Bombycidse. On several occasions, when 

 on botanical excursions in Hertfordshire, Mr. Klein has taken 

 with him a female of Dombyx querciis, or o'her Bombycidte, fresh 

 from the pupa ; and, in a wooded country, prjvided the sun 

 was hot and a gentle breeze blowing, he was certain of having, 

 within ten minutes, a dozen of the opposite sex flying round 

 him, and from time to time even settling on his shoulders or 

 hands. On one occasion, after remaining, as an experiment, 

 for some time on the same spot, he counted over forty of these 

 large moths within fifty yards. 



Negotiations are being carried on in Denmark for the 

 holding of a Fisheries Exhibition in Copenhagen next year. 



An enthusiastic fish-culturist is trying to introduce scaleless 

 fishes into English fresh waters. In a lecture on Fish, lately 

 delivered at Worcester, and now published. Dr. Francis Day, 

 C.I.E., expresses his belief that they will prove worthless for 

 sport, almost, if not entirely, useless as food, and dangerous to 

 handle on account of the spines with which they are protected. 

 These fishes delight to eat other forms of fish-life. " I ob- 

 tained," says Dr. Day, " a specimen of a common Indian cat- 

 fish at Madras, which I placed in an aquarium that contained 

 some carp. It rushed at one of my poor little fishes, and, 

 before I could interfere, seized it by tlie middle of its back and 

 shook it until it was dead, as a dog kills a rat." 



At the monthly meeting of the Council of the Sanitary Assur- 

 ance Association on January lo, the Sanitary Registration of 

 Buildings Bill was re-considered. A report on the draft Bill 

 was submitted, with several clauses re-drawn. The Bill was 

 further amended, and ordered to be printed for final considera- 

 tion at the next meeting of the Council. It is proposed that 

 the new Bill shrll be CiinpuUory with regard to schools, hotels, 

 aiylutns, hospital,, ani lodging-houses, arid Clause 6 has been 

 made much more stringent in the matter of qualification of 

 persons entitled to give sanitary certificates. 



B.iRON VON Mueller, who retains the office of Governmen' 

 Botanist to the colony of Victoria, is about to issue a series of 

 plates with descriptions of the acacias (wattles) of Australia. 

 The work will be similar to the " Eucalyptographia," probably 

 the best and most useful of his publications. For diagnostic 

 purposes he makes use of two characters hitherto overlooked, 

 viz. the number of divisions in the pollen-mass an! the position 

 of the seed. The retirement of Baron von Mueller from the 

 direction of the Botanic Garden, some few years since, his 

 enabled him to devote more atteniion to scientific botany and 

 its applications to practical purposes. 



Dr. Giles, who was attached as scientific member to the 

 Chitral-Kafirstan Mission, is now stated to be in Calcutta, en- 

 gaged in writing a report on the geology of that region. 



Capt. Peacocke, R.E., is said to be preparing a report, 

 with sketches, of his experiences with the Afghan Boundary 

 Commission. 



On Thursday evening last the Society of Telegraph-Engineers 

 and Electricians held the first general meeting of the session of 

 1887. Sir Charles T. Bright, the new President, delivered an 

 address on the history of the electric telegraph. Speaking of 

 the progress which has been made since the property of the 

 Telegraph Companies was bought by the State, he said that in 

 1870, when the transfer was completed, there were 48,378 miles 

 of land wires, and 1622 miles of cable wires (irrespective of 

 railway wires), connecting together 248S telegraph stations. 

 Now the Post Office has 153,153 miles of wire (including sub- 

 mai'ine wires) in communication with 5097 offices. In addition, 

 the raih\'ay companies have 70,000 miles of wire, making a 

 total of 223,153 miles. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week inclule a Red-fronted Lemur {Lemur rufifrons <5 ) 

 from Madagascar, a Vervet Monkey {Cercopithecus lalandii S ) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Paivelzig ; a Patas Monkey 

 {Cercopithecus patas 9) from West Africa, presented by Mr. 

 George Ellis ; a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris), British, 

 purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



New Variables in Cygnus.— A new variable of the 

 Algol type (D.M. -)- 34°, No. 41S1, R.A., 18S70, 2oh. 47m. 

 32 •5s., Decl. 34° 13' 59" '5 N.), has been discovered by Dr. 

 GoiUd. Its period is about three days in length, and it varies 

 from 7 'I mag. to 7 "9 mag. A minimum occurred at about 

 loh. 19m. G.M.T. on January 17. This discovery raises 

 the number of stars of the type to eight, the other seven being 

 Algol, period 2'49d. ; A Tauri, 3'95d. ; S Cancri, 9'48d. ; 

 5 Librte, 2-j2d. ; U Coronse, 3-45d. ; U Cephei (D.M. 81°, 

 No. 25), 2-49d. ; and U Ophiuchi (DM -t- 1°, No. 3408), 

 o-839d. 



Mr. S. C. Chandler, Jun., in a note in Gould's Astronomical 

 Journal, No. 148, calls attention to a new short-period variable 

 very close to the above. This star (Lalande 40083, R.A., 

 1875-0, 2oh. 38m. 30-2S. ; Decl. 35° 8' 24"-6 N.) varies from 

 6 '3 u). to 7 '6 m. in a little over fourteen days, the increase 

 occupying about four days, the decrease ten days, with a halt in 

 the latter about midway of its course. Mr. Chandler gives for 

 first elements of the star, 1886 October 3-60 G.M.T. -|- 

 14'! -04 E. 



New Minor Planet.— Prof. C. H. F. Peters, at Clinton, 

 discovered a new minor planet on December 22. This will be 

 No. 264, and the forty-sixth discovered by Prof. Peters. 



A New Method for the Determination of the 

 Constant of Aberration. — In the Comptes rendus, tome 

 civ. No. I, M. Loewy explains how the principle of his 

 method of determining the amount of astronomical refrac- 

 tion (Nature, vol. xxxui. p. 303) can be applied to the 

 determination of alierration also. By means of the two re- 

 flecting surfaces forming the double mirror placed in front 

 of the object-glass of an equatorial, the images of two stars 

 situated in different parts of the sky appear, in the field 

 of vicii', side by side ; their angular distance is then to be 

 measured in a known direction. To obtain the amount of aber- 

 ration it is, of course, necessary to measure a properly chosen 

 pair of stars at successive epochs. The first observation is to be 

 made when the stars are at the same height above the horizon, 

 and the second, after a certain interval, under similar conditions. 

 The comparison of the two measures will give a multiple value 

 of the aberratim which is independent of instrumental errors. 

 By a proper choice of the angle of the double mirror employed, 

 of pairs of stars selected for measurement, and of the circum- 

 stances of ob.servati m, M, Lcewy contends that, by attention to 

 the details which he specifies, a more accurate value of the 

 constant of aberration can be obtained by his method in an 

 interval of three months than could be deduced by the methods 

 hitherto in vogue, liable as these are to systematic error. 



The Madras Observ.atory. — In his Report for the year 

 1885, Mr. Pogson st.ates that the volume of telegraphic longi- 

 tude determinations in India, and the two volumes of hourly 

 magnetical observations made at Sing.apire between 1841 and 

 1845, ^n^i ^' Madras between 1S51 and 1855, which were men- 



