April I 4, 1887] 



NA TURE 



569 



lemperature of the water suddenly rose from 42° to 44'. Think- 

 inf that the vessel was too close in shore, he hauled off three 

 points, and, after he had stood four hours on this course, he 

 found that the temperature had fallen to 42'. On a previous 

 voyage Capt. Gales noticed this warm belt. 



CoMMisstONER CoLMAN, of the Department of Agriculture in 

 the United Slates, has issued a Circular relating to the so-called 

 Australian rabbit. He points out that this animal — the common 

 rabbit of Europe — has been very mischievous in Australia, and 

 expresses his belief that its introduction into America would be 

 an unnecessary and hazardous experiment. Mr. Colman is of 

 opinion that Congress should pass a law conferring upon the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture the power to prevent the landing 

 of any animal, bird, or other pest that might be injurious to 

 agriculture ; and he cites the case of the English sparrow as an 

 example of the harm that may be done by species taken without 

 due consideration from the Old World to the New. 



The Swedish Government is anxious to acquire a colony in 

 Africa, and is consequently preparing an Expedition under the 

 direction of Lieut. A. Wester, formerly Chief of the Congo 

 Station, Leopoldville. At the last meeting of the Stockholm 

 Society of .\nthropology and Geography, Lieut. Wester reported 

 on the subject. The Expedition may probably start next summer, 

 aad will be absent about a year, making Cameroon its base of 

 operations. The cost will be about 160,000 kroner {8000/.). 



Mr. Paitl Bedford Elwell will publish shortly, with 

 Messrs. Whittaker and Co., an English translation of Gaston 

 Plante's work on " The Storage of Electrical Energy." 



The eighth volume of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, just issued, consists of a valuable Report on the effects 

 of the severe frosts on vegetation during the winters of 1879-80 

 and 1880-S1. The Report has been prepared by the Rev. Geo. 

 Henslow, Honorary Secretary to the Scientific Committee of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society. Most of the facts were 

 obtained by means of schedules issued in 1880 and 1881. 



A WORK entitled "The Australasian Federal Directory of 

 Commerce, Trades, and Professions," will shortly be published 

 in London under the direction of Mr. J. W. F. Rogers, of Mel- 

 bourne and Sydney. It has been compiled by the assistance of 

 some thousands of persons, many of them Colonial Government 

 officials, and will give both in an alphabetic and a classified form 

 the business addresses for over three thousand Australasian 

 towns, large and small. Reviews of the social and commercial 

 development of the eight colonies of this group will appear in 

 the Directory, with maps and gazetteer. 



An ingenious system of gas-lighting by electricity has been 

 introduced by Messrs. Woodhouse and Rawson. Gas can be 

 turned on, lit, and turned off from any convenient position 

 irrespective of where the gas-fittings are placed. The principle 

 of attachment is like that of the portable electric gas-lighter — 

 i.e. the gas is lighted by an electric spark — but the general 

 arrangements are for permanent fitting. 



We have received the fifth and sixth parts of the fourth 

 volume of Dr. L. Rabenhorst's elaborate " Kryptogamen-Flora 

 von Deutschlaud, Oesterreich, und der Schweiz." The subject 

 dealt with is Bryineoe : Stegocarpa; (Acrocarpa;). The text is 

 finely illustrated. 



The second part of the Report for 1885 of the Chief Signal 

 Officer of the United States, is a separate treatise by Prof. 

 William Ferrel, entitled, "Recent Advances in Meteorology, 

 systematically arranged in the form of a Text-book, designed 

 for use in the Signal Service School at Fort Meyer, and also for 

 a Hand-book in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer." It is 

 .an octavo volume of 440 pages, and is published by the U.S. 

 Government. 



The sixty-fourth number of the Journal of the Society of 

 Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians, contains " The Pre- 

 Determination of the Characteristics of Dynamos," by Mr. 

 Gisbert Kapp ; "Some Experiments on Secondary Cells," by 

 Mr. James Swinbutne ; and " Some Magnetic Problems," by 

 Prof. George Forbes. Reports of the discussions on these 

 papers are also given. 



A PEUMANENT matrix excluder of draught and dust has been 

 sent to us by Mr. T. J. Porter, the inventor. The excluder is 

 made of a special composition inclosed in long, narrow strips of 

 warm-coloured cloth, and moulded into a suitable form. The 

 application of hot water enables the excluder to be formed into 

 a long, narrow, solid, and permanent matrix round doors and 

 windows. Mr. Porter says that it makes a practically air-tight 

 joint, and entirely precludes the passage of draught and dust 

 between doors and their casings, and windows and their c.tsings. 



A halibut weighing thirty-four pounds and measuring 41 

 inches in length was captured lately in the lower Potomac, near 

 Colonial Beach. It has been preserved in alcohol by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and a cast has been made and placed 

 on exhibition in the U.S. National Museum. Science says this 

 is the first authentic case of a halibut in fresh water. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Short-tailed Wallaby {//almalunu brachy- 

 tirus) from Australia, presented by Mr. Herbert Maude ; an 

 American Flying Squirrel (Scitiroplerus volucella) from North 

 America, presented by Mr. A. R. Verschoyle ; an Egyptian 

 Mastigure (Uromastix spinipes) from North Africa, presented by 

 Mr. V. J. Chamberlain ; a Nepal Hornbill {Aceros nepal- 

 ensis) from Nepal ; a Tuberculated Iguana (/guana ttiberculata) 

 from the West Indies, deposited; a Burchell's Zebra (Eqiius 

 buichelli) from South Africa ; two Adorned Ceratophrys (Ccrii- 

 tophrys ornata) ; an Anaconda {Euncctes murinus) from South 

 America, piu-chased ; a Rhesus Monkey [Macacus rhesus), 

 a Sambur Deer [Cei-vus aristotelis), two Collared Fruit-Bats 

 { Cynonyctcris collaris), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Orbit of the Binary Star 14 (i) Orionis. — In the 

 Monthly Notices for March, Mr. J. E. Gore publishes elements 

 of the orbit of this binary, which is identical with O 2 98. Mr. 

 Gore's results, which he regards as only provisional, give a 

 period of I90'48 years, time of periastron passage i959'oS, 

 eccentricity 02465, and semi-axis major i"'22. A comparison 

 of places computed from these elements with the observations 

 extending from 1S44 to 1SS7, shows considerable discordances in 

 the position-angles, whilst the distances agree very closely. The 

 orbit of this double star does not appear to have been previously 

 computed. 



The Washington Observatory. — Capt. R. L. Phythian, 

 U.S.N., the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory, 

 has published the programme of work to be pursued at the 

 Observatory during the year 1S87. From it we learn that with 

 the 26-inch equatorial the observations of double stars, of the 

 fainter stars in the Plei.ades, and of the conjunctions of the five 

 inner satellites of Saturn with the minor axis of the ring, and 

 of the angles of position and distances of Hyperion will be 

 continued during the year. The small equatorial will be used 

 for observations of comets and of occultations of stars by the 

 moon, as well as of stars and asteroids required for purposes of 

 identification. With the transit-circle it is proposed to complete 

 the observations of miscellaneous stars for the forthcoming 

 transit-circle catalogue and also to observe the sun, moon, 

 planets (major and minor), and stars of the American Ephemeris. 

 Photographs of the sun will be taken daily, when practicable, 

 with the photo-heliograph of the Transit of Venus Commission 

 pattern. 



Names OF Minor Planets.— Minor planets Nos. 263 and 

 265 have been named DresJa and Anna respectively. 



