October io, 19 12] 



NATURE 



17. 



Sun-spot Activity. — There has recently been some 

 slight suggestion of a recrudescence of sun-spot 

 activity, although one scarcely expects the actual 

 minimum to have passed yet. 



In the earlier part of the year very few spots were 

 seen, and those that did appear were very small and 

 seemed to be very shallow, for they generally filled 

 up and disappeared while the region was still on the 

 visible hemisphere. One exception was a fairly large 

 black circular spot, which endured from June 17 to 28, 

 and. on Saturday last there appeared a small group, 

 containing two intense nuclei, just south of the sun's 

 centre, on the central meridian; this is now a fair- 

 sized group, and should be seen near I lie western 

 limb about October 11 or 12. 



The Systematic Motions ok Sun-si'Ois. - Acting on 

 a suggestion conveyed to him by the staienient that 

 '■ the rotation periods given by different spots in the 

 same zone of latitude differ more widely than do the 

 mean rotation periods for different zones of latitude," 

 given in JNIr. and Mrs. Maunder's paper on the solar 

 rotation period. Prof. Hirayama has analysed the 

 motions of snots given in the Greenwich, Carring- 

 ton's, and Sporer's publications, and finds that appar- 

 -^ntlv there are two drifts of sun-spots exhibiting dis- 

 tinctive systematic motions. The angular velocity of 

 drift i. is represented by ^ = I4'37°— 2'97° sin "A (where 

 A = the heliographic latitude), and of drift ii. by 

 J= i4'69°— 2'65° sin -A; the former agrees fairly well 

 with the mean values found by other investigators, 

 while the latter exceeds it, showing a mean rate 

 about o'35° greater than that indicated by drift i. 

 For the lower latitudes, the rotation period proper to 

 drift ii. agrees fairly well with that found spectro- 

 scopicallv bv Messrs. Storev and Wilson, and Prof. 

 Hirayama suggests that possibly certain groups of 

 spots, by a proper motion of their own, come to the 

 same level as the chromospheric layer investigated 

 spectroscopicallv, and attain its angular velocity. He 

 also suggests that this idea of two drifts may explain 

 the distribution of sun-spots with different rotation 

 periods in anv oarticular zone of latitude. The data 

 considered bv him show that there are about twice 

 as many sun-spots collected in drift i. as in drift ii. 

 (Journal of the College of Science, Imperial Univer- 

 sity, Tokio, vol. xxxi.i.. No. 7.) 



The P.'iRALL.^x of Nova L.^cert.?:. — In No. 52 of the 

 Mitteilnngen der Nikolai-Haiiptsternwarte zii Pul- 

 kowo, Herr Balanowsky discusses the attempt made 

 at Pulkowa to determine the parallax and proper 

 motion of Nova Lacertae. Sixteen plates were taken 

 between January 4, 191 1, and February 19, 1912, but 

 two had to be rejected because the images were poor. 

 The first solution from the remaining fourteen plates 

 gave values which were small as compared with their 

 probable errors, but indicated that the proper motion 

 in declination was probably zero. The final solution 

 gave for the value of the parallax o'oo5"±o'o2o", which 

 practically means that it was zero, and indicated that 

 the proper motion in right-ascension did not exceed 

 + o'ois. 



The Royal Hungarian Astrophysical Orserva- 

 tory. — In No. 14 of the Kleinere Veroffentlichungen 

 des Konigl. TJngarischen Astrophysikalischen Ohserva- 

 toriums, Dr. Konkoly gives a very detailed description 

 of the instruments added to the equipment of the 

 observatory Ijetween the beginning of 190S and the 

 end of 1911. Many of the instruments have been made 

 for special purposes, and the book, consisting of 166 

 pages, fullv illustrated, should prove exceedingly use- 

 ful to anyone desiring to set up instruments for astro- 

 physical researches. 



NO. 2241, VOL. go] 



Observations of Variable Stars. — In No. 9 

 (vol. i., second series) of the Memorie della Societa 

 degli Spettroscopisti Italiana, Signor E. Padova pub- 

 lishes the values and light curves determined from 

 observations of variable stars during the years 1907-11. 

 Eleven stars are dealt with, and these are divided into 

 three groups, viz. Algol variables, short-period, and 

 long-period variables. In several cases the light- 

 curves are compared, graphically, with those drawn 

 from published elements, or determined by other 

 observers, and the differences between them are dis- 

 cussed. For Mira Ceti the observer found a minimum 

 of magnitude 9*36 on January 15, 1912. 



BIRD NOTES. 

 I N the August Zoologist Mr. Collingwood Ingram 

 •»• points out that four races of the furze-warbler 

 are recognisable, namely, the typical Sylvia undulala 

 of the northern Mediterranean countries, S. n. 

 aremoricus of the Atlantic coast of France and Spain, 

 the north African S. 11. toni, and the British 5. ti. 

 dartfordiensis, a Dartford warbler, the last being dis- 

 tinguished by its brown back and the smaller develop- 

 ment of the white tips to the throat and breast 

 feathers. 



The migratory birds visiting the Buffalo River 

 district form the subject of an article by the Rev. R. 

 Godfrey in the June issue of the Journal of the South 

 African Ornithologists' Union. Among the species 

 observed were the white and black stork, "the European 

 swallow, and several kinds of cuckoos. 



In the July issue of The Emu Dr. J. B. Cleland 

 continues his account of the results of an examination 

 of the contents of the crops and stomachs of Aus- 

 tralian birds, the total number of species which Tiave 

 passed through his hands being 305. Farmers and 

 gardeners should novi' be able to discriminate without 

 difficulty between beneficial and harmful birds. 



.\ hand-list of the birds of Formosa, by Mr. S. 

 Uchida, is included in vol. iii. part i., of Annotationes 

 Zoologicae Japonenses. In a list published in 1907 

 by Messrs. Ogilvie-Grant and La Touche, 260 For- 

 mosan species were recognised ; the author has been 

 able to raise the number to 290. The discovery of a 

 species of Dicceum has introduced an additional family 

 into the avifauna of the island. We notice that on 

 page 169 Cucidiis canorus is misprinted Cuculus 

 canolus, the error being repeated on page 209 of the 

 distributional list. 



No. 23 of Harmswortli Popular Science contains an 

 article on the difficulties of bird-classification, although 

 its contents scarcely bear out the title. There are, 

 moreover, statements which do not represent the 

 facts, as, for instance, the assertion that the seriema 

 was originally grouped with the secretary-bird. 

 .Again, we find it stated on page 2736 that "the boat- 

 billed heron, . . . the whale-headed stork, . . . and 

 the hammer-head are famous members of the heron 

 tribe," whereas these three birds severally represent 

 the same number of distinct families, which in the 

 British Museum Hand-list are assigned to as manv 

 suborders. 



In British Birds for September, Mr. H. W. Robin- 

 son states that two nests of the eider were observed 

 on June 2, 1912, on a small island just off the coast 

 of Ireland. Hitherto eiders have been known in 

 Ireland only as occasional stragglers. It is a matter 

 for regret that in each instance the eggs were taken. 



In Reichenow's Ornithologische Monatsberichte for 

 July and .August, 1912. Mr. J. Thienemann records 

 that a laughing gull (Lams ridibundiis), marked at 

 Rositten, was shot on a swamp in the West Indies in 

 November, 1911. R. L. 



