July 2 2, 1880] 



NATURE 



277 



If this circumstance is adverse to the identity of the comets of 

 1668 and 1843 there is another which would rather tend to sup- 

 port it, were it not that there appears to be an oversight in the 

 record. Zach in an article, " Ueber einige unberechnete Cometen, 

 deren Bahnen man vielleicht noch auffuiden und berechuen 

 konnte," in vol. xxviii of his MonatUche Correspondenz, refers to 

 the comet of 1668, and, after mentioning the observations of 

 Cassini and others, he adds that in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions for 166S there is an observation of a comet, which places it 

 on March 7 in longitude 16°, with 20° 30' south latitude, and he 

 asks, " 1st diess die CassinUche Spina ? " referring to the title of 

 the tract in which Cassini gave his observations of the pheno- 

 menon in March, 166S, viz : "Spina, Celeste meteora osservata 

 in Bologna, il mese dieMarzo l66S" (Bologna, 166S infol.). If 

 we suppose the comet of 1843 to have arrived at perihelion 

 February 24*2S4, Greenwich time, at 8 p.m., on ^March 7, its 

 place would have been in longitude l6'"o, witli 20°-4 south lati- 

 tude, as observed, and the agreement gives an importance to the 

 reputedobservation, if it could only be traced. It was first remarked 

 by Schumacher {Astron. Nach., No. 484) that the observation men- 

 tioned by Zach does not occur in the Philosophical Transactions : 

 his words are: "Diese Beobachtung l66S Marz 7, Lange o' 16°, 

 siidliche Breite 2lJ° steht nicht in dem von Herrn v. Zach 

 angefiihrten Bande der Philos. Transactions und, wenn das 

 Register der Phil. Transact, genau ist, in keinem der ersten 70 

 Biinde." We find on a careful examination of the volumes or 

 numbers of this work containing reference to the comet of 1 668 

 as indicated in Maty's Index, that there is no such observation 

 lecorded. There are two articles bearing upon this comet: (l) 

 in vol. 3 for 166S, in No. 35, May iS, 166S — which gives a 

 translation of Cassini's description of its appearance, from the 

 Italian, and a notice of its having been observed at Lyons, 

 Toulouse, Toulon, &c., though not at Paris, and (2) in vol. 9 

 for 1674, in No. 105, July 20, 1674 (though not occurring in 

 the list of contents to this number on the first page) : this second 

 notice chiefly refers to the observations of P. ^'alentin Estancel 

 in Brazil, taken from Gioniale de' Letterati, September 31 (izV) 

 1673 — a journal printed at Rome. 



Perhaps some of our readers may have opportunity of making 

 further search in the libraries for information relating to the 

 comet of i658, though we are aware that much was done in this 

 direction in 1S43. I' would be of interest more particularly if 

 the observation tthich Zach would appear to have somewhere 

 met with, could be traced. 



Variable Stars. — The following times of maxima and 

 minima of variable stars during the ensuing two months are 

 extracted from the ephemeris prepared by Prof. Winnecke for 

 the first part of Vicrtcljahrsschrift der astronomischen Gesellschaft 

 for 18S0 (15. Jahrgang) : — 



place for iS55'o being in R.A. oh. 49m. 38'9s., Decl. 8i° s'33". 

 The star was also observed by Lalande in March, 1790, as an 

 eighth magnitude (Fedorenko 145). 



Prof. Winnecke has August 2 for the date of approaching 

 maximum of iSHra Ceti ; the foi-mula in Prof. Schonfeld's last 

 Catalogue gives August lO'S ; perhaps some"reader of Nature 

 may be able to say, in due course, when the maximum actually 

 occurs. The amount of perturbation by the formula for 

 Epoch 15 = + 37d-3. 



M. Ceraski of the Moscow Observatory draws attention to an 

 object which evidently deserves close observation. On June 23 

 he remarked that the Dnrchmustcrun^ star R.A. oh. 49m. 39s., 

 Decl. 81° 5''6, 7'5m., increased from 9m. to about 7'5m. 

 between I7h. 40m. and igh. 35m. Moscow sidereal time. 

 Carrington estimated this star 7^9. Schwerd observed it four 

 times, and his estimates of magnitude are strongly indicative of 

 variability; thus it is called S on December II, 1827; 6'7 on 

 March II, 182S ; 8 on the following night, and 10 on May 12 

 in the same year. It is No. 130 in Carington's Catalogue, the 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 



The Evolution of Dieranchiate Cephalopods. — Dr. J. 

 Brock, in the last number of Gegenbaur's Morphologisches yahr- 

 buch (vol. vi. p. 185), gives his reasons for dissenting from von 

 Ihering's conclusions on this subject. He has dissected spirit- 

 preparations of many of the principal genera, and he discusses the 

 evidence derived from the shell, the funnel, the muscular system, 

 the radula, the nervous system, and the vascular excretory and 

 reproductive systems. Three anatomically well-marked phyla or 

 groups of genera are made out, of which the Qigopsida: are the 

 most ancient, and from this group the other two — the Myopsidae 

 and the Octopods— are derived. The Q^gopsids he further 

 divides into two gi'oups — the Ommastrephido; and the Loli- 

 gopsida:, the comparative antiquity of which cannot yet be 

 determined ; they are of great interest because they both show 

 important connections with the two other phyla. The CT^gopsid 

 forms are primarily true Belemnites, and later developed into 

 the Sepia type, from which stock also the decapods with simple 

 homy shells sprang independently. The octopods, the most highly 

 differentiated phylum, but with an organisation showing a very 

 early origin, and branching from the main type, afford some 

 evidence of relationship to the type of Loligopsis, although they 

 cannot be regarded as having originated from them. Most 

 probably they had a common origin from the primordial di- 

 branchiate form with ten arms. Dr. Brock relies considerably 

 on the oviduct being double in the CEgopsidje, and single (by 

 reduction) in Myopsida: ; but unless he can support his theory 

 by more developmental facts it can hardly attain sufficient credit 

 for practical use in classification. 



On a Case of Apparent Insectivorism. — Prof. Baillon, 

 at a recent meeting (April 7) of the Linnean Society of Pari', 

 read the following notes : — Pepcromia arifolia, Miq., of which 

 the variety argyreia is cultivated in so many gi-eenhouses, has the 

 leaves more or less deeply peltate. I have seen stalks on which 

 the peltation on certain leaves was so exaggerated as to show on 

 a cross-section a depth of nearly four centimetres. When the 

 concave stalks take a suitable direction, water, principally that 

 from sprinkling, would accumulate and rest in these receptacles, 

 so well prepared to preserve it. Many small insects would fall 

 into this water and be drow-ned. Last year, when the season was 

 warm and when the windows of the house were often open, the 

 number of insects was veiy considerable, and these, soaking in 

 the water, gradually fell into decay, and it was remarkable that 

 there was during this not the least sign of any putrescent odour. 

 Those who believe in the doctrine of insect-eating plants may 

 perhaps in this be led to find an argument favourable to such 

 theories. They will add that the variety of colours so strikingly 

 seen in these leaves constitutes the agent of attraction for the in- 

 sects to come and be devoured. Three reflections, each of a 

 different sort, here'present themselves : I. Is it not remarkable 

 that the exaggerated peltation of these leaves is in this case 

 accompanied by an apparent insectivorism, and that the leaves 

 of the plants known up to this by botanists as carnivorous owe 

 their sac-like, horn-like forms only to an excessive peltation 

 of their limb, as we demonstrated in the evolution of the leaves 

 in Sarracenia (Comp. rend., Ixxi. 630) ? 2. How can it be 

 considered as a proof of insectivorism, that plants such as the 

 Urticularia grow better in a flaid containing albuminoid com- 

 pounds, when other plants grow equally favourably in the same 

 kind of fluid, \vhich latter are never for a moment thought of as 

 carnivorous? 3. How do the chief priests of our science reconcile 

 the two ideas, that the surface of the leaves of plants are unable 

 to absorb pure water in contact with them, and that the same 

 surface daily absorbs water charged with albuminoid substances 

 and the like? 



Intestinal Worms in the Horse.— H. Krabbe has pub- 

 lished in the Oversigt aver del K. Danske Videnshahernes Selskabs, 

 No. I, iSSo, p. 33, an interesting account of the occurrence of 

 intestinal worms in the horse. As this animal is spread over the 

 greater part of the habitable world, and under conditions of life 

 very varied, it might be supposed that, like man and the dog, 

 it would not be equally affected with these parasites, nor with 

 the same species. For to determine with some degree of accu- 

 racy the worms which in Denmark are found in the intestinal 



