April 21, 1881] 



NA TURE 



591 



The additions to tlie Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past weeli include alCommon Rhea {Rhea americana) from South 

 America, presented by Mr. A. D. M. Stewart ; a Mountain 

 Ka Ka (Nestor notabilis) from New Zealand, presented by Dr. 

 A. de Lantour, M.R.C.S. ; an Undulated Grass Parrakeet 

 {Melopsittaciis undulatus) from Australia, two Californian Quails 

 (Callipepla californica) from California, two Common Quails 

 {ColKriiix communis), a Greenfinch (Ligt<rinus chhnis), a Gold- 

 finch (Cardiielis elegaiis], two Chaffinches {Ftingilla etv'el>s), two 

 Common Crossbills (Loxia curviroslra), a Common Lapwing 

 (Vaiiellus cristahts), British, a BaiTed Dove (Geopelia striata), a 

 Nutmeg Bird (Munia undulata) from India, two Rufou i-neclced 

 Weaver Birds (Ilyp/iantornis tcxtor) from West Africa, two 

 Mecca Pigeons (Coliimba anas, var.), from Tunis, presented by 

 Mr. H. H. Johnston; a Green Turtle (Cheionc viridis) from 

 West Indies, presented by Mr. J. C. Robinson, R.M.S. Dun- 

 robin Castle; a Common Viper (Viper berus), two Common 

 Snakes (Tropidonotus natrix), British, presented by Mr. J. Poyer 

 Poyer ; a Red -faced Saki (Brachyurus rubicuiidus), a Horrid 

 Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) from South America, a Brown 

 'S,i:\x (Ursus arctos) from Spain, a Great Kangaroo (Macropus 

 giganteus), two Ursine Dasyures (Dasyurus ursintis), three 

 Vulpine Phalangers (Phalangista vulpina) from Australia, de- 

 posited ; a Beisa Antelope (Oryx beisa), a Banded Ichneumon 

 (Herpesles fasciatus), a Squirrel-like Phalauger (Plialangista 

 sciureus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Solar Parallax. — M. Puiseux, in a communication to 

 the Academy of Sciences of Paris, discusses the numerous 

 micrometrical measures made during the last transit of Venus 

 by MM. Mouchez and Turquet at St. Paul's, and MM. Fleuriais 

 and Bellanger at Pekin. If these observations had possessed a 

 high degree of precision he consi lers that they would have fur- 

 nished a very exact value of the solar paralla.x, but unfortunately, 

 so far at least as regards the mea ures at St. Paul's Island, the 

 conditions were extremely unfavourable ; indeed in a note which 

 follows M. Puiseux's communication Admiral Mouchez remarks 

 that the equatorials provided for that station had no special 

 appliances for this class of observation, and worse still, "les 

 observations ont ete faites exactement au moment du passage du 

 centre d'un violent cyclone, pendant la courte eclaircie qui 

 accompagiie la plus grande depression barometrique." The in- 

 struments in fact were more particularly adapted to proposed 

 observations of contacts, and vverj very weakly mounted ; oscil- 

 lations were occasioned by 'the violent wind, so that the prac- 

 tised observers had no confidence in their results. Notwithstand 

 ing these circumst mces M. Puiseux has di^cussed the measures, 

 and from the combination which he regards as the most favour- 

 able, where 81 observations that appear affected with consider- 

 able errors are rejected, leaving 312 measures for calculation, he 

 deduces for the value of solar parallax 9" '05 : the mean value of 

 the corresponding residuals is o"'78, and the extreme residuals 

 - l"'98 and 4-2''i5. Considering that under such disadvanta- 

 geous conditions the observations accord passably, M. Puiseux 

 thinks there are reasonable grounds to expect that with firmly, 

 mounted instruments micrometrical measures may be obtained at 

 the approaching transit in 1882, which will furnish a pretty 

 exact value of the sun's parallax. 



The Double-Star Herschel 3945.— The double-star to 

 which Mr. Birmingham drew attention in Nature last week on 

 the score of contrasted colours of the components and variability 

 of the principal star has a longer history than is noted in his 

 letter. It is found as a single star of sixth magnitude in Bode's 

 Catalogue, from his own observation, and is Canis Majoris 164. 

 Lalande observed both components on March 2, 1798, magni- 

 ude 5 and 7. On January 23, 1835, Sir John Herschel, 

 observing at the Cape, calls them 7 and 8, "large star orange : 

 small, pale blue" : and on January 31, 1837, he estimated the 

 magnitudes the same: "large star, very high yellow; small, 

 contrasted blue " ; tliese observations occur in Sweeps 532 and 

 768. Amongst his micrometrical measures we find for the epoch 

 '837'i53 magnitudes 6^ and 7, and for i837-3oi magnitudes 6| 



and 8, with the note "Orange and green, fine contrast of 

 colours." Next we have three meridian observations of the 

 principal star by Argelander in vol. vi. of the " Bonn Observa> 

 tions," on January 26 and March 13 and 14, 1854, magnitudss 

 noted, 5"5, 4'5, and S'o, and one observation of the companion 

 on Marcli 23 in the preceding year, when it was estimated 7'S' 

 In Ileis and Argelander the naked-eye estimate is 5 m. The 

 components are separately noted in Gould's Uranometrta 

 Argentina A. 5J red, B. 7. The star does not occur in D'Agelet, 

 Taylor, or in Argelander's Southern Zones. The mean place 

 for the beginning of the present yearis inR. A. 7h. Iim. 3i'8os., 

 N.P.D. 113° 6' l9"-4. 



The Total Solar Eclipse of 1878. — In one of the hand- 

 somely-executed volumes which issue from the Government 

 Printing Office at Washington, the U.S. Naval Observatory has 

 publislied the detailed reports of the various expeditions organised 

 for the observation of the total eclipse of the sun on July 29, 

 1878, which possess a high degree of interest. A large number 

 of wood-engravings and lithographic plates accompany the 

 reports. There is also appended a brief account of the observa- 

 tions made in California during the total solar eclipse of lanuary 

 II, 1880. 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NOVEMBER 28, 1880, 



IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND^ 

 'T'HE data on which the paper has been founded have been 

 collected from upwards of fifty stations, and special 

 reliance may be placed on the results, as a large proportion of 

 these stations were lighthouses, in each of which at the time of 

 the occurrence there was a keeper on watch, the earthquake 

 having occurred after sunset at a time when the lamps were 

 lighted. 



The paper at the outset gave the effects and nature of the 

 shock experienced by various observers at those lighthouse stations 

 where the disturbance was felt. 



The data acquired were then discussed, and the following are 

 the general conclusions arrived at ; — 



1. That the earthquake occurred in November, a month in 

 which many of the British earthquakes are recorded as having 

 happened. 



2. That it occurred after a wet and stormy period, which had 

 been preceded by an unusually dry summer and sp-ing ; that 

 there uas a widespread thunderstorm at the time, and that the 

 barometer was risin^r slowly over the greater part of the west of 

 Scotland ; the average height of the barometer at the lighthouse 

 stations at which the earthquake was felt being at 9 a.m. 29-4 

 inches, and at 9 p.m. 29"5 inches. The thermometer at 9 a.m. 

 averaged 50° F., and at 9 p.m. 48° F. 



3. Tliat the seismal area was about 19,000 square geographical 

 miles, the shock having been felt as far north as the Butt of 

 Lewis, as far south as Armagh in Ireland, as far east as Blair 

 Atho'e, and as far west as Barra Head Lighthouse, though how 

 much farther it was propagated into the Atlantic it is impossible 

 to say. 



4. That the range of the earthquake or distance to which the 

 wave was propagated was greater over the sea than over the 

 land. 



5. That the earthquake was not a simultaneous shake over the 

 disturbed area, but was produced by a wave propagated from a 

 centre. 



6. That the undulation seems to have been chiefly of an "up 

 and down " character like a wave of the sea, and that calculating 

 the " breadth " from the mean velocity of transit and the mini- 

 mum duration of the shock, the wave appears to have been fully 

 lioo feet " broad." 



7. That the observations warrant the assumption that a spot 

 near Phladda Lighthouse (north-east of Colonsay) was the 

 source, and calculating the velocities of transit with a point 

 13 miles south-south-west of Phladda Lighthouse as a centre, 

 it appears that the wave travelled wdth a greater velocity 

 over the sea-ba^in than over the land, probably due to the fact 

 that over the sea there was a thinner and lighter crust to throw 

 into vibration ; the average velocity on sea journeys being 6'74 

 geographical miles per minute, and the average velocity on Imd 

 journeys 465 miles per minute, the mean of the whole being 

 about 5'( miles per minute. 



8. That the source of the earthquake lay at or near the great 



■ By Charles Alex. Stevenson. B.Sc, Edinbureh, communicated to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh by Prof. Geikie, F.R.S., March 21, 1881. 



