202 BULLETIN OF THE 



Mr. S. Newcomb read a communication on 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, JULY 29, 1878 



remarking on the favorable circumstances for observations in the 

 mountain regions of Nevada, the extraordinary extension of the 

 corona and its distribution, and the supposed discovery by Prof. 

 Watson of two inter-mercurial planets. Another total eclipse is 

 necessary to verify this discovery. 



Remarks were made by Messrs. Frisby and Abbe respecting 

 their own observations of this eclipse, and by Messrs. h B. 

 Elliott, Coffin, Farquhar, and Woodward, and by Mr. Paul, 

 who gave a short description of his method of obtaining on a 

 plate of very finely ground glass in the focus of a telescope, a 

 tracing of the image of the solar corona, showing in its outline 

 quite a close correspondence to the photographs of long expo- 

 sure obained at the same time. 



Mr. Abbe presented a letter from Mr. Westminister S. Ab- 

 bey, of New York, inquiring about 



A fish found on the FLORIDA COAST. 



Mr. Gill stated that the scale and the description showed it 

 to be the megalops atlanticua or tarpa described by Cuvier, His- 

 toire Naturelle des Poissons, and by Agassiz in 185T. 



Mr. E. B. Elliott made a communication on 



MERIDIONAL TIME FOR RAILWAY AND TELEGRAPHIC PURPOSES, 



proposing the adoption of meridians dififering one hour in longi- 

 tude. 



Remarks were made by Mr. Coffin, questioning the conve- 

 nience of the system for railways and for telegraphic purposes. 

 The allowance for difference in time is easily made. For rail- 

 ways the meridian of some prominent place may, and has been, 

 used for extensive sections of country. 



Mr. T. N. Gill made a communication on 



THE FAMILY OF CERATIIDS. 



