44 BULLETIN OP THE 



Contacts. Amer. Eph. Eng Eph. 



s. s. 



I +77 —29 



n 4-84 — 22 



III +110 +56 



IV +119 + 65 . 



The attempt hy many observers to determine the true time of 

 contact, by noting the time of similar phases before and after the 

 true phase, generally failed, as did also the attempt to observe 

 geometrical contact. 



The method which was successful, and which is recommended 

 in all similar observations of interior contact, was to observe for 

 second contact the time when the first flush of light appeared 

 between the limbs of the sun and planet, or the moment of the 

 rupture of the "black drop." For third contact the breaking of 

 the thin line of light between the limbs of the sun and planet or 

 the formation of the "black drop" was taken as the true time of 

 the phenomenon. 



A thorough investigation of the motion of Mercury is greatly 

 needed, and until this is done no reliable interpretation of these 

 results can be made. 



The differences between the computed and observed places of 

 Mercury have been ascribed to the action of an intra-mercurial 

 planet to meteor streams, and to the solar corona. Meteor 

 streams have never been seen in such a position as to produce 

 any such action. , 



In order to determine the action due to the corona it would 

 be necessary to know its form, but as spectroscopic analysis, 

 photogi'aphs, tracings of the images in the focus of the telescope, 

 and naked eye sketches all give widely different limits to its 

 extension, this solution is out of the question. 



Mr. C. Y. Riley then made a commnication entitled 



THE ISSUANCE OF SILKWORM MOTHS FROM THEIR COCOONS, AND 

 fiOME STRIKING DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL HABITS IN INSECTS. 



The final communication was from Mr. J. W. Osborne on 



A CASE OF PECULIAR CORROSIVE ACTION ON METALLIC TIN. 



The President then announced that, in conformity with a reso- 

 lution by the general committee, the Society stood adjourned 

 until the second Saturday in October. 



