3o8 



NATURE 



\jfaii. 29. 1880 



to have been bright enough to be well seen in the comparatively 

 small telescope used in the formation of the chart (aperture 3'S 

 inches) ; this would be at the epoch 1840 ± . On March 7, 1856, 

 Winnecke found it pretty bright with the Berlin refractor. 

 D' Arrest, on February 19, 1863, noted a considerable diminu- 

 tion of brightness : " Hodie aperte non supra tertiam classem," 

 and he adds : " Locum ha:c nebula non mutat, an lucem ? " On 

 April io, 1878, it had again brightened, Winnecke recording: 

 " Bei hellem Mond, deutlich gesehen, gewiss I. Classe." On 

 March 21, 1879, he considered it " wohl nicht I., aber gut II. 

 Classe." This nebula is of the elongated class, the direction of 

 elongation not very far from the parallel ; the longest diameter 

 about ij'. It is evidently well deserving of continuous observa- 

 tion. 



Prof. Julius Schmidt directed attention in 1862 to another 

 very suspicious case in the same quarter of the heavens. The 

 object to which he refers in his communication to the Astrono- 

 misc/ie Nachrichlen appears to be H. IV. 4, though he does not 

 mention the identity. Sir W. Herschel, observing ou February 

 22, 1874, describes it as "extremely faint, small, like a star 

 with a very faint brush s.p. ; 240 shows the star." It will be 

 remembered that Sir W. Herschel's fourth class included "stars 

 with burs, with milky chevelure, with short rays, remarkable 

 shapes, &c." Sir John Herschel's description onApril 13, 182S, 

 does not differ from his father's ; he calls it a "star 13-14111., 

 with a faint, small, nebulous brush." In the General Catalogue, 

 where it is No. 2403, it is noted "very faint, small : attached to 

 a star 13 m." Prof. Schmidt commences his note upon the 

 probable variability of this object by remarking that it is found 

 upon Chart No. 6 of the Bonn Durchmusterung, and must have 

 been seen in the zone-telescope, a Fraunhofer comet-seeker of 

 three inches aperture and two feet focus ; it is No. 2436 at p. 24 

 in vol. iii. of the Bonn Observations. At the date of his com- 

 munication (1862, March 29) he says: "This nebula is at the 

 limit of visibility for the Athens refractor." He determine 1 

 the position of the nebula and of two small neighbouring stars 

 by reference to Weisse No. 315, with the following results for 

 1855-0:— 



_ T .,_, - ^t-,1 o ~c\ Light of nucleus = 



Nebula R.A. 11 16 22-6. ..Decl. -o 18 36 > 1~ m 



x ... II 16 2S1 -o 21 59... 12-13 



y ... II 16 42-5... ,, -o 20 34... II-I2 

 ' The Bonn position reduced to the same epoch gives R.A. 

 Ilh. 16m. 28'Ss., Decl. -0° 21' -8, agreeing almost precisely 

 with Schmidt's small star x. There may be a suspicion, there- 

 fore, that the place of greatest condensation of the nebulosity 

 changes, as would appear to be the case with the fir.-t variable 

 nehula in Taurus, discovered by Mr, Hind in 1852, according 

 to M. Otto Struve's observations at Pulkowa. These objects 

 require, and certainly merit, very close observation with ade- 

 quate instruments. 



Total Solar Eclipses in the next Decade. — The report 

 of the observation of an ultra-Mercurial planet, during the total 

 eclipse of the sun on the nth inst., from one of the higher 

 mountains in California (which, however, at the time we write, 

 has not received the confirmation that might have been expected), 

 naturally directs attention to the similar opportunities for obser- 

 vation of such a body that are approaching, and we may briefly 

 particularise the circumstances under which the total eclipses of 

 the sun, within the next ten years, will take place. The first is 

 the eclipse of 1SS2, May 17, where the central line passes over 

 Egypt, not far from Luxor, near Teheran, and so across Asia to 

 Shanghai ; the greatest duration of totality is 1111. 48s., but at 

 the most accessible stations will not exceed im. 15s. ; maps 

 exhibiting the general features of this eclipse are already pub- 

 lished in the Nautical Almanac and the American Eplu-mei is. 

 Then follows the eclipse of 1SS3, May 6, in which the course of 

 the central line is w holly on the Pacific Ocean, avoiding appa- 

 rently, with the exception of the Marquesas, the inhabited 

 islands. From the Admiralty chart of this group, it seems that 

 the total phase may be observable at Chanel Island, where it 

 will commence about oh. 42m. local time, continuing 2m. 52s. 

 The eclipse of 1885, September 9, may be well observed in New 

 Zealand, where the sun will have risen to an altitude of fifteen 

 or sixteen degrees, the duration of totality on the central line in 

 the longitude of Wellington being im. 54s. Next follows the 

 great eclipse of 1886, August 29, a recurrence of that of 186S, 

 August 17, which was observed in India. Unfortunately in this 

 case we have again an ocean track for the belt of totality, except 



near the beginning and ending of its course ; at the southern 

 extremity of the Island of Grenada the sun will be hidden for 

 3m. 15s., while at an altitude of about 20°; but in about 14° 13' 

 west of Greenwich, and latitude 2° 5S' N. , where the sun is 

 centrally eclipsed on the meridian, totality will continue for 

 nearly 6m. 30s., and it maybe expected that efforts will be made 

 to secure in this part of the Atlantic, at least such observations as 

 bear upon the existence of an intra-Mercurial planet or planets ; 

 when the central line reaches the African coast the duration of 

 total phase will have diminished to about 4m. 45s., in 12° S. 

 latitude. The next eclipse is that of 1887, Augusi 19, which it 

 was supposed for a long time would be total in this country, the 

 central line, however, does not reach England ; commencing in 

 Central Germany, or in 11° 39' east of Greenwich, and 51 38' 

 N., it passes by Berlin and Moscow, to a point in 102° 15' E., 

 and 53° 46' N., where the sun will be totally eclipsed on the 

 meridian, and thence to 173 47' E. and 24 32' N., where the 

 central phase passes off the earth ; at Berlin, where ihe sun will 

 only just be clear of the eastern horizon, totality continues im. 

 41s., and in the longitude of Moscow, to the mirth of the city, 

 2m. 30s., with the sun at an altitude of 17 ; on the shores of 

 Lake Baikal, where he will be near the meridian, the duration 

 of totality is increased to 3m. 38s. The last total eclipse of the 

 decade to which this note applies will take place on December 

 22, 1889 ; it may be observed at Bridgetown, Barbadoes, where 

 the sun at an altitude of about 6° will be hidden for im. 48s. ; at 

 a point on the Angola coast in about 10° S, t tality will 

 continue 3m. 34s., the central eclipse passes off the earth in 

 6o° 55' E. and 6° 53' N. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 

 Bees Eating Entrapped Moths.— Mr. Packard, jivn., 

 writing in the January number of the American Naturalist, says 

 that a flowering stalk of an asclepiad (Physiant/ms [Aranja] 

 aliens) was brought to him last September, with the bodies of 

 several moths (Ptnsia prccationis) hanging dead from the flowers, 

 being caught by their tongues or maxillae. " The e moths had, 

 in endeavouring to reach the pollen-pockets of the flowers, been 

 caught as if in a vice by one of the oppo-ing edges of the five 

 sets of hard, horny contrivances covering the pollinia." A very 

 short time afterwards the Rev. L. Thompson, of North Woburn, 

 Mass., a careful ob-erver, sent Mr. Packard the following details 

 of the behaviour of bees (Apis mrflifica) also frequenting the 

 flowers of the same a-clepiad : — " My attention was attracted 

 by two or three bees buzzing immediately around as many en- 

 trapped moths that were alive and struggling to get away. 

 Every moment or two a bee suddenly and furiously darted upon 

 a prisoner and seemed to me to sting it, despite its desperate efforts 

 to escape. This onset was generally instantanenu-, but was re- 

 peated again and again ; and after a moth hccauie still and 

 apparently lifeless the bee settled upon and, if my eyes did not 

 greatly deceive me, began to devour it." Mr. Thomp-on pre- 

 viously noticed tongues of the same species of moth caught in the 

 flowers, the bodies to which they belonged having di-appeared. 

 At the time he fancied these were probably eaten by birds, but 

 on further examination he came to the conclusion that the bees 

 had really feasted on animal food as well as upon the nectar of 

 the surroundi g flowers. Specimens of these bees being cap- 

 tured, the species was determined by Mr. Packard. On this 

 fact being communicated to Mr. Darwin, he wrote that he 

 "never heard of bees being in any way carnivorous, and the 

 fact is to me incredible. Is it possible that the bees opened the 

 bodies of the Plusiato suck the nectar contained in their sto- 

 machs? Such a degree of reason would require confirmation, 

 and would be very wonderful." Hermann Miiller wrote " that 

 his brother Fritz in South Brazil has observed that honey-bees 

 (species doubtful) licked eagerly the juice dropping from pieces 

 of meat which had been suspended in the open air to dry ; but 

 he thinks nothing has been published on the carnivorous habits 

 of bees." The well-known apiarian, Prof. A. J. Cook, how- 

 ever, reminds Mr. Packard "that honey-bee workers within the 

 hive, on killing off the drones, tear them in pieces with then- 

 mandibles rather than sting them, and that he has seen them 

 thus kill a humble-bee that had entered the hive. Huber, if 

 we mistake not, also tells us that under certain circumstances 

 the common hive-bee will devour the eggs laid by the queen 

 bee. 



New Mosasauroid Reptiles.— The Mosasauroid Reptiles 

 are so rare in Europe that the famous type specimen described 



