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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. ! 



Tortngas group of islands. In addition to 

 the director, nine other investigators pur- 

 sued researches at this laboratory. In 

 May the director and three collaborators 

 visited the Bahamas, making a successful 

 cruise of 570 miles with the Anton Dohrn. 

 This expedition was of special aid to 

 Messrs. Drew and Vaughan in their studies 

 concerning oolite deposits and corals. 



The director of the department has is- 

 sued, as No. 162 of the publications of the 

 institution, an additional volume of his 

 series on the jelly-fishes of the world, the 

 title of this volume being ' ' Ctenophores of 

 the Atlantic Coast of North America." 

 Sixteen of his collaborators have presented 

 papers for publication, which will furnish 

 two more volumes of the ' ' Researches from 

 the Tortugas Laboratory." 



Department of Meridian Astrometry 

 After the meridian instrument was 

 brought back from the temporary observa- 

 tory at San Luis, Argentina, to the Dudley 

 Observatory at Albany, it was thoroughly 

 reexamined to make certain that it had 

 undergone no change on account of the 

 relatively rough handling it necessarily re- 

 ceived during this journey from Argentina 

 to America. The reexamination was com- 

 pleted about the beginning of the present 

 fiscal year and proved conclusively that the 

 instrument had suffered no damage in any 

 of its parts. Along with this good fortune 

 to the department and to the Dudley Ob- 

 servatory, this instrument thus becomes 

 noteworthy in the annals of astronomy, for 

 no meridian circle has been so thoroughly 

 proved to retain its stability under such a 

 variety of varying conditions. After the 

 preliminary tests referred to, observations 

 with the instrument were begun on Novem- 

 ber 13, 1911, and have continued through- 

 out the year, in accordance with the pro- 



gram explained hitherto in the depart- 

 mental reports. 



In the meantime special attention has 

 been given to the reduction of the meridian 

 observations made at San Luis, Argentina. 

 The determination of the two coordinates 

 of stars from this work, namely, right as- 

 cension and declination, have proceeded 

 simultaneously. The assignment of stellar 

 magnitudes, however, must await the pho- 

 tometric determinations which have been 

 made at San Luis since the meridian meas- 

 urements were completed. Late advices 

 from Mr. Zimmer, who has charge of this 

 photometric work, announce that it will be 

 completed by the end of the present cal- 

 endar year, and he and his assistant are 

 expected to return early next year. 



The department reports with great re- 

 gret the death, on November 19, 1911, by 

 accidental drowning, of Mr. "William Hunt, 

 who served initially as Mr. Zimmer 's as- 

 sistant. Mr. Hunt was a young man of 

 much promise, and his untimely loss was a 

 source of shock to his colleagues and a 

 cause of temporary delay to the photo- 

 metric work. 



Much attention has been given by the 

 director of the department and by Mr. 

 Benjamin Boss to studies of stellar motions 

 for which the extensive data accvimulated 

 by the department are furnishing evidence. 

 These studies and those made by the solar 

 observatory of the institution, along with 

 corresponding investigations in many other 

 observatories, indicate that the progress of 

 astronomy in the future is to be no less 

 brilliant than it has been in the past. 



The great quantity of priceless observa- 

 tional and derived data accumulated by the 

 department rendered it imperative that 

 special provision should be made for their 

 safe storage. Accordingly the executive 

 committee authorized the department to 

 expend, from its last annual allotment, the 



