NOVEMBEE 15, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



659 



with that of Nova Aurigse and Nova Nor- 

 mse show that all three closely resemble 

 each other and are apparently' identical in 

 their essential features. Another photo- 

 graph taken on June 15th with an exposure 

 of 60 minutes shows a change in the spec- 

 trum of this object. The hj'drogen lines 

 H/9, H;- and d are still bright, although the 

 continuous spectrum is very faint. An- 

 other line whose wave-length is about 4700 

 is here as bright as the hydrogen lines. On 

 the photograph taken on April 14th it is 

 barely visible. 



An examination was next made of all 

 the photographs of he region containing 

 this star. On sixty-two plates, the first 

 taken on May 17, 1889, and the last on 

 March 5, 1895, no trace of the star is visi- 

 ble, although on some of them stars as 

 faint as the fourteenth magnitude are 

 clearly seen. The exposures of these plates 

 varied from 10 to 242 minutes. On nine 

 plates, the first taken on April 8th and the 

 last on July 1, 1895, the star appears, and 

 its photographic brightness diminishes dur- 

 ing that time from the eighth to the eleventh 

 magnitude. This star precedes A. G. C. 

 15269 (photometric magnitude 5.47) 0"'.5, 

 and is 0'.7 north. Its approximate position 

 for 1900 is therefore in R. A. 11"3'».9, Dec. 

 — 61° 24'. Two stars of the eleventh mag- 

 nitude are near the Nova. One is nearly 

 north, 110" distant, the other is 80" south 

 preceding. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF INSECTS OF THE U. S. 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The staff of the Department of Insects 

 of the TJ. S. National Museum has been re- 

 organized as a result of the sad death of 

 the former honorary curator, Professor C. 

 V. Eiley. 



The reorganization has been effected by 

 the appointment of Mr. L. O. Howard, en- 

 tomologist of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, to the position of honorary 



curator of the Department of Insects ; of 

 Mr. Wm. H. Ashmead to the position of cus- 

 todian of Hymenoptera, and Mr. D. W. 

 Coquillett to the jjosition of custodian of 

 Diptera. All museum custodians are hono- 

 rary officers. Mr. M. L. Linell will remain 

 as general assistant to the honorarj' curator. 

 The Department is at present in excellent 

 woi'king condition. It contains a very 

 great amount of material in all orders, and 

 in many unusual directions surpasses any 

 collection in the country. Among others 

 the following are of especial interest: — 



1. The large collection, in all orders, of 

 the late Dr. C. V. Riley. 



2. All of the material gathered during 

 the past 18 years by correspondents, field 

 agents and the office staff of the division of 

 entomology, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



3. The greater part of the collection of 

 the late Asa Fitch. 



4. The large collection, in all orders, of 

 the late G. W. Belfrage. 



5. The collections in Lepidoptera and 

 Coleoptera made by Dr. John B. Smith 

 down to 1889, together with the types of 

 the NoctuidiB since described by Dr. Smith. 



6. The collection of Lepidoptera of the 

 late 0. Meske. 



7. The collection of Lepidoptera of G. 

 Beyer. 



8. The collection of Coleoptera of M. L. 

 Linell. 



9. The bulk of the collection, in all orders, 

 of the late H. K. Morrison. 



10. The collection of Diptera of the late 

 Edward Burgess. 



11. The type collection of Syrphidse made 

 by Dr. S. W. AVilliston. 



12. The collection of Ixodidse of the late 

 Dr. George Marx. 



13. The collection of Myi'iopoda of the 

 late C. H. Bollman. 



14. Sets of the neo-tropical collections of 

 Herbert Smith. 



