Febbuaby 26, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



353 



cable to the conditions. It will also be neces- 

 sary to command larger quantities of eggs. 

 In this connection it may be worth mention- 

 ing that in one experiment the number of 

 eggs used was estimated at 17,850,000. The 

 method consisted in diluting 1 e.c. of eggs to 

 100 c.c. and then counting the eggs in ten 

 drops, which equaled .4 c.c. This number 

 seems large and several hundred animals were 

 opened to obtain them; but from a single ripe 

 sea urchin at the height of the season was 

 taken a mass of eggs estimated at 4,600,000. 

 Thus by working at the proper time of the 

 year it will be easily possible to obtain ten 

 times the number of eggs I was able to get for 

 these experiments. 



E. P, Lyon. 

 Univeesity of Chicago. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



CLIMATOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA. 



California has the good fortune to have its 

 climate discussed in considerable detail in 

 ' Bulletin L ' of the Weather Bureau (Clima- 

 tology of California, by Professor A. G. Mc- 

 Adie). In fact this is the most complete tab- 

 ulation hitherto published of the climatic data 

 of any single state in the union. The ' Bul- 

 letin ' numbers 270 pages, and is illustrated by 

 means of numerous charts, curves and half-tone 

 views. After a consideration of the control- 

 ling factors of the climate (pressure, storms, 

 topography, etc.), there follow tabulated data 

 and brief discussions of the climate of indi- 

 vidual localities. Much of the report is 

 naturally tabular. In some cases the tab- 

 ulation is remarkably complete, as in the case 

 of San Prancisco, for example, where the daily 

 rainfall is given for the period January 1, 

 1865, to March 19, 1902. Persons interested 

 in obtaining meteorological data for California 

 will find this report of great service. A good 

 deal of the present ' Bulletin ' has appeared 

 in separate instalments in the Monthly Re- 

 view of the California Climate and Crop 

 Service, and it is a great convenience to 

 teachers, and all others interested, to have the 

 matter collected in one volume. Special re- 

 ports on frost, fog and thunder-storms are 

 found at the end of the 'Bulletin.' 



SKY COLORS and ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION. 



In Nature for December 24, Mr. A. L. 

 Eotch, of Blue Hill Observatory, calls atten- 

 tion to the fact that the occurrence of Bishop's 

 ring and of abnormal glows after sunset, ob- 

 served at Blue Hill during the past year, was 

 intermittent, and that the respective phenom- 

 ena occurred at Blue Hill about twenty days 

 later than they did in Switzerland. Assuming 

 that the conclusions are approximately correct, 

 the drift of the dust clouds from central 

 Europe to the eastern United States was at 

 the rate of about thirty miles an hour, or a 

 good deal less than the velocity of the highest 

 clouds. The importance of such studies in 

 connection with the general circulation of the 

 atmosphere is great, and the suggestion made 

 by Mr. Botch, that a committee, like the Kra- 

 katoa Committee of 1884, undertake an in- 

 vestigation of the recent sky colorations, will 

 have the support of all meteorologists. In 

 Nature for January 21, Mr. H. H. Clayton 

 calls attention to the steadily diminishing size 

 of the new Bishop's ring around the sun, as 

 determined by measurements made at Blue 

 Hill Observatory. 



WEATHER FOLK-LORE. 



Under the title 'Weather Folk-Lore and 

 Local Weather Signs,' the Weather Bureau 

 has recently published ' Bulletin No. 33 ' (8vo, 

 1903, pp. 153), prepared by Professor E. B. 

 Garriott. The object of the ' Bulletin ' is to 

 collect the weather proverbs and sayings that 

 are applicable to the United States, and to 

 combine with these the local prognostics noted 

 by observers of the Weather Bureau at the dif- 

 ferent stations over the United States. Per- 

 sons who are interested in weather proverbs 

 will find abundant material in this collection. 

 The proverbs are grouped by subjects, as tem- 

 perature, clouds, humidity, barometer, etc., 

 often, however, rather haphazardly, as when 

 we find under ' The physiological effects on 

 animal life of changes of pressure ' the saying 

 ' smoke falls to the ground preceding rain.' 

 There are several extracts from daily news- 

 papers which, unless the writers of the articles 

 referred to are persons of scientific standing, 

 are out of place in an official publication of 



