August 29, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



311 



and Florida; in summer throughout northern 

 United States and the Great Basin; and in 

 fall over the California coast, central Eockies, 

 southern and eastern United States. The 

 duration of sunshine is about the reverse of 

 the cloudiness indicated, for the cloudiness 

 records are practically only from observations 

 in the daytime. 



Previous cloudiness charts for the United 

 States were published (1) in 1890 by General 

 A. W. Greely, of the Signal Service; (2) in 

 1898 by the Weather Bureau;" (3) in 1911 by 

 K. McE. Clark.- 



AUSTRALIAN METEOROLOGY 



The Australian Weather Service has re- 

 cently published new monthly and annual tem- 

 perature and rainfall charts of Australia and 

 Tasmania based on observation series from 

 twenty to forty years in length. These charts 

 correspond closely with earlier ones except 

 that the annual isotherms sweep north in the 

 center of Australia instead of south and the 

 isohyts show the rainfall in greater detail. An 

 annual rainfall of less than 5 inches is indi- 

 cated in South Australia and as high as 140 

 inches on the Queensland coast. Common- 

 wealth Meteorologist H. A. Hunt has invented 

 a novel rotary diagram called a " rainfall 

 clock," which indicates in a striking manner 

 the progressive monthly changes of Australian 

 rainfall. 



The remarkable constancy and regularity of 

 Australian weather has led Mr. Hunt to sug- 

 gest the foundation of international meteoro- 

 logical observatories there for purposes of 

 research in the fundamental problems of 

 dynamic meteorology.' 



NOTES 



HoFRAT Professor Dr. Julius von Hann 

 writes that a third edition of his great " Lehr- 

 buch der Meteorologie " will soon begin to ap- 



" Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau, 

 1896-97. 



° Qu-arterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological 

 Society, April, 1911, pp. 169-175. 



' See Nature, London, Vol. 91, pp. 355, 435-436, 



pear. It is coming out in sections to make its 

 purchase easier. He expects the work to be 

 complete in the fall of 1914. The first edition 

 appeared in 1901 and the second in 1906. From 

 1908-1911 Dr. von Hann published the third 

 edition of his great " Handbuch der Klimatol- 

 ogie " in three volumes. These two magnifi- 

 cent works are second to none in the realm of 

 meteorology and climatology. 



The Eoyal Academy of Holland has con- 

 ferred the Buys-Ballot Medal on Dr. H. Herge- 

 sell in recognition of his service in the in- 

 vestigations of the upper air in the subtropios 

 and arctic, and as head of the International 

 Commission for Scientific Aeronautics. In 

 1903 this medal was conferred on Professors 

 Assmann and Berson, and in 1893 on Dr. von 

 Hann. 



Director M. A. Eykatchew, of the Nicholas 

 Central Physical Observatory, at St. Peters- 

 burg, retired on May 7, after having served 46 

 years, of which the last lY were as director. 



In the report of the Chief of the Weather 

 Bureau for 1911-12, recently issued, mention 

 is made of preparations for proposed anemom- 

 eter tests by Professor C. F. Marvin, now 

 Chief. A whirling machine with an arm 

 thirty feet long and capable of producing wind 

 velocities up to 70 or 80 miles per hour will be 

 used. There will be tests carried on also in 

 a " wind tunnel " through which with blowers 

 a current of air exceeding 100 miles per hour 

 can be forced. These tests are for the purpose 

 of correcting the standard Weather Bureau 

 anemometers to record true wind velocities 

 instead of some 18 per cent, too high as in the 

 past and at present. 



Charles F. Brooks 



Blue Hill Meteorological Obseevatoet 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



THE REDISCOVERY OF PERIDERMIUM PYRIFORME 

 PECK 



The name Peridermium pyriforme was pro- 

 posed by Peck in 1875 for a blister rust grow- 

 ing " on pine limbs in the spring, Newfield, 

 New Jersey." In his original description Peek 

 laid emphasis on the form of the spores which 

 he described as " obovate, pyrif orm, or oblong- 



