THE PLANET MAES. 379 



specimen captured by Dr. Yelie is a female. It is a comparatively small 

 fish, as those described by Elliott and De Kay were seventeen or eighteen 

 feet in width, and others of equal dimensions have frequently been encoun- 

 tered, though rarely captured. 



Professor Peabody related several anecdotes illustrative of the strength 

 of the devil fish. One, eighteen feet broad, towed a thirteen ton schooner, 

 with all sails set, in the face of a brisk wind, until the harpoon drew out 

 and the fish escaped. Dr. Vclie experienced great difficulty in making his 

 capture. He harpooned five other fish, but lost them all. The one cap- 

 tured succumbed only after an hour's struggle. Among the means of assault 

 which the fish j^ossesses are its frontal ajjpendices, which are movable, and 

 with which it can seize and hold, as by power of suction, anything coming 

 within reach. In this resjoect only does it resemble the devil fish known to 

 the readers of Victor Hugo. The food of the devil fish has been supposed 

 to be crustaceans. Some scientists are of opinion that it lives on other fish, 

 but no scales have ever been found in its stomach. The stomach of Dr. 

 Velio's specimen contained a large quantity of a reddish, moss-like sub- 

 stance, which Professor Eeinsch, of Bavaria, one of ths members of the 

 Chicago Academy, identified as sea-weed, possibly a new species. — Chicago 

 Tribune. 



The planet Mars, now so near us, has had to give up another of his se- 

 crets. Prof Hall, in charge of the great telescope at the Xaval Observa- 

 tory at Washington, has discovered two satellites of that planet. The dis- 

 covery was made last Thursday night, and was fully tested afterwards by 

 the astronomers at that station. Prof. Newcomb telegrajihed the discover}' 

 to the European observatories. It is looked upon as one of the most marked 

 astronomical events of the century, and a great triumph for the new tele- 

 scope. Prof. Hall saj^s : 



"The first satellite of Mars was discovered in the Naval Observatory at 

 Washington on the night of August 16. It was first seen at 11:42. It has 

 been observed in the nights of the iGth, 17th, and 18th of August. The 

 time of the rotation of this satellite about Mars is about thirty hours ; its 

 greatest apparent distance from the center of Mars is eighty seconds of an 

 arc. I think I saw another satellite Saturday morning about 4 o'clock, but 

 of the existence of the second satellite I am not absolutely certain. I be- 

 lieve, however, that there are two, and expect to bo able to determine this 

 to-night. In its appearance it is a faint object of about the thirteenth or 

 fourteenth magnitude. It was possible to discover the satellite onl}^ by 

 putting Mars, which is exceedingly bright, out of the field of the telescope, 

 so as to get rid of the bright light of that planet." 



The distance of the first satellite is from Mars about 13,000 or 14,000 

 miles, and its diameter probably not more than 50 to 100 miles, and is nearer 

 than the satellite of any known planet. — Kansas City Journal of Commerce. 



