SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



245 



Sun 



Moon 



1895. 

 Dec. 



Mercury... 



Venus 



Mars 



Jupiter . 



Saturn . 

 Uranus . 

 Neptune . 



Full .. 



New .. 



Rises. 

 h.m. 



A.M. 

 . 7-46 .. 



• 7-tf ■■ 

 . 8.6 .. 



Souths. 



P.M. 



.. 11.30 .. 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



. 11.14 ■• 

 Souths. 



P.M. 



.. 0.8 . 



• • 4.57 • 



Rises. 



A.M. 



.. 7.20 .. 

 .. 8.6 . 



3.26 ... 

 347 ... 



4.11 ... 



6.12 ... 



6.13 ... 

 6.12 ... 



P.M. 



7-55 - 



6.28 ... 



A.M. 

 4.51 ... 



343 - 



4.29 ... 



P.M. 

 2.34 "■ 



Sets. 



h.m. 



P.M. 



3-53 • 



349 • 



3-5° . 

 Sets. 



A.M. 

 . 8.26 



Souths. 



A.M. 



■ 5-57 

 Sets. 



P.M. 



■ 3-23 



. 10.43 



Souths. 



A.M. 



. 11.23 

 . 11.51 



. 0.19 



8.46 



Position at Noon. 

 R.A. Dec. 



h.m. 

 16.30 ... 21° 



50' S. 



I7-I3 

 17-57 



... 2 3 u 



27' 



16.24 

 17-32 

 18.42 



13 5° 

 14.32 

 15.16 .. 



21° 50' S. 



24° 31' 



25° 3' 



8° 42' S. 

 12° 6' 



15.38 ... 19 

 16.7 ... 

 16.37 •• 



56' 

 13' 



18 33' N. 

 18 59' 



13° 59' S. 

 14 32' 

 18° 13' S. 



2!° 15' N. 



.. 7.9 a.m. 

 .. 5.21 a.m. 



8.54 ... 15-16 ... 15" 

 10.32 ... 15.38 ... 19 22' S. 

 10.22 

 10.13 



A.M. 



3.39 ... 8.46 .. 



I4.I5 ... 840 . 

 A.M. 



942 ... I4.49 .. 



8.3I ...'14.57 • 



8.56 ... 15.22 . 



P.M. 



IO.36 ... 5.0 . 



Moon's Phases. 

 Dec. 2 ... 6.38 a.m. LastQr... Dec. 9 

 „ 16 ... 6.30 a.m. 1st Qr. ... ,, 24 

 Full Moon December 31st, 8.31 p.m. 



There will be a bright shower of meteors on 

 the 10th. The radiant point is o 108 5 + 33 . 



Mercury is not well situated, as he is in 

 superior conjunction on the 20th. Venus is in a 

 good position in the morning, and can be seen with 

 the naked eye well on towards noon. Mars is 

 gradually coming up again, but his declination is 

 so much south that he cannot well be seen yet. 

 Jupiter is very well placed for observation. 

 Saturn can be seen early in the morning. 



Sir H. Grubb has issued a new "Illustrated 

 Catalogue of Astronomical Instruments, Obser- 

 vatories, etc." Accompanying the sketches of 

 instruments are a number of reproductions of 

 photographs taken with them. 



A new comet was recorded from the Lick 

 Observatory by Mr. Perrine, on November 16th, 

 and another is announced from the Observatory of 

 Geneva, U.S.A., by Mr. Brooks. It was discovered 

 on November 21st, in R.A. gh. 52m. and Decl. 

 17 4' S. 



Mr. E. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S., read his 

 annual address as President of the British Astro- 

 nomical Association, on October 30th last, con- 

 gratulating the Society upon its progress. He 

 further made lengthy reference to Eclipse Expedi- 

 tion to Norway in August next year, strongly 

 urging the members and their friends to avail 

 themselves of the opportunity of observing " all the 

 phenomena the changing heavens have to present." 

 The chances of watching such an event are rare. 



YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' 



UNION. 



THE excellent management of this association 

 of lovers of natural history, is evident from 

 the annual report of the general committee for 

 the year 1895. One of the first parts of such a 

 report to examine is the financial position, which 

 indicates a balance in favour of the Union of no 

 less than £241. The membership now stands at 

 449, twenty-one new ones having been added 

 during the past year. The Union now includes 

 thirty-six societies, with a membership of 2,567, 

 who with direct members make a total of 3,016. 

 Seven field-meetings have been held during 1895. 

 The first was on May 13th to the Hole of Horcum, 

 in the valley of Newtondale, near Pickering, a 

 place of much geological interest. On June 3rd 

 was a joint undertaking with the Lincolnshire 

 Naturalists' Union to Broughton Woods, near 

 Brigg. This excursion extended over several days 

 and included meetings at Brigg and visits to the 

 Gully of Twigmoor, and an inspection of the work 

 of several peat moss litter companies who, to quote 

 the report, are quite destroying the historic low- 

 lying heaths of Gool Moor, Thorn Waste, and 

 Hatfield Chace. June 22nd, found members of 

 the Union at Flamborough Head, on the coast of 

 Yorkshire ; on August 5th, in the lower Swaledale, 

 with a meeting at Richmond; on September 2nd, 

 in Wharfdale, for exploring the gorge of Trailer's 

 Gill, near Bolton Abbey. A fungus foray was held 

 near Huddersfield, from September 7th to 10th, 

 and a special meeting at Filey Brig on September 

 21st, for the investigation of the marine fauna and 

 flora at the equinoctial spring tide. These latter 

 excursions were respectively under the manage- 

 ment of the Mycological and Marine Zoology Com- 

 mittees of the Union, and were very successful. 



The publications of the Union include: "The 

 Naturalist," its organ, which is issued monthly 

 under the editorship of Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, 

 F.L.S., and the "Transactions." The latter have 

 been in abeyance during 1895, awaiting certain 

 manuscripts which are now well forward and refer 

 to the lists of mosses, hepatics, and coleoptera of 

 the county. The library, of the Union has 

 grown to proportions almost beyond control, so 

 negotiations are in progress for its transference to 

 a large public institution, where it will be more 

 accessible to members of the Union and others 

 interested in biology. 



Much good scientific work is being done by the 

 sectional committees of research, the Yorkshire 

 Fossil Flora Committee having been active, as has 

 also the Geological Photographs Committee. 

 Other committees include the Coast Erosion 

 Committee (which, by the way, reports that the 

 annual erosion of the Yorkshire coast is, after all 

 examination, found to be very slow), Micro- 

 Zoology and Micro-Botany Committee, Wild- 

 birds' - Egg Committee, and Mycological and 

 Marine Zoology Committee, all of which have done 

 more or less work in 1S95. Certainly, as the pro- 

 verb has it, in this instance " union is strength." 

 We believe in these unions of amateur naturalists, 

 for they encourage the members to continue their 

 work, and interest others who may become workers 

 in some or other branch of Biology. The Presi- 

 dent for the year 1895-6 will be Mr. John Cordeux, 

 the well-known authority on the ornithology of the 

 Humber district, and the Hon. Secretary is Mr. W. 

 Denison Roebuck, Sunny Bank, Leeds. J. T. C. 



