for the year 1877. xvii 



menced operations at Melbourne in conjunction with Green- 

 wich and Washington. 



The comet discovered by D' Arrest in 1851, which has a 

 period of about five and a half years, and which is one of 

 the most interesting of the comets of short period because 

 of the enormous disturbances it experiences from the planet 

 Jupiter, was observed during the month of June. This is a 

 very difficult object to observe, owing to its excessive faint- 

 ness ; so that during its perihelion passage in 1864 it could 

 not be seen at all. In the present instance it was found 

 with little difficulty, owing to the excellent ephemeris 

 which had been sent to me by M. Leveau, of the Paris 

 Observatory. 



The question of the existence of a planet between the 

 sun and Mercury has been revived during the past year, 

 and M. Leverrier announced the probability of the supposed 

 planet transiting the sun's disc about the 22nd of March 

 last. Most of the Observatories throughout the world were 

 requested to keep a strict watch for its appearance on the 

 21st, 22nd, and 23rd^ and this was, I believe,, generally done, 

 but with a negative result, no appearance of a planetary 

 transit being observed anywhere. We had very favourable 

 weather here, and could not have failed to see it had it 

 crossed the sun during our daylight. The existence of an 

 intra-Mercurial planet is therefore a problem yet to be 

 solved. 



At our last gathering I spoke of the progress that had 

 been made in Meteorology in Europe and America by the 

 adoption of a widely co-operative system, and I stated that 

 I had taken steps to bring about an analogous system in 

 Australia ; and at the ordinary meeting in May last, in a 

 paper I read on the present state of meteorology, I detailed 

 the outcome of this effort. It wiU therefore be only neces- 

 sary now to teU you in the briefest manner what has been 



