Minutes of Proceedings. xiii 



The number on the Members' Roll is 200. One, I regret to say, 

 has been removed by death ; two have left the country ; one has 

 ceased to be a member on account of arrears in subscription ; 19 

 have resigned ; 13 new members have been elected. 



The Library has been put in order. The books are now arranged 

 according to countries, and the card cataloguing has been resumed. 



The Treasurer read his statement. 



Mr. S. S. Hough, F.R.S., his Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, 

 was elected President for the year 1907-1908. 



Professor J. C. Beattie, Professor J. D. F. Gilchrist, C. B. 

 LouNSBURY, Professor W. W. A. Pearson, and Dr. L. Peringuey, 

 were elected Members of the Council for two years, and Dr. E. 

 NoBBS for one year. 



The Meeting afterwards resolved itself into an Ordinary Meeting. 



Ordinary Monthly Meeting. 



Wednesday, July 31, 1907. 

 Mr. S. S. Hough, President, in the Chair. 



Mr. H. Barnett-Clarke was nominated by J. D. F. Gilchrist 

 and L. Peringuey. 



Mr. J. S. Henkel was duly elected an Ordinary Member. 



The following communications were read : — 



" Note on Layard's Beaked Whale " {Mesoplodon Layardi)^ by 

 F. W. FiTz- Simons. 



" On the Lunar Cloud-Period," by J. R. Sutton, M.A. This paper 

 is a criticism, based upon the observations of clouds made at Kenil- 

 worth (Kimberley), of a recent paper by Herr Otto Meissner 

 contributed to the '' Meteorologische Zeitschrift," entitled " The 

 alleged Cloud-dispersing Power of the Moon." Meissner finds no 

 such dispersing power, but, on the contrary, at Potsdam, a greater 

 quantity of cloud at the time of full moon. This result is not in 

 agreement with the thunder-storm period, which in Europe shows a 

 maximum of frequency just after new moon. Mr. Sutton, however, 

 believes that the greater degree of cloudiness at Potsdam at full 

 moon is probably largely due to the fact that the light of the moon 

 illuminates, and makes visible, the thin clouds which would, were 

 there no moon, not be seen. But this explanation does not explain 

 everything in Meissner's results : e.g., the interesting minimum of 

 cloud that occurs in the three days before full moon. This minimum 



