408 



Observations of the Transit of Mercury. 



[Sept. 



Joannes Zimisces, a monk who rose to the throne after the murder of his 

 benefactor Nicephorus Foca, was the first who ventured with dissimulated piety to 

 put the effigy of Christ upon his coin. They were thence called 2wTijpiK<n. The 

 modern Greeks erroneously ascribe them to Constantine the Great. It is a curious 

 fact, that these, which are the most recent coins in the cabinet of the Asiatic 

 Society, should be in the worst state of preservation. 



Note. — Since writing the above, the Society has become possessed 

 of 250 Roman coins, purchased from an Armenian ; as they were not 

 found on the continent of India itself, I do not feel called upon to 

 include them in the present list, although they will be of great use in 

 forming the germs of a future cabinet. Some of them are in high pre- 

 servation ; they comprise 



2 Maximinus 



1 Septimius Severus 



1 Sept. Geta 



4 Alexander Pius 



1 Gordianus 

 8 Philippus 



6 Trajanus Decius 



8 Gallienus 



4 Claudius Gothicus 



2 Aurelianus 

 8 Probus 



2 of Augustus 



2 Nero 

 1 Galba 

 6 Vespasianus 



1 Titus 



3 Domitianus 



2 Nerva 

 2 Trajanus 

 6 Hadrianus 



45 Antoninus Pius 

 16 Commodus Ant. 



and 20 others, more or less illegible. Should any of them turn out to 



be new or rare, I shall take occasion to notice them hereafter. 



32 Diocletianus 

 27 Maximianus 

 18 Constantinus 



2 Constantinopolis 

 11 Constantius 



2 Valens 



2 of Greek Towns 



1 Severa 



1 Lucilla Augusta 

 4 Faustina 



2 Mammaea 



III. — Observations of the Transit of Mercury. By James Prinsep, 



Sec. Phys. CI. 

 On the 5th of May, the expected transit of Mercury over the sun's 

 disc, a phenomenon which occurs twice in an interval of about 

 12 years, invited all lovers of astronomy to be prepared at their 

 telescopes. Unfortunately, in Calcutta, the day proved cloudy 

 just at the time when the ingress took place, and, as the sun set before 

 the egress, little advantage could be taken of the event in correcting 

 the longitude ; much less in attempting to furnish data for the calcula- 

 tion of the parallax of the sun or of the planet. From half past four 

 to a quarter past five v. u., there were intervals of sunshine sufficient to 

 afford a transient view. Lieutenants Waugh and Rennie, Engineers, 

 endeavoured with me to profit by these moments in taking the posi- 

 tion of the planet on the sun's disc. We were permitted the use of a 



