SCIENCE. 



223 



AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 

 NEW YORK. 



The customary autumn reception at the American Museum 

 of Natural History, Seventy-seventh street, near Central 

 Park, took place on the 27th instant, from two to five 

 o'clock in the afternoon. The attendance was not so large 

 as upon former occasions. Among the trustees present 

 were noted Mr. Robert L. Stuart, President ; Messrs. Rob- 

 ert Colgate, Benjamin H. Field, Adrian Iselin, Morris K. 

 Jesup, James M. Constable, Joseph W. Drexel, Frederic 

 W. Stevens, Hugh Auchincloss, Oliver Harriman, ex-Gov- 

 ernor E. D. Morgan, John H. Sherwood, R. H. Keene, 

 Professor Eggleston, Rev. Dr. Trimble, Arkansas ; Profes- 

 sor Daniel S. Martin, Rutger's College, with many others. 



The additions and improvements since the last reception, 

 in May of the present year, may be briefly summarized as 

 follows: In the lower hall the Binney and Bland collection 

 of land and fresh water shells formed a new feature. It 

 contained the typical specimens that are to be met with in 

 the works of those authors, and was presented by twelve 

 members. The whole was enclosed in a desk case, plac- 

 ed between cases R and K. Besides this the skeletons of 

 three Australians were there to challenge the attention of 

 scientists. These interesting specimens were the gift of 

 Mr. Morris K. Jesup, and may be inspected in case A. In 

 the main hall, the Maximilian collection of birds, attracted 

 the attention of visitors ; they have been re-mounted on the 

 new stands described in an article in " Science," October 

 7 last, under the title of "Bird Furniture, by Dr. Holder, 

 the Assistant Superintendent. We direct the attention of 

 those making collections of Natural History specimens, to 

 these stands ; they are inexpensive, and possess many ad- 

 vantages. The North American collection was increased 

 by six hundred specimens. 



The gallery stairway showed a detailed ethnological map 

 of Africa, drawn on a large scale by Professor Bickmore. 

 The additions to the Ethnological Collection from the South 

 Seas consist of a war canoe (case No. 1), New Zealand 

 weapons and carvings (case No. 3) and stone axes from New 

 Guinea (case No. 4). The set of ornaments and carvings 

 from British Columbia, presented by Mr. H. R. Bishop 

 (case M), proved to be interesting, as many items were in- 

 cluded which appeared unfamiliar to most people present. 

 The Geological Hall received seven geological maps of East- 

 ern North America, some Encrinites and other fossils from 

 various formations. Cases A, B, C, D and E were re-ar- 

 ranged and labelled. In the desk cases specimens were 

 placed which served to illustrate Dana's " Manual of Geol- 

 ogy." The rearrangemeni and labelling of the portions 

 alluded to are a considerable improvement. 



Altogether the several collections and their belongings pre- 

 sented the appearance of being well kept and arranged accrd- 

 ing to the best scientific principles. The trustees say that the 

 elevated railroad has brought agreatly increased number of 

 visitors to the Museum, and they hope to make it still more 

 attractive as a place of instructive amusement. It has been 

 suggested that such advanced classes of the higher schools 

 and colleges as are making a regular study of natural his- 

 tory could find in this collection an excellent opportunity 

 for advancing themselves in their chosen branch of educa- 

 tion. If proiessors or teachers would accompany their pu- 

 pils periodically through the Museum, giving progressive 

 lectures on the different subjects presented for considera- 

 tion, it is believed that the results would, under all aspects, 

 be most beneficial. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 

 Dr. W. L. Elkin has made a re-discussion of the various 

 series of observations of « Centauri for the determination of 

 the value of its parallax. These include the observations 

 of Henderson, Maclear, Moesta and E. J. Stone. Besides a 

 recomputation of the absolute parallax, Dr. Elkin has se- 

 lected the observations which were made on nights when 

 both a and [i Centauri were observed, and from these de- 

 termined their relative parallax. The discussion includes 

 a new determination of the orbit of « considered as a double 

 star, as well as a discussion of the relative proper motions 

 of a and [i. From a careful examination of each series he 

 concludes that Maclaer's is the only one worthy of confi- 

 dence. He finds that, although the probable error of 



Moesta's series is small, the annual variation may be ac- 

 counted for as the effect of changes in temperature. Mac- 

 lear's observations give for the relative parallax of a and 

 /3: o".5o + o'.o8. 



Dr. Henry Draper has succeeded in photographing the 

 bright part of the nebula in Orion in the vicinity ot the 

 trapezium- The photographs show the mottled appearance 

 of this region distinctly. They were taken by the aid of a 

 triple objective of eleven inches aperture made by Alvan 

 Clark and Sons, and corrected especially for the photographic 

 rays. The exposure was for fifty minutes. A detailed de- 

 scription of the negatives has not yet been published, but 



will be soon. O. S. 



<m 



SWIFTS' COMET. 

 By Ed. E. Barnard. 



The large comet discovered by Prof. Lewis Swift on the 

 night of Octer 10th in R. A. 21 h. 30 m. north declination 

 I 7° 3°'> ' s now i° excellent position for observation. On 

 October 2 1 st it followed the fourth magnitude — star k Pegasi 

 by somewhat less than i°. At 8 h. Washington m. I., I de- 

 termined its position by the aid of a ring micrometer, R. A. 

 21 h. 42X m - Dec. + 25 1'. The following night, October 

 22d, its position was at 10 h. 20 m. R. A. 21 h. 44 m. 3 sec- 

 Dec. + 26 2'. It is moving moderately fast in a north, 

 easterly direction. It was observed again on the nights of 

 October 23d and 24th. The comet is perfectly transparent. 

 At each observation it passed over a number of small stars, 

 8 or 9 mag., these were seen through its very centre ; they 

 were slightly dimmed by the material of the comet. 



It appears large and diffused with a slight condensation 

 at the middle or the preceding side, with probably faint 

 evidences of a diffused tail. 



It can be seen with a very small telescope, being plainly 

 visible on the 24th in my 1% in. finder. 



Nashville, Tenn., October 25. 



BOTANY. 



The first annual Report upon Useful and Noxious Plants, 

 presented by Professor T. J. Burrill to the Illinois State 

 Board of Agriculture, contains a paper suggesting the more 

 general cultivation of the Catalpas (Catalpa bignonioides .) 

 Professor Burrill states : " I write 'these trees' advisedly, 

 believing that the two kinds now known as the common and 

 the hardy, or the eastern or southern and the western, are 

 really different species. The wonder is that botanists had 

 not long ago detected this difference and that in our manu- 

 als of botany the two had not been given under specific 

 names. 



At Urbana, 111., in 1880, the one came into flower 

 the first week in June ; the other was nearly three weeks 

 later, being in full flower about June 24th. They differ in 

 other respects quite as much as well recognized species of 

 oak, ash and cotton-wood ; much more than described 

 species of willow. But Catalpa bignonioides, Walt., is the 

 only name to be found in the ordinary books, devoted to 

 the flora, in whole or part, of North America. In 1853 Dr. 

 Warder, of Ohio, noticing the showy flowers of some trees 

 at Dayton, Ohio, and supposing these to be a variety of the 

 well known species with this peculiarity, named the 

 variety speciosa. It now appears that this large flowered 

 kind is the common indigenous form found in the States of 

 Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ar- 

 kansas, etc., and botanists will doubtless henceforth write 

 Catalpa speciosa, Warder, as a distinct species. Contrasted 

 with Catalpa bignonioides the flowers are earlier and larger; 

 the seed pods are larger ; the bark is darker, and does not 

 scale off, giving quite a different aspect to the trunk of a 

 mature specimen ; the growth is more erect, causing a bet- 

 ter bole and finer head, and the tree is not so liable to be 

 killed by the severities of winter. Added to all this the 

 trees are so characteristically different that anyone can 

 readily distinguish them. In C. bignonioides they are nar- 

 row and the fringe of the wing is close and pointed ; in C. 

 speciosa the larger seed has a wider wing, terminated at 

 each end with a broad fringe of softer hairs. Unfortunately 

 most of the cultivated Catalpa trees in Illinois have been of 

 the tender species, and, although the wonderful durability 



