May 23, 1884.] 
Tejent passes near Seraks, but is generally dry: its 
bed is about half a mile wide. The water from the 
melting snows and heavy rains is retained in large 
reservoirs closed by sluices, and distributed by canals 
for irrigation. Wells reach water at a depth of 
twenty feet. 
The levelling carried on by the party has demon- 
strated, that, in leaving the Caspian Sea, there is not 
a general rise of the surface. At the wells of Aydine, 
several points are notably lower than the surface of 
the Caspian; and the whole region between the latter 
and the wells is a dried up arm of the sea. The 
aspect of the observations leads one to believe that 
they will show, when worked up, that there aremany - 
points in the sandy deserts between the Tekke oasis 
and Khiva which are lower than the Caspian; and it is 
already certain that the alleged former junction of 
the Tejent and Murial Rivers with the Oxus was an 
impossibility, and that, though nearer to each other, 
they emptied directly into the Caspian. Further 
work will be necessary to show the exact origin of the 
depressions met with in different parts of the steppes, 
and which have been taken for beds of ancient water- 
courses. 
The expedition terminated its work at Seraks, and 
returned to Askabad by a different route. 
PALMS. 
SOME interesting details respecting these princes of 
the vegetable kingdom, as Linnaeus called them, are 
to be found in Sir Joseph Hooker’s last report on the 
progress and condition of the Royal gardens at Kew. 
The extent to which they have recently been brought 
into cultivation is noteworthy. 
Miller, in his Gardener’s dictionary, edition of 1731, 
knew of seven species; but only two were generally 
known in conservatories, — the dwarf fan-palm of the 
south of Europe, and the date. Aiton’s Hortus 
Kewensis, in the second edition (1813), enumerates 
only 24 species. The Loddiges, great cultivators of 
palms, who possessed in their day much the largest 
collection known, enumerate 210 species in their 
nursery catalogue of the year 1825. In the Herren- 
hausen conservatories, Hannover, Wendland had as- 
sembled 287 species in 1835, and 445 in 1882. This is 
the largest collection in the world; but the noblest 
must be that of the Botanical gardens of Buitenzorg, 
Java, which, in 1860, boasted of 273 species, ‘all 
standing naked in the open air.’ 
It is only when the literature of the order is 
brought together systematically,that we appreciate the 
extent and the variety of palms. In the new Genera 
plantarum, Sir Joseph Hooker characterizes 132 gen- 
era of true palms, and indicates about 1,100 species. 
Our readers may like to know what palms are in- 
digenous to the United States, and what names they 
now bear. Without counting one or two tropical 
species which grow in southern Florida, and which 
are outlying Cuban and Bahaman species, we have 
two true palmettos, Sabal palmetto, and S. Adansoni; 
the blue palmetto, Rhapidophyllum hystrix of Wend- 
SCIENCE. 
629 
land; the saw palmetto, Serenoa serrulata of Hooker. 
This is the old Sabal serrulata, upon which Hooker 
has recently founded anew genus, dedicating it to our 
associate, Sereno Watson (Palmam qui meruit ferat), 
there being already a Watsonia in honor of an earlier 
botanist of this name. Finally we have, just be- 
yond our national borders, namely, on the islands off 
Lower California, a palm of a peculiar genus, insti- 
tuted by Mr. Sereno Watson, the Erythea edulis; and 
in southern California the elegant Washingtonia bi- 
lifera, with which Wendland has complimented our 
country by naming this palm in honor of its first pres- 
ident. The only other president so distinguished is 
Jefferson. Jeffersonia diphylla is one of our choicest 
spring flowers. 
THE DEARBORN OBSERVATORY. 
THE report of Prof. G. W. Hough, the director of 
the Dearborn observatory, to the board of directors 
of the Chicago astronomical society, exhibits an en- 
couraging state of activity in that establishment. 
The eighteen-inch equatorial and the Repsold meridi- 
an circle have been kept in excellent order and in 
constant use; though it does not appear, from the re- 
port, that this latter instrument has been employed 
in any service where a smaller and less adequately 
equipped instrument would not equally have sufficed. 
The objects specially studied with the great telescope 
were the great comet of 1882, difficult double stars, 
and the planet Jupiter, in addition to which a few 
miscellaneous observations were made. The comet- 
observations are of interest as throwing some light 
on the question of the breaking-up of this body into 
three separate and distinct fragments, and the testi- 
mony of so powerful a glass is of high importance. 
Professor Hough’s observations, from Oct. 5, 1882, to 
March 6, 1883, are all consistent with regard to the 
apparent separation of these three centres of conden- 
sation; but they were all the time connected by matter 
of less density, so that no complete separation took 
place between the parts of the head. 
Sixty-six new double stars were discovered during 
the year, most of which are difficult objects, and can 
be measured only when the seeing is good. Professor 
Hough estimates that not more than one observing 
night in three is suitable for such observations. In 
the search for D’ Arrest’s comet, six new nebulae were 
detected, three of which were found by Mr. Burn- 
ham. The companion to Sirius was measured on a 
goodly number of nights by both these observers. 
Professor Hough expects this object to be, in afew 
years, entirely beyond the reach of all telescopes ex- 
cept the largest ones, as the distance between the 
components (now nine seconds of arc) is diminishing 
about three-tenths of a second annually. 
The great red spot on the planet Jupiter, first 
noticed in 1878, and which has been, until the past 
year, of a reddish-brick color, has gradually grown 
paler, until, at the present time, it is barely visible. 
Professor Hough ventures the opinion that it cannot 
be seen much longer in any telescope. Its stability 
has been remarkable, not having changed very ma_ 
