412 Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of London : [April 



face thickly barrel with transverse lines of dark brown, on a dusky 

 white ground ; and a tail of sixteen or eighteen, or very rarely twenty 

 feathers. 



Mr. Hodgson describes, with the greatest minuteness, each of these 

 birds, and adverts with the fullest detail to their several habits and dis- 

 tinguishing peculiarities, as well of manners and of seasons as of form 

 and plumage.— Ibid, No. 52. 



Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society of London. — Sir 

 J. Herschel states, that he has nearly gone over the whole south 

 circumpolar region, to 60° from the pole ; the observations of which are 

 in the course of arrangement. He is somewhat surprised at the extra- 

 ordinary paucity of close double stars, which cannot arise from want of 

 power in the telescope, or from the nature of the climate : for he con- 

 siders his mirrors as perfect as it is possible to make them ; and he re- 

 presents the beauty and tranquility of the climate to be such, that the 

 stars are reduced to all but mathematical points, and thus allow of their 

 being viewed like objects under a microscope. But although the num- 

 ber of double stars is so small, considering the richness of the southern 

 heavens in stars, yet he represents <ie nebula as very copious ; and has 

 accordingly collected a numerous list, which will doubtless, in due time, 

 be laid before the public. 



Extract of a Letter from Captain Smyth to the President, con- 

 taining the translation of a notice from M. Cacciatore : 



" One important thing I must communicate to you. In the month of 

 May I was observing the stars that have proper motion ; a labour that 

 has employed me several years. Near the 17th star, 12th hour, of Piaz- 

 zi's Catalogue, I saw another, also of the 7-8th magnitude, and noted 

 the approximate distance between them. The weather not having per- 

 mitted me to observe on the two following nights, it was not till the 

 third night that I saw it again, when it had advanced a good deal, hav- 

 ing gone further to the eastward and towards the equator. But clouds 

 obliged me to trust to the following night. Then, up to the end of May, 

 the weather was horrible ; it seemed in Palermo as if winter had re- 

 turned : heavy rains and impetuous winds succeeded each other, so as 

 to leave no opportunity of attempting anything. When at last the wea- 

 ther permitted observations at the end of a fortnight, the star was al- 

 ready in the evening twilight, and all my attempts to recover it were 

 fruitless : stars of that magnitude being no longer visible. Meanwhile 

 the estimated movement, in three days, was 10'' in AR, and about a 

 minute, or rather less, towards the north. So slow a motion would 

 make me suspect the situation to be beyond Uranus, I was exceed- 

 ingly grieved at not being able to follow up so important an exami- 

 nation." —Ib id. 



