XATTRAL HISTORY OVRRIKS 
233 
to the Merrivale antiquities upon Dartmoor, and I should be glad to be en- 
lightened by some Selbornians as to the probable age and other interesting data 
connected with these relics of the past. I paid a visit to them during the past 
summer and was much impressed. Besides the very fine examples of a “ stone- 
avenue ’’ and the “ stone-circles,” there are also “ hut-circles ” and a “ kistvaen ” 
or ancient tomb contained in this group. 
West Norwood. .Stanley Ewart Evens. 
[The Dartmoor megaliths belong to the Bronze Age. — E d. N.N.'\ 
688. “ Moreeambe Bay.” — R. C. Lowther’s statement (p. 207) that the 
word Moreeambe “ is of Cymric origin and means the sea,” is scarcely satisfying. 
M 6 y\% the Cymric word for “sea,” but what of the “ cambe”? Bartholomew’s 
Gazetteer gives “ Mawr cwm ” (pron : niawr to rhyme with flour and cwrn, 
as coom, with the 00 short, as in foot), meaning “ great hollow or bay,” in 
allusion to the deep inlet. May I ask for Mr. Lowther’s authority for deriving 
Kent (rivet) from a Cymric word meaning “ clear,” because, so far as I can trace, 
there is no such Cymric word at present in use with that meaning, or anything 
like it ; all the words for clear, clean, transparent, &c. , are totally different. 
C. Nicholson. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
157 . Flight of Sparrow-Hawk.— A caged sparrow-hawk (young male) 
for sale in a bird-fancier’s (!) was purchased, liberated on the roof of a large 
building in an open situation in the heart of this city, and flew away. Does this 
species fly high? If so, with its keen vision, would it be able to find and reach 
suburban trees and fields 3 or 4 miles distant through a smoky atmosphere and 
a November haze ? 
Liverpool. C. 
ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR DECEMBER, 1908. 
Venus is a brilliant morning star, rising in the E.S.E. at 4.25 a.m. on the 2nd, 
and 5.46 a.m. on the 30th. She is due south between 9.30 and to a.m. during 
the month. 
Mars is in Libra and rises in the E..S.E. in the early morning. The planet 
is very near Alpha Librae, the most southern of the two conspicuous stars in the 
Balance, on December 16. At the end of the year Mars is about 3J deg. S.S.W. 
of Gamma LibrK. In conjunction with the moon on December 20 at 1.56 a.m. 
yupiter 'xs in Leo near Chi Leonis, rising on the 2nd at 11.32 p.m., and is due 
south at 6.17 a.m., and S. at 4.32 a.m. on the 30th. The interesting marking 
known as the Great Red Spot is central on the planet’s disc on the 19th at 
10.56 p.m., and on the 29th at 9.12 p.m. Ganymede (Satellite III.) transits 
Jupiter’s disc on December 31 at 9.42 p.m., egress at 1.4 a.m. on January i. 
Four satellites wdll be on the \V. side of Jupiter on the morning of the 26th, and 
on the E. side on the 2nd, i6th, and 30th. Only one satellite is visible between 
11.33 P-ni. on December 20 and 1.42 a.m. on the 21st. 
Saturn is a fairly conspicuous evening star below the Great Square of Pegasus. 
The rings are now slightly open. In conjunction with the moon on the 29th at 
8.14 p.m. (.Saturn 3 deg. 4 min. N.). 
Variable Star Algol will be at minimum on December 1 1 at 8.59 p.m., 
December 14 at 5.47 p.m., and December 31 at 10.41 p.m. 
Penttmbral Eclipse of the moon on December 7, commencing at 7 - 3 ^ p.m. , 
middle of eclipse at 9.55 p.m., and end at 12.12 a.m. 
Irene PL Toye Warner. 
