would, if collected, form in itself a goodly library. Cne of these most valuable reports forms the subject of the present notice, closely printed, teeming with information, and illustrated by a multitude of excellent woodcuts. The amount of sound biological teaching is very great, and put forward in a manner that renders it intelligible alike to the "scientist" and to those for whose benefit it is more particularly intended. The author notices all the insects (mostly in great detail) feeding on particular trees, such as oak, elm, hickory, willow, pine, &c., &c., without special reference, in the first instance, to the particular species of these trees. This is a good plan, for it is only occasionally that certain insects are attached particularly to certain species in a genus of trees: these are specially indicated under the larger headings. We have often found ourselves in a dilemma in attempting a notice of these American reports, and this condition is strikingly in force with regard to this one in particular. Almost without exception, they are sound and lasting additions to the scientific literature of entomology; this one is especially so. But then there is the economic side of the question to be considered, and that is the most difficult. Naturally every insect that is attached to a particular species of plant, by feeding upon it, may in a certain sense be said to be "injuricus to that plant. Thus, in this present Report, under "Willow" we find even the "Camberwell Beauty" (Vanessa antiopa) included in the list of enemies; but we are quite sure that no one (not even the author) seriously imagines that it (with myriads of other species mentioned) is an "injurious insect" from an economic point of view. Certain insects feed on certain plants, and will eat no other; if the plant is exterminated, the insect disappears, and to keep up the balance of nature, it is quite possible that if the insect were exterminated in the first instance, some more destructive enemy (or disease) might eventually attack the plant. But the greater part of the eneiries to trees commit their ravages by attacking the wood or bark, and here especially we think economic entomologists keep too much in the background the fact that many insects (and many of those here under consideration) act mainly the role of scavengers. Undoubtedly a leaf-feeder often attacks the most healthy trees, and as a rule it only becomes really injurious when present in extraordinary numbers; but with regard to what may be termed lignivorous insects, we strongly incline to refuse to see in the insect itself (in the majority of instances) the initial cause of the unhealthy condition; on the contrary we regard it as only stepping in to hasten decay commenced by causes quite unconnected with its presence. Cur author, apparently unconsciously, virtually acknowledges this in his suggestions of remedies with regard to a beetle infesting the spruce (p. 277), and also elsewhere, by recommending, above all, preventive measures, these consisting in destroying all dead and dying trees, in which the insects especially abound. An unhealthy condition of the tree is the most favourable for the development of the beetle; but we are not of those who suppose a prescience in the latter which induces it to attack healthy trees for the benefit of prospectively remote generations of its descen

dants.

We wish Dr. Packard had not gone out of his way to coin worse than useless "English" names, many of which must prove more difficult to the class for whose benefit they are intended than are the scientific ones. With this exception, we thank him heartily for having produced a most valuable report. R. MCLACHLAN The Law of Kosmic Order: An Investigation of the Physical Aspect of Time. By Robt. Brown, jun. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co.).

A SHORT while ago we gave an account of the origin of the zodiacal signs so far as recent Assyrian researches enable us to determine it. Mr. Robert Brown has now

published a little book on almost the same subject, the object of which is to trace the mythological concep ions to which the names given to the signs by the Accadians were due. He comes to the conclusion that the year was regarded by them as an extended nycthemeron, half the signs being diurnal or relating to the deities of day, and the other half being nocturnal, concerned with myths of the night. Early man thus recognised that there was cne and the same law of “Kosmic Order" pervading all conceptions of time. In the course of his investigation Mr. Brown draws upon Egyptian and Iranian sources, but his chief materials are necessarily derived from the monuments of ancient Babylonia. Unfortunately the progressive nature of Assyrian study often renders what was written on the subject a few years ago more or less obsolete, and hence it happens that some of the statements on which he relies have been corrected or modified by subsequent research. Thus the name of the second zodiacal sign, as has already been mentioned in NATURE, meant "the directing Bull" in Accadian rather than "the propitious Bull," as Mr. Brown gives it. It is true that the word had both significations, but the signification of "propitious" was a later and derivative one. The name of the seventh sign again was "illustrious mound," not 'illustrious altar," and seems to have referred to the story of the Tower of Babel, whose building was placed at the autumnal equinox, while the builder himself was called "the king of the illustrious mound." Such corrections, however, seldom, if ever, touch Mr. Brown's arguments or diminish the value of his interesting book. We can thoroughly recommend it to those who care to study a curious chapter in primitive astronomy.

Uganda and the Egyptian Sudan. By the Rev. C. T. Wilson, M.A., F.R.G.S., and R. W. Felkin, F.R.G.S. Two vols. (London: Sampson Low and Co., 1882.) THIS double narrative is one of great interest. Mr. Wilson was one of the Church Missionary Society's missionaries sent out to King Mtesa on account of the favourable report of Mr. Stanley with regard to the eagerness of the Uganda potentate for instruction. Uganda, our readers will remember, is a district on the north and north-west of Victoria Nyanza, visited long ago by Speke, when Mtesa was quite a youth. Mr. Wilson's stay extended over two years, 1877-79. During that time, he had excellent opportunities of becoming acquainted with Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza and the districts on its south shores. He reached his destination by travelling west and north from Zanzibar, and was favourably received by Mtesa. He had much intercourse with that monarch, and gives a very rational estimate of his character, not by any means so enthusiastic as that of Mr. Stanley. Mr. Wilson's notes of his journey contain many additions to our knowledge of the region he traversed. The most important part of his narrative is that which relates to the country and people of Uganda. His chapters on Life in Uganda, on Uganda and the Waganda, and on the government and language of the Waganda, are full of fresh and interesting information, and will be valued both by ethnologists and geologists. Mr. Wilson is a favourable type of the missionary, thoroughly practical, a good observer, and a hard worker. He collected many specimens of plants, a list of which is given in the appendix, with vocabularies, and meteorological and hypsometrical observations. Mr. Felkin reached Uganda by proceeding from Suakin to Berber on the Nile, and up that river to Uganda--the first time that the Victoria Nyanza had been reached by that route. he and Mr. Wilson returned to Suakin by making a circuit round by the sources of the Bahr-el-Arab, and across by Obeid to the Nile. They accompanied the ambassadors sent by Mtesa to this country. Mr. Felkin's notes on the hydrography and natural history, as well as on the social and political condition of the country

Both

traversed, are of much interest. The work is well supplied with good maps, and has a number of good and useful illustrations. It is well worth reading.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] Dr. Siemens' Solar Hypothesis

I HAVE been waiting for several weeks for answers to the following rather obvious objections to Dr. Siemens' Solar Hypothesis, but I have not seen them either asked by others or answered by Dr. Siemens.

1. How the interplanetary gases near the sun acquire a sufficient radial velocity to prevent their becoming a dense atmosphere round him?

2. Why enormous atmospheres have not long ago become attached to the planets, notably to the moon?

3. Why the earth has not long ago been deluged when a constant stream of aqueous vapour that would produce a rain of more than 30 inches per annum all over the earth must annually pass out past the earth in order to supply fuel to be dissociated by the heat that annually passes the earth?

4. Why we can see the stars although most of the solar radiations are absorbed within some reasonable distance of the sun? GEO. FRAS. FITZGERALD

40, Trinity College, Dublin, May 16

I HAVE the pleasure to reply to the very pertinent questions put by Prof. FitzGerald as follows:

1. The gases being for the most part hydrogen and hydrogen compounds have a low specific gravity as compared with the denser gases forming the permanent solar atmosphere. On flashing into flame in the photosphere, their specific gravity would be vastly diminished, thus giving rise to a certain rebound action which coupled with their acquired onward motion, and with the centrifugal impulse they receive by frictional contact with the lower atmosphere, constitutes them a surface stream flowing from the polar to the equatorial regions, and thence out into space. (Lest I should be misunderstood, allow me to add that I do not look upon centrifugal action as sufficing in any way to overcome solar gravitation.) Astronomers are in the habit of regarding each spheroid possessed of an atmosphere as rotating in vacuous space; under such circumstances the atmosphere must partake of the rotatory motion of the solid spheroid, and after having attained an increased depth at the equator, will assume a state of static equilibrium unless disturbed by external influences. No such statical equilibrium is pos ible, however, if we assume the same spheroid with its atmosphere, surrounded by an ocean of indefinite dimensions, consisting of ga eous matter not partaking of the rotation of the spheroid, although subject to its attractive influence. Equal masses will under those conditions be equally attracted both in the polar and equatorial direction, and the continued disturbance of equilibrium by rotatory motion must result in continuous outflow. Nor need this outflow be accomplished entirely at the expense of rotatory motion of the spheroid because the inflowing polar current when once established, will only have to be changed in direction by frictional action in order to convert it into the outflowing current.

2. Regarding the second question, I assume that the atmosphere of each spheroid in srace is precisely such as would result from its mass, and if this view is correct, the moon also must have an atmosphere, though of so attenuated a character as to be scarcely perceptible by means of optical instruments; for as Wollaston put it in his celebrated paper, read before the Royal Society in January 1822, "it would not be greater than that of our atmosphere is, where the earth attraction is equal to that of the moon at her surface, or about 5000 miles from the earth's surface." I am well aware that in assuming atmospheric air to be a perfectly elastic fluid, the atmospheric density would at a height of only 70 kilometers not exceed the 1-7000th part of atmospheric density, and would therefore at greater distances

become inappreciable; but we have evidence to show that Boyle and Mariotte's law holds good only within comparatively narrow limits, and there is other evidence referred to in my paper in favour of the supposition that such gases as are contained in meteorites are diffused through space in appreciable amounts, or the meteorites could not for millions of years have retained these gases, notwithstanding the action of diffusion into empty space.

3. The amount of vapour that would condense upon the earth under the conditions here assumed, would depend upon its mean temperature on the one hand, and on the vapour-density of the stellar atmosphere surrounding it on the other. Assuming the density of the stellar atmosphere, which, while surrounding the earth does not partake of its rotatory motion to be 1-10,000th part of atmospheric density, and saturated with aqueous vapour, the point of condensation would be according to Regnault -50° C., if the outer regions of our atmosphere should be at that tempera ture, and saturated with aqueous vapour, the two would be in diffusive balance; if they were at a lower temperature they would acquire, and if at a higher they would part with aqueous vapour to the surrounding medium.

4. It has long been held by astronomers that there are stars beyond our range of vision, which hypothesis would involve that of absorption of heat and light rays in stellar space; some rays are more easily absorbed than others; thus it appears to be the yellow rays which are most efficacious in the decomposition of carbonic acid and aqueous vapour in the vegetable cell. May not the same conditions prevail in space, and allow probably the rays of highest refrangibility to pass on to the greatest distance without being absorbed-I should say utilised-in doing chemical work? C. WM. SIEMENS

12, Queen Anne's Gate, S. W., May 22

Forculia Salvania (Hodgson)

A MOST valuable and interesting addition has recently been made to the Zoological Society's collection in Regent's Park, four-a male and three females-Pigmy Hogs (Porculia savania, of Hodgson) from the Doars of Bhotan. The extreme rarity and difficulty of procuring this animal makes its presence here of the greatest interest, and these individuals will be examined eagerly, not only by naturalists, but by many Indian travellers, sportsmen, and others, who have heard of, but never had the opportunity of seeing the pigmy hog. My attention was directed to it many years ago by the late Mr. Blyth, then in Calcutta, who on my first expedition to the Nepaul Terai, in 1855, requested me to endeavour to obtain a speci men-as far as I remember, neither Blyth nor Jerdon had seen it living-Hodgson, who described and named it, had heard of its existence from the Nepalese or other denizens of the Terai, or neighbouring localities, long before he obtained a specimen. I was unable to procure one, though I made repeated attempts to do so, and enlisted many influe tial friends in the search, but without success; very few appeared to know even of its existence, whilst many seemed to regard it as mythical. Occasionally I met with natives who said they had heard of it, but I began to fear that it might be extinct. The four fine specimens now in the Gardens prove that such is not the case, and will furni h opportunity of supplementing Hodgson's description of the ani mal, which is to be found in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, and in Jerdon's "Mammals of India."

of

These lively little pigs, weighing probably hardly as much as a hare, are most active and energetic; they resemble the ordinary pig in miniature, but probably may have some anatomical pecu liarity which will interest naturalists as regards affinity with the Peccaries. The specific designation Salva: ia, is from the Sal (Shorea Robusta), as the pig is, I believe, found in that part the Terai and along the sub-Himalayan tracts, where the Sal tree abounds, and among the long gra-s in which the little creatu e hides itself. It is much to be hoped that they will breed, and thus enable other zoological collections to be supplied with specimens of a most rare and interesting species.

Pseudo-Glacial Phenomena

J. FAYRER

I BEG to call the attention of geologists to the following facts:-On the north-east coast of Australia, at the end of Trinity Bay, about lat. 17° S., there are steep ranges of granite abutting on the sea-margin. Every rainy season (December, Ja uary, and February) immease quantities of the granite

become loosened from the upper part of the mountains, and fall in extensive landslips down the sides. These landslips or rockslips are so numerous, that in fine weather they are most conspicuous objects on the sides of the hills, and look like dry water courses. One of these rockslips I witnessed at Cape Grafton, from a distance of three miles. The noise was terrific, and the ground trembled as though from an earthquake. On examining the blocks of granite which had slipped to the bottom of the ravine, I found many of them with their sides grooved and scratched, and one fragment was as beautifully polished on one side as if it came from the hands of a lapidary, excepting, of course, the scratches and grooves. In the course of a few centuries, much of the range will be worn away, and its sides represented by an alluvial deposit mainly consisting of angular boulders of every size and shape, many of which will be polished, scratched, and grooved. There are very few geolologists who would not call it a glacial drift, even now, were not the cause so evidently before them. Will this help to explain

tho e so-called drifts, which, like this instance, are found far within the tropics? T. E. TENISON-WOODS

Union Club, Sydney, N.S. W., March 25

Variability of Number of Sepals, Petals, and Anthers in the Flowers of Myosurus minimus

IN my article on "Different Modes of Self-fertilisation where Visits of Insects are wanting" (NATURE, vol. x. p. 129), I gave a short account of the number of sepals, petals, and anthers in a hundred flowers of Myosurus minimus examined by myself. Some error must, however, have slipped into this account, the sum of the quoted flowers differing from a hundred. I have, therefore, lately repeated my examination and give here the results. In 200 flowers I now found 35 different proportions in the number of sepals, petals, and anthers. These were contained in-

In general, the number of sepals, petals, and anthers increases and decreases with the size of the flower, the, 12 first quoted flowers being exceedingly dwarfish ones.

It should further be considered that in combination with a cer ain number of sepals and petals a certain number of anthers seems to be the normal one, and from this normal (maximum) number of anthers, as to be seen under a, b, c, the numbers of flowers on the two opposite sides are constantly decreasing. Lippstadt, May 16 HERMANN MÜLLER

"A Dead Heat"

TELEGRAMS from Paris on Monday state that the "Prix du Jockey Club" had resulted in what is u-ually called a "dead heat." It is unnecessary for me to inform you, that there can be no such thing as a "dead heat." It is called so, I suppose, in consequence of a disagreement among the judges as to which horse first thrusts his nose beyond the winning-post. Are living judges any longer necessary to determine the results of a race? Five years ago I proposed to prove by indisputable evidence the winner of a trotting match which, in consequence of a dispute among the judges, had to be trotted again. By means of a single thread stretched across the track, and invisible to either horses or their riders, twenty

over

photographic cameras have been made to synchronously reerd positions impossible for the eye to recognise. With the aid of photography, the astronomer, the pathologist, the chemist, and the anatomist are enabled to pursue the most complex investigations with absolute confidence in the truth it reveals; why should those interested in trials of speed not avail thenselves of the same resources of science? I venture to predict, in the near future that no race of any importance will be undertaken without the assistance of photography to determine the winner of what might otherwise be a so-called "dead heat." 449, Strand, W.C., May 23 EDWARD MUYBRIDGE

Aurora Borealis

THE auroral display mentioned by your two correspondents was particularly brilliant at Oldham on the evening of the 14th inst., at 11.10. I observed at 11.15 one very fine streamer reaching quite to the Pole Star; it was of a ruddy hue, dull, and changing to purple. The horizon was cloudy, the cloud being fringed with white light, changing to rose colour. The constellation Cassiopea was at times covered with a mass of light, from whence the streamer arose, lighting up the whole of the northern sky. W. PULLINGER Oldham

Bright Meteors

1882, May 16, 11h. om. G.M.T. Meteor many times brighter than Venus; green, then white; began of second magnitude, 5° above main cluster of Coma; passed 14° above Iota Urs. Maj., where it changed colour suddenly; ended, of second magnitude, 5 left of Beta Auriga. Duration 8 seconds, may have been 10. No streak. Observed from the University Observatory. A few minutes later another was seen describing very nearly the same path. G. L. TUPMAN

Oxford

Curious Formation of Ice

In your issue of November 24, 1881 (vol. xxv. p. 78) Mr. J. F. Duthie described small wafer-like, rather funnel-shaped pieces of ice which he noticed in October, on the slopes of the Himalayas, and asked whether such forms of ice had been observed elsewhere.

On November 30, 1881, I observed, at a height of about 7000 feet, near the hill station of Chakrata, on the outer Himalayas, ice crystals which were grouped in bundles about one inch long and one inch in diameter. The bundles consisted of prisms up to a quarter of an inch d ameter, and looked at from the side the long parallel prismatic faces, and the short rectangular outlines of the ends of the prisms suggested rather the orthorhombic system of crystallisation. On looking straight at the end of the crystals, it was, however, seen that all the prisms were hexagonal, and that they ended in hollow hexagonal pyramids, thus bringing out clearly the hexagonal system of crystallisation to which ice belongs.

The hollow hexagonal pyramids showed further development in other portions of the hoar frost, and there seems very little doubt that what Mr. Duthie describes were accumulations of small crystals originally grouped in the shape of hexagonal hollow pyramids, but more or less expanded and rounded off.

I may here mention another interesting occurrence of crystals which I had the opportunity of noticing at the salt works in Che-hire. During slow evaporation of brine in a steam-heated reservoir, crystals of salt formed at the surface in the shape of hollow hexagon pyramids. This is easily explained. Whilst the ordinary well-known hollow salt pyramids with square base form, by the gradual sinking and growth of a cubical nucleus which floats with one pair of faces horizontally placed, these exceptional hexagonal pyramides form from an original cube which floats on the water with a solid angle as its lowest point. The six lateral edges are the beginning of the hexagonal pyramids. H. WARTH

Dehra Dun, N.W. Provinces, East India, April

The Existence of a Voice in Lizards THE following may perhaps be of some interest in connection with the letter of Prof. Th. Eimer (vol. xxvi. p. 29). One evening as I sat in the verandah of my house in Madras, my attention was called by a peculiar cry, and on looking

up I saw that it was being made by a small lizard, apparently in a state of great terror at a snake which was uncoiling itself from the rafters close to it. I cannot say what the species of the lizard was, but it was one of those so abundant on the walls of Indian houses; it was one of two that appeared every evening, when the lamp was brought out into the verandah, and feasted on the moths attracted by the light. C. MICHIE SMITH

20, Duke Street, Edinburgh, May 5

THE ECLIPSE EXPEDITION

HE Daily News of Tuesday publishes the following THE communication from its special correspondent with the English Eclipse Expedition:

On the Nile, between Siout and Sohag, May 6 The astronomers have now nearly reached their destination if all goes well, but it is by no means certain that everything will, for the Nile has never been known to be so low, and we have already been aground many times. To-morrow morning will see them and their instruments landed after their last water journey. The arrangements made by the Egyptian Government and by His Highness the Khedive himself, who takes the liveliest personal interest in the work, have been simply perfect. Everything seems to have been foreseen, every possible cause of delay obviated, and everything that could conduce in any way either to the comfort of the observers or the success of the observations provided. One officer of the Egyptian Government or another has been in constant attendance upon the expedition since they landed at Suez, and any indication of a desire that a certain course of action should be taken has been at once attended to. There is no shutting one's eyes to the fact, that there are many men occupying high positions in this wonderful country, through which we are now journeying, who take the keenest interest in scientific progress, and who are more than anxious, that Egypt should take her place among the more highly civilised nations, among whom science is cultivated to a greater or less extent; and there can be little doubt, that the efforts now being made to educate the people will in time bear more fruit of this soil. It is quite apropos to this train of thought to mention, that the fact that the admirably equipped observatory of Cairo will count for very little among the proposed observations is keenly felt. It must not, however, be imagined that because the metropolitan observatory counts for so little, Egypt possesses no astronomers. mentioned in a former letter that it was hoped that Ismatt Effendi, a member of the Khedive's household, might be attached to the expedition. When the expedition reached Suez and the Kaisar-i-Hind steamed into the harbour, it was easy to see that something unusual was going on there. The Khedive had not only sent Ismatt Effendi to receive the expedition, but had sent orders to the Governor of Suez to welcome it in his name. Nor was this all. A special train had been provided for the instruments and observers, and every precaution taken for safe handling and safe custody of the former. In the morning the Governor of Suez speeded the parting guests, who were accompanied by M. Ismatt, and this gentleman soon showed how much he had profited by the long training he has received in the observatories of Paris and Washington, and it was soon acknowledged that in him the expedition not only found a most useful and agreeable companion, but a collaborator of the highest value.

I

On arrival at Cairo the party found General Stone, chief of the staff, accompanied by Moktah Bey, on the platform to welcome them. Of the former, it may be said that his influence for good on the higher education in Egypt and on the officers who have served under him is freely acknowledged. He has lost none of the enthusiastic love of truth for its own sake, and of science for the sake of the world, which characterises so many of the best of his countrymen; and many of his remarks touching his

conception of the duty incumbent on the Government of Egypt, in aiding a work of international aim, strongly reminded me of General Sheridan's thoughts and words when he received at Washington one of the English observers of the eclipse of 1878. Moktah Bey, who has been detailed to accompany the expedition, is an officer who has greatly distinguished himself by his travels in the Soudan. He is not only an admirable administrator, but a capital linguist, while his love of work in the Soudan and in Upper Egypt in triangulation, determining latitudes blish, meteorological observatories, nileometers, and the and longitudes, and establishing, or endeavouring to estalike, render him also a valuable scientific ally.

General Stone, on the arrival of the instruments at Cairo, cut a Gordian knot by at once ordering the car containing them to be ferried across the Nile. There is no railway bridge over the Nile at Cairo, so that considerable time was saved and risk avoided by this measure. In fact it may be said that not only were the cases containing the instruments untouched from Suez to Siout, but that they were actually sealed up all this time. There was not much time to give to the strange sights and old memories of Cairo; even the Pyramids have remained unvisited so far, for after resting one night and spending part of the next day in official visits, the party was off again yesterday and travelled during the night down to Shout, the most southerly railway station in Egypt, and about 70 miles north of the point where the eclipse line crosses the Nile. At Siout, whither extra camels and porters had been summoned by telegraph, the sight at sunrise this morning was strange beyond all description, or at all events beyond the descriptive powers of your present correspondent. The telescopes to be used on the present occasion are of very great weight, and although they have been divided into as many separate pieces as possible, some of the cases are still very heavy, taxing the powers both of men and camels to the utmost. The camels, which were made to kneel down so soon as the cases had been got out of the railway car, groaned as they rose with such an unaccustomed weight; and giant Arabs, goodnatured sons of Hercules, did the rest at the boat side. But here again a special arrangement was necessary. The Nile is so low and the steamer was already so crowded that the instruments were placed in a special boat taken in tow by the steamer. Events have shown that this precaution was by no means an improper one, for during the last hour and a half we have been firmly aground, and it does not seem as if all the shouting of the motley crew, or any manoeuvring of the engine is going to get us off again. While these attempts, which seem born of confusion, are wearing themselves out, it will be as well to say a word about the final arrangements, so far as they are known to us, before we actually arrive at the station.

There are three expeditions in Egypt for observing the eclipse-a French, an English, and an Italian one. As there is so little choice of station, his Highness the Khedive has sent forward a steamer to Sohag, the point at which the eclipse track crosses the Nile, and has invited the various expeditions to use this as a point d'appui and floating hotel wherever their actual place of observation may be. Prof. Tacchini forms part of the Italian party, and MM. Thollon and Trépied of the French one. The latter have gone on ahead, and it is thought that their instruments are already up and adjusted, while the Italian party follows us on Monday. It is believed that the work of both of these parties will be chiefly spectroscopic. As the exposure of Capt. Abney's plates forms an important part of the English plans, it is intended to take special precaution for securing the photographic rooms and tent from dirt. With the same object in view covers have been prepared for the telescopes, which closely fit them and can be kept, it is fondly hoped, sand-tight. This brings me to say a word about the khamseen. The season this year