nights the air has been full of haze, generally, so that I have not been able to see the fainter nebulosity about the head.

Observations were secured on the 9th and 10th also,

on the

latter date with difficulty, owing to thick haze; and from these and the one of the 8th Professor HUSSEY and I deduce the following system of parabolic elements:—

An ephemeris from these elements shows the comet to be rapidly receding from both the Earth and Sun, and consequently growing fainter. C. D. PERRINE.

MT. HAMILTON, December 14, 1896.

ASTRONOMISCHE GESELLSCHAFT ZONE -9° 50′ to 14° 10′.

This zone was observed with the meridian-circle of Harvard College Observatory during the years 1888-1892. The observations have since been reduced, and the apparent place resulting from each observation can now be furnished. In most cases, the mean place has also been computed. The work of revision by additional observations of stars, accidentally omitted or unsatisfactorily observed, is now in progress, and will probably be completed during the year 1897. ARTHUR SEARLE.

RELIEF-MAP OF THE LICK OBSERVATORY RESERVATION (2600 ACRES).

I

45000

By the kindness of Mr. HENRY GANNETT, Chief of the Topographical Bureau of the U. S. Geological Survey, a survey was made of the region about Mt. Hamilton during the summer of 1895. A map on the scale of with contours at intervals of fifty feet has been prepared. In order to exhibit the data in a more vivid way, Mr. GEORGE A. MERRILL, Principal of the California School of Mechanic Arts (the trade-school founded by Mr. LICK in San Francisco), has kindly undertaken to pre

pare a relief-model of the reservation on a scale of 500 feet to the inch. This model will be made by the pupils of the Lick School. When it is finished copies will be deposited at Berkeley, Mt. Hamilton, and San Francisco. In making plans for the establishment of a State Forestry Station on the reservation, for improvement of the water-supply, for the fencing of the land, for new roads, etc., etc., this model will be of much use. If the reservation is ever taken by the State as a Park (which is greatly to be hoped), such a model will be indispensable. The thanks of the Observatory are returned to Messrs. GANNETT and MERRILL for their valued co-operation in our plans.

January 1, 1897.

EDWARD S. HOLDEN.

METEORS (NOVEMBER 15, 1896.)

Mrs. F. K. UPHAM, National Soldiers' Home, Los Angeles County, a member of the Society, reports having counted nineteen meteors between four and five o'clock on the morning of November 15, 1896, the greater number of which descended from northwest of the zenith. Two of these were very brilliant, but none were visible for more than thirty degrees of their path. On August 25, 1896, at 7:47 o'clock, an unusually brilliant near the eastern horizon, from whence it passed over the zenith, disappearing five degrees to the west. Its motion was very slow, and it left a bright train.

meteor was seen

OBSERVATION OF THE LEONID METEORS.

Mr. WILLIAM YATES, a member of the Astronomical Section of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, observed the Leonids on the morning of November 14, 1896, from his residence in Los Angeles. From 4 to 5:30 A. M. he counted seventeen meteors, of which all but one were true Leonids. One of the latter left a train, which remained visible between four and five minutes.

NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

The Lick Observatory publishes for distribution "A Brief Account of the Lick Observatory of the University of California,' 8vo, (1895), 29 pages and 15 plates. A copy will be sent to any member of the Society who signifies his desires to have it. EDWARD S. HOLDEN.

MT. HAMILTON, January, 1897.

THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JANUARY, 1897.

On photographing the Sun with the forty-foot photoheliograph, January 5th, after two or three days of cloudy weather, I found an unusually large spot well-started on its journey across the disc. It could have been seen a day or two previously with suitable weather, and had undoubtedly been seen elsewhere. Occurring near a time of spot-minimum, it was of all the greater interest. I was enabled to photograph it every day from the 5th to the 11th inclusive, and on the 14th and 15th; on the latter date just as it was disappearing at the western limb. The " seeing" on January 5th was so bad that the photographs taken were very poor; those secured on the following days were much better. Figure 1 shows one of the photographs obtained on the 6th, and Figure 2 one obtained on the 8th, the spot having meanwhile changed considerably in form. The small, isolated companion-spot retained its shape with curious persistence. The extreme length of the nucleus of the principal spot is about 35,000 miles; the length over all of the great spot and its long attendant train of bits of penumbral matter, about 130,000 miles. The first, second, third, and fifth figures are enlarged three diameters from photoheliograph negatives, and have a scale of approximately 64,000 miles to the inch.

January 14th, the spot presented a most interesting appearance as it approached the western limb. Figures 3 and 4 are from negatives taken on that date. Extending easterly from the spot is a fine cluster of faculæ.

Figure 4 is a full-size reproduction of a negative by Mr. PERRINE and myself, using the photographic correcting-lens of the thirty-six-inch equatorial, a rapid shutter made especially for this work and presented to the observatory by Dr. A. B. THAW, and a supplementary lens for enlarging directly, giving a scale about eight times as large as that of the focal image. The negative from which this picture was made, is one of the best results yet obtained with this instrumental outfit. Unluckily the air was very unsteady, as is shown by the edge of the Sun and the different portions of the spot.

Figure 5 was photographed on the morning of January 15th, as the spot was on the very edge of the Sun's disc. In the original negative a faint trace of the nucleus can be seen in the midst of the penumbra. The appearance of indentation is inter