The year 1954–1955 has been of special interest for its continued low solar and geomagnetic activity, facilitating certain investigations of interrelated phenomena. The Zurich monthly mean sunspot number reached a low of 0.2 in January and again in June 1954. With the new solar cycle, as indicated by the occurrence of spots at higher latitudes, sunspot numbers have been increasing, attaining a provisional value of 20.8 for February 1955. The suggestion is here made to observatories providing sunspot counts that separate sunspot numbers be issued for the old and the new cycle during the interval of overlap. This might afford a better basis for correlation with certain terrestrial phenomena.