502 Haloes, Parhelia, Paraselence, and Meteors, 



tainty as by a daily appeal to the barometer ; upon which in- 

 strument I purpose offering a few remarks in a future paper. 



July 1., a lunar halo appeared, a little before 10 p.m., 

 measuring nearly 44° in diameter, on a passing bed of attenu- 

 ated cirrocumulus clouds, moving slowly from east to west : 

 the halo exhibited four prismatic colours very distinctly. This 

 beautiful phenomenon was followed by gentle rain at about 

 10 a.m. on the 2d. The barometrical change did not occur 

 till past 11 p.m., or after the halo had been visible about 1J 

 hour. 



July 4., another lunar halo became visible about 10 p.m., 

 displaying lively prismatic colours. At half past 10, two 

 faint paraselenae appeared, of the same altitude as the moon, 

 and about 22° from the centre of her disk. The barometer 

 at this stage of halo exhibited no change. The paraselenae 

 were, on their first appearance, faint and irregularly shaped : 

 in about four minutes, they became more distinct and appeared 

 circular, faintly exhibiting the prismatic colours on that side 

 only next the moon : they continued visible about 10 minutes. 

 On the disappearing of the mock moons, the barometer gave 

 the first indication of change. These phenomena were fol- 

 lowed by gentle rain at 5 a.m. on the 5th. Several electrical 

 meteors, or " shooting stars," appeared during the halo. 



That these phenomena are worthy of notice, the following 

 facts will illustrate. On the 2d, Bedfordshire (especially 

 about Leighton Buzzard), and the neighbouring districts, 

 were visited by a violent thunder storm and much rain. On 

 the 7th, much heavy rain fell in the northern counties, espe- 

 cially in Cumberland ; the river Eden overflowed its banks, 

 and did much damage both to grass and corn. 



July 27., a beautiful solar halo appeared about 7 a.m. 

 rich in prismatic colours : it was formed on a slowly rising 

 mass of vapour ; it was about 45° in diameter, and continued 

 visible about forty minutes ; there was also a splendid corona 

 round the sun during the time. At a quarter past 7, a faint 

 parhelion appeared, of the same altitude as the sun, on the 

 s.s.e. point of a small cirrus cloud that was passing behind 

 the vapour. As soon as this began to disappear, another 

 made its appearance on the opposite side of the halo, of the 

 same altitude, and of the apparent size of the sun's disk : this 

 was formed on a patch of plumose cirrus ; but no prismatic 

 colours were exhibited in either parhelion. On the total 

 disappearance of the halo, the barometer indicated no change. 

 About four hours after the phenomenon had disappeared, the 

 barometer began to sink, notwithstanding the day was cloud- 



