EECEEATIVB SCIENCE. 



28a 



penny — a red-hot penny with, a little white- 

 Lot piece at its lower edge, standing out 

 against a dark-blue background ; only it is 

 evidently not a mere disc, but beautifully 

 rounded by sbading. 



" Such is its appearance with the naked 

 eye ; with the telescope its surface varies more 

 in tint than with the naked eye, and is not 

 of quite so bright a red as when thus viewed. 

 The redness continues to be most perceptible 

 at a distance from the shadow's southern 

 edge, and to be greatest about the region of 

 Endymion. The Hercynian mountains (north 

 of Grimaldus) are, however, of rather a bright 

 red, and Grimaldus shows well. Mare Cri- 

 sium and the western seas are wonderfully 

 distinct. Not a trace is to be seen of Aristar- 

 chus or Plato. 2h. 27m. — It is now nearly 

 the middle of the eclipse. The red colour is 

 very brilliant to t&e naked eye ; yet when the 

 moon is viewed through a pin-hole in paper 

 the red portion nearly disappears, and the 

 small bright piece looks wonderfully minute 

 and sharp. Through the same.pin-hole Jupi- 

 ter (which is truly splendid to-night) becomes 

 .no brighter than Castor." 



The planets and stars were indeed glori- 

 ous on that night ; Saturn and Begulus were 

 east of the Moon, and very near it, while 

 Jupiter and the conspicuous stars of Gemini 

 glittered at no great distance in the west. 

 They were in themselves most beautiful, and 

 with the red and white moon, and the dark 

 blue sky — a unique assemblage of the hues 

 of the tricolor — the efiect was picturesque 

 in no common degree,* while trees and moun- 

 tains were not wanting to complete the ter- 

 restrial landscape. 



After this, I noticed a progressive change 

 of tint in the moon. " 2h. 50m. — The moon 

 does not seem to the naked eye of so bright a 

 red as before ; and again I am reminded by 



* Any reader of Eeckeative Science, -wlio hap- 

 pens to be dexterous in the use of colour, may add 

 much to the effect of the figures by slightly tinting 

 them from the descriptions given in the text. 



its tint of red-hot copper, or rather copper 

 which has begun to cool. The whole of Gri- 

 maldus is now uncovered. Through the tele- 

 scope I notice a decided gray shade at the 

 lower part of the eclipsed portion, and the 

 various small craters give it a stippled effect, 

 like the old aqua- tint engravings. The upper 

 part is reddish, but two graceful bluish 

 curves, like horns, mark the form of the Her- 

 cynian mountains, and the bright region on 

 the other limb of the moon. These are visible 

 also to the naked eye." 



At 3h. 5m. the redness had almost disap- 

 peared; a very few minutes afterwards, no 

 trace of it remained, and ere long clouds 

 came on. I watched the moon, however, 

 occasionally gaining a glimpse of its disc, till 

 a quarter to four o'clock, when, for the last 

 time on that occasion, I saw it faintly appear- 

 ing through the clouds, nearly a full moon 

 again ; and then I took leave of it, feeling 

 amply repaid for iny vigil by the beautiful 

 spectacle which I had seen. 



Maet Waed. 

 Trimleston Souse, near Dublin. 



THE EIRST BUTTEEFLY. 



Will any two naturalists agree as to which 

 is indubitably the first butterfly — the first to 

 startle us by its sudden apparition as a dan- 

 cing dot in the yet inconstant sunbeams? 

 The Brimstone wiU flitter over a hedgerow 

 in January, so will the Painted Lady, the 

 Peacock's-eye, and the small Tortoiseshell ; 

 but the specimens that first appear are relicts 

 of the last year's brood, hatched late, huddled 

 in snug corners, and then wakened by a mo- 

 mentary burst of unseasonable heat. The 

 choice of priority lies between the Common 

 Cabbage and the Small White ; and, if we 

 were to cast lots, we should decide for the lat- 

 ter. And a right good and proper harbinger 

 of summer is it ; skipping, darting, zigzagging 

 over the garden, like Psyche herself, restless 

 for the beginning of joys which Jupiter pro- 

 mised should last for ever. H. 



