TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 29 
same moment at the different stations ; and it thus appears that the rotatory move- 
ment of the air, which constitutes a cyclone, is by no means confined to the more 
violent currents, but may be traced even in the gentlest breeze. The author con- 
cluded with some remarks on the physical characters of these aérial movements ; 
and he showed in what manner the results of observation should be combined by 
the method of least squares, so as to deduce the direction and velocity of the centre 
of the vortex. 
Monthly Amount of Rain from the Register, Armagh Observatory. 

Days on! sum of 
Anno,} Jan. | Feb. | Mar.| Apr. | May. |June.| July.| Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. bia in. 
rain fell. 







inch, | inch. | inch.| inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. | inch. 
1840. | 4°935 | 2*751 | 0°463 | 0°760 | 3°025 | 2°501 | 3°154 | 2°656 | 2°424 | 1°256 | 3°448 | 2°818 161 | 30°192 
1841, | 2°004 | 2°265 | 3°649 | 1°699 | 1°549 | 2°597 | 2-353 | 2°896 | 2*314 | 4-001 | 37024 | 3°503 196 | 31°858 
1842. | 2°794 | 2:726 | 4-226 | 0-032 | 4:076 | 2°419 | 3-009 | 2°976 | 2°850 | 1:977 | 4*706 | 3:005 191 | 34°800 
1843. | 2°245 | 1:269 | 1-930 | 2929 | 3-944 | 3°344 | 4°160 | 3°841 | 1°223 | 3°995 | 3°188 | 2°243 183 | 34°311 
1844, | 2°636 | 3°239 | 2°888 | 1°669 | 0°042 | 4°472 | 2:360 | 3°067 | 2°226 | 4°351 | 3:002 | 0°532 180 | 30°487 
1845. | 4°985 | 1°326 | 1°622 | 3°156 | 0°391 | 5°566 | 3°628 | 1°877 | 2829 | 4°841 | 4°755 | 5°256 189 | 41°232 
1846. | 4°579 | 1°864 | 3°793 | 2:848 | 1°684 | 2°104 | 3°854 | 3°551 | 3°353 | 4-931 | 3°297 | 1°632 186 | 37°967 
_| 1847. | 3°027 | 1°974 | 1°461 | 3°147 | 2°482 | 1°912 | 1:083 | 1°096 | 2°665 | 3°778 | 3°775 | 5°856| 210 | 32°258 
1848. | 1°867 | 6°754 | 3°769 | 3°320 | 1-239 | 2°733 | 3°920 | 3-476 | 2°379 | 3°147 | 3°698 | 3°011 221 | 39'313 
1849. | 6°302 | 2°507 | 1°483 | 2°091 | 3°004 | 0°870 | 3°977 | 2°81 | 3°554 | 4°387 | 2°726 | 3°256| 230 | 37°048 
1850. | 4°083 | 5°935 | 1°235 | 3°507 | 2°414 | 2°371 | 3°142 | 2°720 | 2°731 | 2°240 | 3:214 | 2°462| 238 | 35°134 
1851. | 5°528 | 2°827 | 2°547 | 1°538 | 1°915 | 3°452 | 3°655 | 2°809 | 2°438 | 2°898 | 1°405 | 2°113 233 | 33°125 














Mean, | 3-749 | 2879 | 2-492 | 2-225 | 2*230 | 2*862 | 3191 | 2°821 | 2580] 3°484 | 3°353 | 2°974 | 
















On the Fata Morgana of Ireland. By Mr. M‘Faruanp. 
These singular illusions are termed in the Irish language Duna Feadhreagh, or 
Fairy Castles. As proof that the Morgana had appeared as an island, either resting 
or floating on the sea prior to 1185, Mr. M‘Farland read a passage from the topo- 
graphical history of that country, by Giraldus Cambrensis (lib. ii. c. 12). He then 
referred to the “‘ Miranda loca, que vidit St. Brandanus in Oceano,”’ to which Usher 
alludes in his ‘ De Hibernia’ (p. 813), and quoted an unpublished History of Ire- 
land, composed about 1636 (and now remaining in MS. in the Library of the 
Royal Irish Academy at Dublin), that speaks of an “ Iland which lyeth far att sea, 
on the west of Connaught, and sometimes is perceived by the inhabitants of the 
Owles and Iris; also from St. Helen Head, beyond the haven of Calbeggs (Killibegs, 
Donegal). Likewise, severall seamen have discovered it att sea as they have sailed 
on the western coasts of Ireland.’”? Mr. M‘Farland also read from the Chronogra- 
phical Description of Connaught, written in 1684, by Roderick O‘Flagherty, and 
published by the Irish Archeological Society, in which it is recorded (p. 68), that, 
“From the Isles of Arran and the West continent, often appears visible that en- 
chanted island, called O’Branil, and in Irish Beg-ara, or the Sessen Arran, set down 
in cards of navigation. * * There is, westward of Arran, in sight of the next conti- 
nent, Skerde, a wild island of huge rocks ; these sometimes appear to be a great city 
far off, full of houses, castles, towers, and chimneys ; sometimes full of blazing flames, 
smoke, and people running to and fro. Another day you would see nothing but a 
number of ships, with their sailes and riggings; then so many great stakes or reekes 
of corn and turf.”’ Mr. M‘Farland next cited the ‘ History of the Parish of Ramoan 
(Ballycastle),’ by the Rev. Wm. Conolly (1812), in which it is stated, that the 
author had received a minute description of the Fata Morgana from several persons 
who saw it, on different summer evenings, along the shore of the Giant’s Causeway ; 
shadows resembling castles, ruins and tall spires darted rapidly across the surface of 
the sea, which were instantly lengthened into considerable height ; they moved to the 
eastern part of the horizon, and at sunset totally disappeared. This work makes 
mention of an earlier one (of 1748), by a gentleman who resided near the Causeway, 
and which presented a long account of an enchanted island, annually seen floating 
along the coast of Antrim. Reference was afterwards made to ‘ Plumptree’s Nar- 
rative’ (of 1817), as showing that, at Rathlin—a considerable island opposite to 
Ballycastle—a belief then prevailed, that a green island rose every seventh year, out 
