4 Rev. William Scoresby on the 
an-inch to an inch-and-a-half. Generally, these columnar 
fascicule were, to appearance, so/éd, but some were obviously 
hollow; and one specimen more particularly (17), was quite 
of a hollow prismatic, or honeycomb, formation. 
A not unfrequent variety in the form was that of a taper- 
ing or pointed needle, of which several examples are given 
in the plate. Another variety, often presenting singularly 
beautiful architectural forms, was that of a curvilinear prism, 
of which examples occur in figures 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 
and 18. All these were usually fransparenz, and cast more 
into separate prisms than clustered. Fig. 11, however, was 
an exception, which was a clustered column, about the sixth 
of an inch thick, opaque, and almost opalescent in character 
and colour. Some, of the arch-like form, and series of 
arches, appeared to be perfectly symmetrical, especially the 
clustered arches in fig. 9, and the single staple-form of 
Fig. 12. 
The dark rough portion of the figures at the base repre- 
sents, rudely, the frozen platform of earthy or fine gravelly 
substance to which the crystals were attached, and out of 
which they seemed to have sprung. The corresponding ap- 
pearance, at the summits of many of the columnar fascicule, 
represents minute portions of earth or gravel which had been 
thrust upward, and permanently sustained, by the growth of 
the icy crystal. 
Most usually the columnar fascicule. were detached, of 
which one of the most ordinary examples is represented in 
fig. 1. Other instances, in which the columns were more 
widely separated, are shewn in the figures 8, 13, 15, We. 
Of crystals acuminated to a point, examples appear in Nos. 
5,14,16,&e. Fig. 22 isa rude and miniature representation 
of a remarkable portion of the surface of the carriage-drive, 
in which various parallel and curvilinear ridges occurred, the 
dark grooved lines representing the unraised portions of the 
surface. The width of these ridges might be about four inches. 
The examination of these manifold configurations was at- 
tended with singular interest, from the novelty, variety, and 
suprising beauty, of many of the incidental portions. The 
general columnar structure, combined out of clustered needles 
i i 
