m the Vapours of the Almofpbere. 347 



which at the fame time paficd apparently through the middle 

 of the moon, and its centre lay to the eaiiward in the zenith 

 of the obferver near Capellu in Auriga. The extent of this large 

 circular ring, the apparent thicknefs of which was fcarcely 

 equal to the half of the moon's diameter, covered about the 

 following places of the heavens : The band of the FiOi, ihe 

 head of Andromeda, a part of Frederick's Glory and iheDra- . 

 gon; the feet of the Lefler Bear, Alioth in the tail of the 

 Great Bear, the Small Lion, and the neck of the Large Lion, 

 fo that Keguhis ftood about two or three of the moon's dia- 

 meters without the circle. It then proceeded between the 

 Crab and the Water Serpent, above the Unicom, under 

 Orion's belt, above the 13randenburgh-Sceptre, Eridanus,. 

 George's Harp, and the Whale's Back, to the band of the 

 Fifli. The ellipfe extended, according to us greater diameter, 

 from the ftar to the northern arm of Andromeda, to the. 

 Itar T in the Whale, and then ran eaft above the tail of Aries, 

 lo that Mars was included by it near S" of that conftellation : 

 on the weft fide it extended nearly to the equinoctial colure; 

 on the fouthern and northern edges the elliplis appeared to 

 be double, and fometlmes triple. There were feen here pale 

 Ihining rings in pair?, one pair of which had a greater tranf- 

 veri'e axis, aad the other a fmaller, than the principal ellipfis. 

 The latter was the cafe, in particular, towards the end of the 

 phasnomenon. It fomelimes appeared as if the two exterior 

 rings formed a particular ellipfis, which was concentric with 

 the principal one, but which had a fmaller conjugate axis, 

 and interfeded the bright, luminous, elliptical ring in four 

 places. Where the latter was touched by the circular ring 

 there appeared two ftriking parafelena, the northern one of 

 which, about eleven o'clock, cxliihited a few faint prilmatic 

 colours; but the fouthern one did not difperie the light in the 

 fame manner, onlv that at its circumtercnce it had a fome- 

 what velluwilh while appearance. The points where the 

 falie efliplis interfedtcd the large circular ring, did not exhibit 

 the fmalled appearance of prilmatic rcfraftion. The proper 

 elliptical ring from the moon towards the north-welt was 

 verv ill defined, and fcarcely uninterrupted; and this was 

 I'le cale alio with the large ring towards the neighbourhood 

 of the Unicorn, where there were fewer vapours, and where 

 the Iky towards the horizon was perfcAly ferene. In other 

 rel"pet-.ts, both rings appeared very diftinit, and of a whhe co- 

 lour ; but this character was loft by the large one within the 

 ellipfis, and the nearer it approached the moon, which over- 

 ^f)wered and ubfcured it by her fplcndour. At this ulace, 

 alfo, us lliickueli}' appeared to be as great as in the neighbour- 

 hood 



