seen at Portsea on the 29//i of March 1848. 4.35 



Tlie first exhibition was seen in great perfection at half-past 

 10 A.M., when it was first pointed out to me; and as it was 

 then dechning in brilliancy, and continued to do so till its 

 disappearance soon after 1 1 , it is probable that it might have 

 appeared much earlier, and attained its greatest distinctness 

 before I saw it. The most conspicuous and beautiful part 

 of this phfEnomenon was a well-defined narrow white band, 

 passing horizontally through the sun's disc, and continued 

 entirely round the sky, but apparently preserving everywhere 

 the same altitude as the sun, or about 40°. In the annexed 

 figure this band is represented by the large outer circle, and in 



Fig. 1. View of the morning parhelia looking upwards, the lights and 

 shades reversed. 



fig. 2 (Plate IV.) by the large colourless ellipse ; in which figure, 

 to render the position of the dilFerent parts more intelligible, I 

 have taken the same licence that is always taken in the com- 

 mon diagrams to illustrate the theory of the rainbow, viz. that 

 of representing the bows as if they were tangible bodies, and 

 could be seen in pers})ectivc by a person at a distance from 

 2 F 2 



