DISCOVERY OF A NEW RING TO SATURN. Ill 



On further examination we agree that the dark ring is 

 narrower than the outer ring. Its inner edge may be as 

 far from the inner edge of the broad ring as two thirds 

 of the breadth of the outer ring." 



The appearances above described had been noticed on 

 many occasions prior to the above dates, but their true 

 explanation was first ascertained on the evening of 

 November 15th. The fact of the existence of a dusky 

 ring hitherto unknown contained in the space between 

 the old ring and the ball could no longer be questioned. 

 Observations continued to the 7th of January, 1851, fully 

 confirmed the deductions which the Messrs. Bond had 

 drawn from those of the llth and 15th of November. 



Similar appearances were noticed by the Kev. "W. B. 

 Dawes at his observatory near Maidstone in England, on 

 the 29th of November, 1850. His telescope was a re- 

 fractor by Merz & Son of Munich, having an aperture of 

 six inches. He states that on the 29th he observed a 

 shading like twilight at the inner portions of the inner 

 ring. Also an exceedingly narrow black line on the ball 

 at the southern edge of the ring where it crosses the 

 planet, and it was slightly broader at the east and west 

 edges of the ball than near its middle. On the 3d of De- 

 cember he again saw the same phenomenon, as did also 

 Mr. Lassell of Liverpool, who was on a visit to Mr. 

 Dawes's observatory. Mr. Lassell stated that the space 

 between the inner diameter of the inner ring and the ball, 

 was half covered by an appearance as if a crape vail had 

 been thrown over it. There is a dark inner edge to the 



