planet Iflotes 99 



of light was seen round the planet outside the sun. 

 The light spot, seen by observers in previous transits 

 in the centre of the black planet, was visible, but was 

 very minute and faint. Two other fainter points of 

 light appeared shortly afterwards. An examination 

 of them gave the impression that they were due to 

 some optical phenomenon, though rotating the eye- 

 piece or diagonal would not shift them. 



Mr. Reginald Y. Marvin, observing from Bedford 

 Hill, Balham, with a 3|-in. refractor, saw Mercury for 

 the first time through a telescope and was surprised to 

 see such a large disk, though he thought that this 

 might be due to the absence of irradiation. The planet 

 in comparison " looked like an average-sized swan-shot, 

 and could probably have fallen into either of the 

 splendid groups of spots on the solar disk." He was 

 under the impression that a halo could be seen at times 

 round the planet, but doubted whether this might not 

 be referable to atmospheric or optical causes. Mr. 

 Harold Thomson, of Newcastle, using his 12J-in. 

 reflector, saw no white spots, white polar caps or light 

 halos, and he found the planet blacker than the 

 blackest portion of the spot group. Miss A. Grace 

 Cook searched carefully for Mercury before contact 

 but could not detect it. The planet and sunspots 

 were excellently defined with the same focus. At no 

 time during transit did Miss Cook find the planet 

 perfectly round. Mr. J. H. Bridger, of Croydon, had 

 at first some impression of the existence of a central 

 bright spot and the halo, but subsequent better 

 definition caused these appearances to vanish, which 

 circumstance led him to the conviction that they were 

 merely optical. To Mr. Alfred Parr, of Hampstead, the 



