Some TKHeatber fcortentg 103 



recorded only one lunar halo on March 7th. From 

 November 25th to December 3rd of that year, however, 

 he observed five of them. The late autumn and the 

 early winter of 1914-5 were phenomenally wet and 

 stormy. Before the bad observing weather set in, 

 however (may I remark in passing), some excellent 

 work was accomplished by the Rev. T. E. Espin, of 

 Tow Law, Durham. About thirty-four new doubles 

 were detected by him with his new 24-in. telescope 

 after the 9th of September. 



In Bates' Naturalist on the River Amazons there is 

 testimony to the value of the moon-ring as a weather 

 guide so striking that the reader will perhaps pardon 

 me if I quote it in full : 



On the night of the 22nd the moon appeared 

 with a misty halo. As we went to rest, a fresh 

 watery wind was blowing, and a dark pile of clouds 

 gathering up river in a direction opposite to that of 

 the wind. I thought this betokened nothing more 

 than a heavy rain, which would send us all in a 

 hurry to our cabins. The men moored the vessel to 

 a tree alongside a hard clayey bank, and after 

 supper all were soon fast asleep, scattered about 

 the raised deck. About eleven o'clock I was awakened 

 by a horrible uproar, as a hurricane of wind suddenly 

 swept over from the opposite shore. The cuberta 

 was hurled with force against the clayey bank ; 

 Penna shouted out, as he started to his legs, that a 

 trovoada de cima, or squall from up river, was 

 upon us. We took down our hammocks, and then 

 all hands were required to save the vessel from 

 being dashed to pieces. 



