Oct. 5, 1882] 



NATURE 



549 



have yet witnessed. The sky was nearly unclouded, and the 

 moon had not yet risen ; a band of light forming an arc extended 

 from west to east, under the Polar Star. It just touched, by its 

 upper boundary, the stars 7 and j8 of the Great Bear, and nearly 

 touched by its lower fringe the star Cor Caroli ; this gives some 

 idea of its breadth. Beams of light extended from the upper 

 fringe towards the North Star, with greater or less intensity, 

 fading away, however, very rapidly. Towards 9 30 p.m. 

 the eastern end of the arc became very luminous ; immense 

 beams spread up into the heavens, mostly parallel to the direc- 

 tion of the pointers. On the extreme east, a portion of the 

 aurora presented that beautiful violet tint which is so relatively 

 rare in these latitudes. Some of the beams towards the centre 

 1 f the arc also presented this colour, but only momentarily. 



The arc, varying in intensity from moment to moment, rose 

 towards the North Star, and became diffused, and towards 

 9 o'clock, the moon then appearing, nearly entirely disappeared ; 

 faint beams still, however, showing themselves from time to 

 time. The summit of the arc was as nearly as possible under 

 ihe North Star. J. P. O'Reilly 



Royal College of Science for Ireland, Dublin, October 3 



A bright aurora was seen here last evening (October 2). 

 When first observed, at 7.0 p.m., the arc in the north-west was 

 very distinct ; at the same time two cloud-like patches of light 

 were seen in the north-east at an elevation of about 30°. At 

 7. 10 the display reached its greatest brilliancy, narrow streamers 

 extending upwards from the arc, as frequent intervals ; several 

 pale flashes of light taking place over the arc. At this time the 

 light patches had been replaced by others, and several new ones 

 bad appeared rapidly, the whole series forming a large arc 

 springing from the east-north-east point, and extending towards 

 the west-south-west, at 7.20 nearly forming a complete arch. 

 By 7.30 the sky had become much overcast ; still the strong glow 

 continued in the north-west, while a lighting up of the clouds 

 indicated the continued occurrence of the light patches. At 

 9.30 the sky was clear again, and every trace of aurora had 

 vanished. The light of the aurora was quite colourless. 



Kenley, Surrey, October 3 Sydney Eyershep 



Last night, the 2nd inst., I here witnessed a very fine 

 specimen of the Aurora Boicalis. It was in the form of 

 radiating lines or ribs, having spaces between, equal to the 

 w idth of the ribs, namely, equal light and equal shadow ; the 

 whole springing from a centre about 1 5° from the zenith in a 

 south-westerly direction. When I first perceived the light, at 

 6.45 p.m., it was faint and of the colour of moonlight, and was 

 t\A distinctly traceable all over, but by filling up the void, in the 

 n ind's eye, the whole gave the appearance of an immense dome. 

 Fifteen minutes later it had all disappeared, but at 7.15 it began 

 to flash out in different places like slow lightning, principally at 

 the zenith, much brighter than before, but still of the same 

 colour, and around the centre the light took the shape of a sort 

 of eccentric vortex ring. W. J. Lineham 



University Club, Newcastle-on-Tyne, October 3 



ABOUT a quarter to seven this evening I became aware that 

 an aurora was in the sky. A clear, persistent light showed itself 

 near the northern horizon, whilst in the eastern sky fluctuating 

 luminous regions formed an arc between 7b.. and 7h. 15m. I 

 noticed the position of that arc with respect to the constellations 

 Aries and Pegasus. It began under a and j8 Arietis, at about, 

 say, 5° north of the equator.and stretched parallel to a line through 

 7 and a Pegasi, also at about 5 north of the equator. At times 

 the arc extended further towards the south-western horizon. At 

 about 7I1. 30m. a remnant of the arc shot a ray diagonally to the 

 square formed by the four stars of Pegasus, i.e. from 7 to j3 

 Pegasi. The colour of the aurora was pale white in the northern 

 light ; in the arc it was white, approaching slightly to a green 

 approximate to that of the magnesium light. 



GtJSTAYE PLARR 



22, Hadlow Road, Tunbridge (Kent), October 2 



A rather uncommon display of aurora was seen here last 

 eveniDg, from about 7.15 to 7.40 p.m. Large patches of light, 

 brilliantly white, were seen in the south and south-east, at a 



rou'h guess, extending from 10° to 15* in length and breadth, 

 sometimes shifting quickly from place to place, at others 

 remaining stationary for a minute or two, but not attaining a 

 greater average altitude than 30° or 40° from the horizon. They 

 were slightly convex at the base, giving the appearance of a 

 bank of clouds below. On looking to the north, a long, low 

 arch of light was visible, with one or two long streamers, which 

 rapidly disappeared, but the brilliancy was nothing compared 

 with the patches before mentioned. 



In connection w ith this display, perhaps it may be as well to 

 mention that not only is there an enormous sun-spot passing over 

 the sun's disc, but five other groups, one of which was nearly 

 central yesterday, and showed signs of great disturbance in the 

 course of a few hours. Elizth. Brown 



Further Barton, Cirencester, October 3 



An Insect Attacking a Worm 



Ox September 19, 1S82, I was waiting for a train at Laque- 

 ville, in the Puy-de-Dome district of France, when I noticed a 

 very large worm in the meadow, moving very rapidly from side 

 to side. I touched it with my umbrella, expecting to see it 

 retire into its hole, but, taking no notice of my touch, it continued 

 its forw ard movement, and drew itself out of its hole with a jerk. 

 I then saw that attached to the end of its tail was a caterpillar- 

 like insect — no doubt the larva of some beetle — about 1 [ inch 

 long, the back covered with a series of shining black bands, ard 

 the belly, which was furnished with a few short feet at the head 

 and tail, was of dull greenish yellow. This insect, without 

 relaxing its hold of the worm, which was nroving along more 

 rapidly than I ever saw a worm move before, gradually shifted 

 its bite along the belly of the worm till it had bitten about two 

 inches, or rather less than one-third the whole length of the 

 worm, which was more than six inches long. This it accom- 

 plished in about ten minutes, the bitten portion turning livid 

 and swelling considerably, the worm's power of motion gradually 

 ceasing. The insect then relaxed its hold, and crawled back along 

 the back of the worm, and, seizing its tail, attempted to drag it 

 backward, but finding the worm had still the power of slightly 

 moving forward, it rapidly bit the belly of the worm where it had 

 previously bitten it, and by this time the worm's power of forward 

 motion had entirely ceased. The insect then appeared to survey 

 the ground for some two feet behind the worm, and again seizing 

 the tail, and fastening its own tail to a stalk of clover, it pulled 

 strongly, not directly, but bending the worm sideways re und a 

 stalk of grass ; gradually, very gradually, the swelled tail of the 

 worm lengthened, and then I saw the whole body come back as 

 it were a ring at a time, with a sort of resilient motion. The 

 insect thus gained about one quarter of an inch, and in an hour 

 and a half had drawn the worm in a sinuous line about 9 or 10 

 inches. I was unable to observe longer, but I have no doubt 

 the insect would eventually drag the worm back into the latter's 

 own hole, where it had first attacked it. 



No doubt such an incident is extremely common in France, 

 where there are few birds, but I fancy the numerous birds in 

 England may have nearly extirpated such an enemy of worms, 

 which would form with the dead worm a somewhat conspicuous 

 object for two or three hours. Edwin Lawrence 



White Ants 



Having observed in Nature (vol. xxvi. p. 343) some re- 

 marks regarding White-ants' nests, it has occurred to me to put 

 on record the following fact, which came under my observation. 



A lady residing in Madras had a set of plain table glass ware 

 in a cupboard, which had not been opened for some time. Oiv 

 looking into it one day, she found the glass more or less covered 

 with the mud indicative of the presence of white-ants. The 

 glass articles were at once removed and washed, but wherever 

 the mud had been applied by the insects, it was found that the 

 glass had a frosted appearance, which no amount of scrubbing 

 would remove. Some of the articles were then sent to me for 

 inspection, and I found that the lustrous surface of the glass had 

 been completely destroyed, as if by some powerful corrosive, 

 wherever the ant-mud had been in contact with it. 



We know well enough the substances used for etching on 

 glass, but I shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents will 

 explain how these insects mansged to act on it in the destructive 

 manner specified. G. Bidie 



Museum, Madras, September 3 



