220 
NATURE 
[May 2, 1912 
indicated by the “American Ephemeris.” A 
motor-car made it possible easily to reach the 
spot we selected, which lay on a part of a main 
road about three-quarters of a mile to the north- 
east of the village of Chavenay. This village is 
marked with a black disc in Fig. 1, and our camp 
is shown by a black circle near it. 
The locality in which we settled was rather 
high, in slightly undulating country and very 
open, so that we had a good view for miles in all 
directions. The accompanying photograph (Fig. 
2) shows the country looking westward along the 
main road. 
We had this region all to ourselves, for only 
four other persons were within a quarter of a mile 
of us on either side of our position. 
The weather 
was all that 
could be desired, 
only very small 
patches of cloud 
moving lazily in 
the sky. 
After first con- 
tact had taken 
jplace at about 
1oh. 48m. (the 
times mentioned 
are only approxi- 
mate), we gave 
ourselves up to 
noting any pecu- 
liarities that might 
be worth record- 
ing. There was 
scarcely a breath 
of wind, and a 
balloon which was 
silently making 
captive ascents at 
about a mile from 
us appeared to go 
vertically up and 
down. A little 
later we experi- 
enced some small 
intermittent 
breezes from the 
south. 
Numerous skylarks were singing merrily above 
and around us, and twice the whirr of the Gnome 
engine was heard when a biplane and monoplane 
came over in our direction from the south. Two 
hawks were soaring leisurely in the sky in our 
vicinity, and one went off south-eastward and 
seemed to try to outvie the captive balloon, which 
was then quite still at its greatest altitude. 
As the sunlight grew appreciably more feeble 
and everything began to take on that weird, ashen 
hue so typical of eclipses, the skylarks were 
hushed and a few birds flew by as if homeward 
bound. This was at about five minutes past 
twelve, or about five minutes before the maxi- 
mum phase. 
Observing with a pair of binoculars (magnifying 
No. 2218, VOL. 89] 
2°5 times) shielded with dark glasses fixed to the 
front of the objectives, I watched the progress of 
the moon over the sun. 
At first the crescent sun had been growing less 
and less in length, but at a later stage, as second 
contact was approaching, the thin remaining 
crescent began to lengthen out, at first slowly 
and then more rapidly. 
Just beyond the end of the horn of the crescent 
in the south-eastern quadrant I observed the 
summit of a prominence (orientation about 
8 o'clock), quite isolated, and I called to the 
others to notice it. The further movement of the 
moon allowed more of it to be brought into view, 
| and the well-known ‘“ Baily’s beads” had already 
begun to be clearly observed along the limb, 
Fic. 3.—The eclipse as observed just before the beginning of the annular phase. 
successively forming in an anti-clockwise direc- 
tion. 
Almost simultaneously with the above appear- 
ance a like phenomenon was happening in the 
north-western quadrant. The “beads” were 
forming there in a clockwise direction, and a 
prominence also became visible (orientation about 
2 o'clock), though of smaller dimensions (radially) 
than that seen in the other quadrant. 
The successive formation of the “beads” in 
both quadrants reminded me vividly of the electric 
night sky-signs in London, when numerous nearly 
adjacent small incandescent lamps are succes- 
sively lighted up. 
So far as I could see, the phenomenon was 
symmetrical in both quadrants, neither quadrant 
ne 
ae 
— 
a 
