Miscellanies. 189 



What is the food of this insect in its larva state ? 



From what depths in the earth has it been taken ? 



What has caused the locusts of one district to differ in regard to 

 time from the locusts of another district ? 



Do not these insects extend the boundaries of their districts ? and 

 if so, do not those districts, in some places, overlap or interfere ? 



Agreeably to this view, may not the same district be inhabited by 

 locusts that observe different years'^ 



May not their appearance in some places, therefore, seem anoma- 

 lous, when in fact they observe, with exactness, the period of seven- 

 teen years ? 



Greatfield, Cayuga county, N. Y. 7th Mo. 8, 1831. 



2. JVotice of a halo; by J. W. Tyler, Acting Principal and 

 Lecturer on Natural Sciences in the seminary of " Oneida Confer- 

 ence, Cazenovia, N. Y." — A rare and curious phenomenon was ob- 

 served at this place (Lat. 42*-* 55') on the 1 1th of January last. The 

 weather had been mild for a number of days previous, and on that 

 day the thermometer ranged from 23° to 30°. The atmosphere 

 was so hazy that a shadow was but faintly visible, the haziness being 

 most dense near the south horizon, but growing rarer and finally 

 disappearing a litde north of the zenith. The phenomenon was ob- 

 served at about 8 o'clock 45 min., morning. The azimuth of the sun 

 was about 45° 20' south east, and altitude about 11° 16'. 



The first appearance was a brilliant parhelion, about 25° west of 

 the sun, and at about the same altitude. Its form at first was nearly 

 circular, and its apparent diameter a little greater than that of the 

 true sun. Its light, which was of a brilliant white, was so intense as 

 to pain the eyes. In a few moments another parhelion of equal bright- 

 ness appeared at the same distance, on the east side of the sun, and 

 at the same altitude. When first seen, it appeared a little elongated 

 vertically, and slightly colored. Both these parhelia retained their size 

 and appearance for a few moments, and then began to lengthen in a 

 vertical direction, and to show the prismatic colors with considerable 

 brilliancy. Their greatest length in a vertical direction was about 

 1 0°, and the resemblance between them complete. 



Directly above the sun appeared, at the same time with the par- 

 helia a colored arc, containing 45° or 50° of a circle, described 

 to a radius of about 25°, having its center in the zenith and its con- 

 vexity towards the sun. The exterior of the arc was red, and this 

 was the only color that wari distinctly defined. The other colors 



