364 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



that I have given it will be seen that at Adelaide (South Australia), which 

 is in 35°, the first marked appearance of the sun-glow was on the 15th 

 September. In Victoria, which is only situated a few degrees nearer the 

 tropics than Nelson, the glows did not appear, it seems, till the 2nd Oc- 

 tober. 



To supplement the information given by the above table, I must proceed 

 to say that the displays have continued since their first appearance inter- 

 mittently up to the present time. The last ones in the old world of which 

 I find any record in " Nature," were, one observed by Professor Eeilley, I 

 presume in Dublin, on the 11th June, another on the 22nd June in Dalston, 

 and a third on the 7th July noted by B. J. Hopkins. The displays con- 

 tinued in Nelson without any intermission during the first few months of 

 the present year. I have made memoranda of very striking ones on the 

 13th March, 14th April, and 5th May. Since the last-mentioned date, I 

 cannot positively say that there have been no sun-glows here in Nelson, for 

 I noticed something very like one even so recently as the 22nd of last 

 month, and again on the 23rd when a faint after-glow was clearly visible 

 for an hour after sunset ; but I have not seen anything at all extraordinary 

 in the sunsets since the 5th May. Concerning the latest appearances in 

 distant parts of the world, there has scarcely yet been time to collect par- 

 ticulars and records of observations. To judge from a letter in " Nature," 

 there appears to have been in England in June and July a return of the 

 phenomenon. Be it observed, in no place do the glows seem to have been 

 continuous. Everywhere there were days, even weeks, when none were 

 observed at all. Cloudy weather and other meteorological conditions would 

 account for this in part, but not entirely. In the month of November, there 

 seems to have been a curious intermission, lasting three weeks, even in 

 places so distant from one another as England, Honolulu, and the United 

 States. Two or three days prior to the Sunda eruptions, Moncure Conway 

 reports that he saw the sun steel-blue during the daytime, and green 

 towards setting. This observation, reported by Mr. Ellery to the Koyal 

 Society of Melbourne on the 13th December, seems to be somewhat singular. 



In leaving this part of my subject, I would point out : — 



1. That the earliest places to get the sun-glows and the coloured sun 

 and moon were within the tropics, and as a rule, near to the Straits of 

 Sunda. 



2. That the appearances commenced on the very day following the 

 Krakatoa catastrophe, with the exception of the one reported by Moncure 

 Conway, about the date of which there may be some slight mistake. 



3. That all the places which witnessed the phenomena before the 8th 

 September, are situated within 15 degrees of the equator. 



