1834.] Influence of the Moon on Atmospherical Phenomena. 631 



and apparently open ; there is also an appearance something like a 

 detached spire, but this I take to be nothing but the fore-shortening of 

 the rings, such as is represented in fig. 1, but less perfect. I may 

 add, that I have not seen the trace of a spire or a whorl in all these 

 appearances. Orthocera are long, straight, tapering shells, characters 

 not one of which answer to these remains. One of the figures in the 

 accompanying drawing resembles a fragment of an orthoceratite, but 

 were it more complete, it would be awl-shaped. Now as to the mineral 

 composition of the fossil in transition slate, I found the rings to be 

 composed of a fine siliceous sandstone. In the limestone they are in- 

 corporated with, and similarly constituted, as the rock itself, so that 

 they would elude the character of fossils, were it not for their more 

 perfect existence in the transition slate. Having pointed out these 

 appearances to your notice, as well as the locality in which they occur, 

 their nature may be further inquired into by others, should the term of 

 my residence in this quarter deprive me of the opportunity. 



May, 1384. 



[Being rather sceptical as to the appearance of the under-surface of the 

 rings represented in Dr. McClelland's first notice, we mentioned our doubts to 

 him, and were favored with the further explanation, dated in May, which by some 

 accident was mislaid; and we were forced to repeat our request for a duplicate. 

 The great distance will account for the delay which has unfortunately occurred 

 in its appearance. We are not yet satisfied, however, that the impressions are truly 

 of a fossil nature, and we dovlht whether any geologist would venture from 

 such indistinct traces to pronounce an opinion of the genus of the fossil. — Ed.j 



VI. — Further notice of Influence of the Moon on Atmospherical Phe- 

 nomena. By the Rev. R. Everest, M. G. S. %c. 

 In my last paper, I urged the probability of the dew-points varying 

 with the declination of the moon, and from that was naturally led to 

 the conclusion that the rain-falls would vary in a similar manner. 

 Having, therefore, obtained the Nautical Almanack for the year 

 1823, and having by me the register of rain-fall for the two months 

 of August and September in that year, I made out a table for com- 

 parison, placing the rain-fall in one column, and the declination of 

 the moon in an adjoining one beside it, and her semi-diameter in the 

 next to that ; on the other side, the days of the month in succession, 

 and on the other side of them again, the declination of the sun. If 

 we recollect that the latitude of Calcutta is about 22° 23' N., we may 

 see by this table that a greater proportion of rain falls when the 

 declination of the moon (either north or south) is near about the 

 same as the latitude of the place, and that the proportion lessens as 



