86 Clayton— 27-Day Auroral Period and the Moon. 







Table 



III. 









1 



2 



3 



4 



5 





1885 



1894 





Mean 



Second 





to 



to 



Totals. 



of 5 



order 





• 1888. 



1895. 





Days. 



Means. 



© 1 



18 



50 



68 



96 



74 



2 



8 



116 



124 



226 



128 



3 



31 



157 



188 



398 



302 



4 



42 



667 



• 709 



494 



611 



5 



39 



802 



841 



609 



749 



6 



85 



521 



606 



684 



688 



7 



241 



459 



700 



664 



642 



€) 8 



160 



405 



565 



720' 



610 



9 



131 



477 



608 



704 



726 



10 



118 



1004 



1122 



648 



845 



11 



175 



353 



528 



641 



649 



12 



251 



167 



418 



628 



473 



13 



175 



354 



529 



492 



504 



14 



160 



383 



543 



461 



514 



15 



187 



255 



442 



442 



450 



• 16 



200 



175 



375 



406 



378 



17 



140 



180 



320 



355 



342 



18 



193 



158 



351 



308 



327 



19 



142 



146 



288 



287 



283 



20 



119 



86 



205 



282 



243 



21 



110 



162 



272 



242 



261 



22 



80 



216 



296 



214 



252 



a 23 



90 



57 



147 



208 



185 



24 



48 



102 



150 



184 



156 



25 



68 



109 



177 



150 



163 



26 



83 



69 



152 



141 



150 



27 



55 



67 



122 



122 



125 



28 



45 



58 



103 



95 



98 



29 



15 



43 



58 



78 



65 



© 30 



11 



29 



40 



78 



50 



the two intervals. The totals in column 3 are smoothed by 

 taking the mean of each consecutive five which appear in 

 column 4, and by taking the second order of means which 

 appear in column 5. The results in every column show the 

 very marked excess in the number of auroras reported between 

 last quarter and new moon. This is the part of the lunation 

 when no moonlight occurs between sunset and midnight, the 

 part of the day when most records of auroras are made, because 

 the observers are then awake. But why there should be a 

 greater number of auroras near the last quarter than near new 

 moon is not very evident. In the column of totals, the fre- 

 quency of auroras is almost twice as great near last quarter as 



