A GREEN SUN AND ASSOCIATED PHENOMENA. 391 



from under clouds very green. Strong absorption in the red end of the spectrum 

 to C, low-sun bands weak. 5.45, clouds greyish-purple. There was only one 

 bank of clouds which was near the horizon ; above this was a peculiar greyish 

 haze. At 6.0 the clouds were of a marked purple colour; breaks near the 

 horizon were reddish-brown. During the night there was a great deal of sheet 

 lightning in the south. 



September 2ith. — The sun rose bright yellow. The spectrum showed 

 complete absorption up to B ; the rain-band, a and ft were very thick, and the 

 low-sun bands less marked than usual. There was lightning all night, beginning 

 in the south and working round to the south-east. It consisted chiefly of sheet 

 lightning, with occasional zigzag flashes, but no thunder; the stars were fairly 

 clear except near the horizon. Saturn and the moon, when near the horizon, 

 were both very dim. 



September 25th. — Sunrise golden green. In the afternoou the shadows cast 

 on white paper were still quite pink, but the sunset was bright yellow. 



September 26th. — Much the same as yesterday. 



September 27th. — Before sunrise C, /3, a, the rain-band and the dry-air band 

 were very strong, but the dry-air band was less than half as dark as the rain- 

 band. The sun rose golden red. The spectrum showed signs of clearing up; 

 glimpses of A could now be obtained. After dark there was very bright light- 

 ning in the west — sheet lightning, with a good deal of zigzag, and at least one 

 very fine specimen of a flash such as is obtained /'\ 



by discharging a Ley den jar through a spangled 



tube, the flash being broken up into a number of / \ / "\/ 



detached pieces. Daring the day there were '' \' 



slight local showers in parts of the town. 



September 28th. — Spectrum still showed great absorption. Lightning at 

 night. 



September 29th. — Absorption still very strong. After dark there was a 

 display of luminous clouds, specially towards the east. After 11 p.m. there 

 was very heavy rain, with much lightning and some thunder. 



September 30th. — Sunrise golden. The spectrum on the sun showed A 

 clearly, and was very thick. 



October 2nd. — In the morning from about seven to nine, there was a thunder- 

 storm, in which the thunder was almost continuous for above an hour and a 

 half; but though the storm was almost vertically overhead, hardly any lightning 

 was visible. Apparently the discharges were chiefly from cloud to cloud, and 

 the thick layers of heavy clouds overhead shut out the flashes. The thunder 

 i was followed by heavy rain. The official Meteorological Eeport contains the 

 following reference to this storm — "The weather on the 2nd instant was 

 decidedly remarkable; thunder in the morning; heavy rain at noon, exactly 



