No. Ill] 



Dr. RICHARDSON ON THE AURORA. 



613 



The colours of the arches, in their general appearance and arrangement, 

 resembled those of the rainbow ; but the blue-green, or violet, were not 

 distinctly visible. The yellow ray occupied most space, and was the faintest 

 whilst the orange was the brightest. The red was nearly as abundant as the 

 yellow, and approached it in its hue to lake-red. The moon shone brightly all 

 the time. After the disappearance of the Aurora, the sky remained as before, 

 covered with a thin stratum of clouds, but their texture had become more rare, 

 their edges worse defined, and their masses more blended into each other. 

 In short, they answered the description of the cirro-stratus, in the first 

 stage of its change from the cirrus. The moon had a bur or halo round it ; 

 and a candle, both in the open air and the house, was also surrounded by 

 a halo. 



At llh. 30', there was a faint mass of light in the S.S.W., about 20° high, 

 occasionally fading away, and allowing a body of dark cloud to appear in its 

 site. The light re-appeared first in the centre of the cloud, of a gold yellow 

 colour, but became fainter as it spread outwards. 



At midnight, the weather was rather hazy, and there was very little blue sky 

 to be seen. A few minutes before 12, a portion of cloud in the S.E. was faintly 

 illuminated ; and at the same instant, a luminous spot made its appearance in a 

 clear blue space in the north, about 15° high. From this spot an arch shot up 

 which passingto the eastward of the zenith, joined the luminous cloud in the S.E. 

 The arch was scarcely formed when it disappeared, but was as speedily formed 

 again by a mass of light rising in the S.E., and rolling to the north like a 

 volume of smoke from a chimney, increasing in dimensions as it rose. Imme- 

 diately after the second formation of this arch, it assumed the appearance of a 

 shoot of the moss, alluded to in the notes on Nov. 24th, and which is termed 

 by botanists, falcato-secund. The points of the rays or streams were directed to 

 the south* In a short time the arch separated into small curved segments, which 

 vanished in their turn, and the attention was next directed to the formation of 

 a long range of prismatic light, about 60° high, its extremes bearing west and 

 north. This light had a pale gold-yellow colour, and was attenuated towards 

 the north, its southern or upper edge being brightest. When this passed 

 away, a number of irregular masses appeared in various parts of the sky. 

 At lh., (a. m.) 21st,) the sky was obscured by a fog. 



