218 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
seen under favourable circumstances, but they are somewhat 
rare. 
Coronce are meteors seen around the Moon and other heavenly 
bodies, and are of a whitish, nebulous character. Coronce appear 
in cumuli clouds, are only visible when there is much moisture 
in the atmosphere, and generally foretell a chang’e of weather. 
They are due to the diffraction of Light. 
Halos are prismatic rings of variable but considerable diameter, 
seen around the Sun and Moon, with the red colour nearer the 
centre than the blue. Several very fine ones were seen in the 
month of January, 1860. They are caused by the refraction of 
Light ; not unfrequently several rings may be seen concentric 
with one another. Humboldt describes a very fine lunar halo 
seen by him at Cumana. 
Glorias or Anthelia arecoloured circles surrounding the shadows 
of observers. M. Bougues mentions that when he, Don Antonia 
Ulloa, and his companions, were upon the summit of Mount 
Pichincha, one of the Andes chain, and the Sim just rising 
behind them, each saw his own shadow distinctly projected 
with a gloria surrounding the head. The anthelia consisted 
of three concentric circles of a lively colour and prismatic, the 
red being external. 
Parhelia, or Mock Suns, are among the most beautiful 
of the meteors with which we are acquainted. They consist 
of halos and luminous arcs, intersecting one another in different 
directions and studded with solar images. These phenomena 
are also due to the action of atmospheric moisture on rays 
of Light, and are seen in the greatest perfection in the Polar 
regions.* 
Paraselence, or Mock Moons, are not uncommon ; they re- 
semble in general character the preceding, and doubtless owe 
their origin to the same physical cause. Mr. E. J. Lowe, of 
the Beeston Observatory, thus describes a very remarkable 
halo with paraseleme seen by him on November 12, 1859 : — 
“ It consisted of a beautiful lunar corona, 10’ in width, which exhibited 
faintly the prismatic colours. Also an ordinary bright halo, or circle 
of 22° 30' radius, having the Moon for its centre ; and a second very perfect 
circle, far too gigantic to allow of its being all seen at once, and therefore 
in the N.W. giving the appearance of an inverted rainbow. This circle 
had its centre 17° N.W. of the zenith, while its southern edge passed 
through the Moon. It was exactly 90° in diameter, yet gave the im- 
pression of being mucli larger. There were also seven mock moons. Two 
were situated at the intersections of the two circles ; two others on the 
Moon’s horizontal level and just without the circle of 22^° radius ; the fifth 
and sixth on the great circle at a distance of 50° from the Moon on either 
* See Parry : Journ.of Voy. 1819-20, pp. 156, 164, 172. 
