SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
421 
Spots on the Sun. — During the past quarter the sun has been very rich 
in spots, and many groups along the equator were seen at the beginning of 
March. A spot, seen on March 1, to the western side of the sun, appeared 
of a spiral form ; but two days later it did not seem to have shifted its 
direction, although it was considerably broken up and a quantity of lumi- 
nous matter was mixed up with the penumbra and nucleus. Mr. Howlett 
questions the existence of the notch on the sun, pho- 
tographed by Mr. Titterton (of Ely) on the morning 
of August 4, which was doubtless seen by many at 
the Exhibition. He observed the sun three times on 
that occasion, and could still distinctly see its margin. 
It would appear that the eye on such occasions is more 
sensible than the collodion, Mr. Howlett being able 
throughout the day to perceive a brilliant streak of 
photosphere between the spot and sun’s limb, whilst 
the photograph makes the spot and sky run together, 
thus producing the notch. A similar occurrence 
took place on October l,the photograph showing a notch, and the telescope 
none. 
At the December meeting of the Astronomical Society, the Astronomer 
Royal exhibited a picture of the fringes of light seen on a wall before the 
disappearance of the sun in the total eclipse of 1061, December 31, taken 
by Captain Poulain at Goree. The wall was white, and five bands were 
observed, each four inches broad, three white and two dusky dark. The 
length of the fringes was in the same plane as the tangent to the discs of 
the sun and moon at the place of its last disappearance. These flitting 
shadows have been noticed previously, but the explanation is still obscure. 
They were particularly seen in the eclipses of 1842. 
Saturn. — From observations of Saturn made about the time of the dis- 
appearance of the ring in May last, M. Struve thinks that there are certain 
luminous appendages which are not the same as the ansae of the ring. 
They extended to a distance equal to one-half or one-third the diameter of 
the ring, differing much from the ordinary colour of the ring, being of a livid 
colour, brown and blue ; their size increasing at the margins of the planet, 
giving them the form of sharp wedges. From a communication made to 
the Astronomical Society in December, these curious appendages were 
likewise observed by Mr. Wray at the disappearance of the ring in 1861, 
December 26, and 1862, January 5. It gave him the impression that it 
was the dusky ring, very much thicker than the bright rings, and seen 
edgewise, projected on the sky. 
Mars. — Mr. Joynson, of Liverpool, submitted a series of thirty-six 
drawings of Mars to the Astronomical Society, made between September 
25, and November 10, 1862. He concludes from these that the band is 
continuous around the planet, except where a pale yellow stripe crossed 
it ; that the snow at the south pole was not exactly at the axis of rotation 
and that the time of rotation was 24h. 37m. 49s. Mr. Grove thinks that 
changes take place in the distribution of the lights and shadows of Mars 
by clouds condensed over large aqueous districts. 
Halley’s Comet, — M. Angstrom, by comparing all the known appear- 
