117 
of Edinburgh, Session 1875-76. 
a more respectful distance. About the same number of fountains 
continued to play up as on the preceding evening, and looked red 
by day. Daylight, however, drowned out the redness of the lakes 
as seen by night, and made them appear quite black. 
After watching for a considerable time, a red hot crack was seen 
to start suddenly from one side of the lake to the other, then other 
cracks in different directions, and first one-half of the lake and 
then the other was covered with a fresh coating of red hot lava, the 
former tumbling out of sight as it got shrunk and cracked in cooling. 
A curiosity called Pele's* hair is found round the sides of these 
lakes. This is composed of fine fibres of lava cooled, broken off 
from the molten liquid while being spouted up in the fountains, 
carried away by the wind, and lodged in the cracks around. 
The summit crater of Mauna Loa, some 15 miles off, and 10,000 
feet above Killauea, was in activity about a month previous to our 
visit to the island, but limited time prevented our seeing it. Some 
points of curiosity may be noted before ending. 
1. The lakes are not at the same level, although quite close to 
each other. 
2. The summit crater of Mauna Loa is 10,000 feet above 
Killauea, and frequently in violent eruption, while Killauea is com- 
paratively undisturbed. 
3. The outer crater of Killauea appeared to act as a receptacle 
for the lava, which, as soon as it arrived at a sufficient height, and 
got the assistance of an earthquake, broke through below and 
covered the country, sometimes running in a broad stream for 25 
miles, and leaving an indication of the level which it had reached 
in form of a new ridge within the lip of the outer crater. 
4. The necessity of an earthquake to enable it to break through 
is shown by the great difference of heights of the lava even within 
short distances. 
5. The fountains were in every case playing round the edges of 
the lakes. 
5. New General Formulae for the Transformation of Infinite 
Series into continued Fractions. By Thomas Muir, M. A. 
* The name of the Hawaiian Fire-Goddess. 
