178 Messrs Coldstream and Foggo’s Meteorological 
15 th — This morning a little snow fell. Wind SE. brisk. Mean temp. 37°. 
Bar. 30,20, rising. 
Y]tli — At 5 p. m. a simple solar halo was seen; colourless; diameter 44°; 
formed by a cirro-stratus , polarised. 
\&th — Much rain fell to-day, accompanied by a brisk gale from SE. 
19i th. — Morning pleasant : cumuli and vamulo-strati in the sky. Bar. 30,35, 
rising. Wind S. strong. In the evening, there occurred an unusually bril- 
liant display of the aurora borealis. About 8 o’clock, there was perceived in 
the north the intense light on the horizon which generally precedes this inte- 
resting phenomenon : the sky was clear, and the stars were sparkling vividly ; 
the air was calm and serene. The light in the north continued to increase till 
about half-past 9, when, on a sudden, extremely brilliant corruscations began 
to play along the horizon, and dart towards the zenith in great numbers ; none 
of the beams rose to a greater height than 60° or 65° above the horizon ; they 
were for a time partly concealed by a lengthened cumulo-stratus, which, how- 
ever, descended towards the northern horizon, and left the whole sky perfectly 
clear. The colour of the corruscations was generally white, or yellowish- 
white; but blue, pale green, and even black, were sometimes discernible. 
This very fine display continued about 20 minutes, when another phenome- 
non, doubtless connected with it, but of much greater interest, appeared. It 
was a very splendid luminous arch, which passed through the zenith of this 
place, and descended towards either horizon in the direction of about NE. and 
SW. It was of a white colour, vivid, and well defined. Its breadth in the 
zenith was about 7% whence it tapered almost to a point to about 5° or 6° from 
either horizon, beyond which it was not visible : its lustre was more intense 
at the extremities than in the zenith ; and throughout its whole extent, it was 
perfectly continuous. Stars of the first and second magnitude only could be 
seen through it. It commenced in the west, to the south of Orion, whence it 
ascended through Procyon, Cancer, and Yulpecula, and descended towards the 
east through Ursa major and Hercules. This state of things continued till 
about 20 minutes from 11, when the portion of the arch in the zenith seemed 
suddenly to grow very vivid, and a narrow strip of light, of about 30° in length, 
was seen to extend diagonally across the arch, not passing beyond its edges, 
which were still well defined ; the whole had now the appearance of a ribbon 
once twisted. This strip soon began to have a distinct motion, and, retaining the 
same general direction and position with regard to the arch, it traversed, with 
a moderately rapid motion, its whole western limb, and disappeared below the 
horizon. The arch now continued to fade gradually. About 1 1 , however, another 
strip of light appeared in the zenith, and also disappeared in the west ; but 
when it was still elevated about 50°, there were seen several small ribbands of 
light in the sky, to the N. of the extremity of the strip traversing the arch, 
and about 10° from it, pointing about NW. by W. and SE. by E. Several 
of these, parallel to one another, were seen together ; they continued only 
a few minutes, and then vanished. Soon after, the arch broke into frag- 
ments, and disappeared. During the whole time of the existence of the 
arch, the aurora sent forth no corruscations, although the diffused light was 
still intense. About 20 minutes from 12, however, beams again arose, and 
