ON THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OE AUGUST 29, 1886. 
:i49 
The Prominences. 
These have been drawn from Plates I, 2, and 7 of Mr. Maunder’s, and Plates 1 
and 2 of Professor Schuster’s. Twelve prominences are visible on the plates. Of 
these, four inconspicuous ones are near together in the N.E. quadrant. On the W. 
limb is a well-marked group of seven prominences extending from 20° N. to 10° S. of 
the equator, and at about 45° N. is a very remarkable branched one, rising to a height 
of 5'. The accompanying woodcut gives an enlarged view of this prominence, which 
is perfectly shown on Mr. Maunder’s Plate 7. 
The Corona. 
This has been mainly drawn from Plates 4 and 6 of Professor Schuster’s. A 
somewhat greater extension is given in Mr. Maunder’s Plate 3, but its definition is 
so imperfect that but little use has been made of this plate. To ensure greater 
accuracy, two perfectly independent outline drawings were made to scale; these were 
then superposed, and further measurements made in every case of difference. 
The rifts at the N. and S. poles, Avhich have generally characterised the corona, 
were well shown in 1886. They wmre very wide, the northern rift extending along 
the limb for a distance of more than 40°, and the southern for 50°. They are 
almost symmetrically placed about the Sun’s axis. Both rifts are filled Avith rays, 
somewhat similar to the polar rays of 1878, but not nearly so fine, numerous, or 
regular. The southern rift is less obvious than the northern, the rays filling it being 
broader, longer, and less definite. These rifts are bounded on each side by groups of 
more or less synclinal structure, which are clearly separated from the masses of equa¬ 
torial rays. The synclinal groups bounding the great rifts are very unsymmetrical, 
those on the east being comparatively low and depressed towards the equator, while 
the corresponding rifts to the wmst rise to a much greater height, and are nearly radial 
in direction. The general mass of coronal structure on the western side is therefore 
much greater than that on the east, although the rifts are symmetrically placed. 
This want of symmetry extends also to the masses of ecpiatorial rays, that on the 
west extending along the limb nearly twice as far as the corresponding mass on the 
east; it also rises to a much greater height, and has a far more complicated structure 
than the comparatively low and structureless eastern equatoiial group. 
The specially synclinal structure is best seen in the mass bounding the northern rift 
