350 
ON THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF AUGUST 29, 1886. 
to the west. In the centre of this mass is the tall prominence before referred to, and 
over this prominence the coronal rays bend towards each other on either side. The 
base of this group is encroached upon by the broad equatorial mass, which appears to 
overlap it. The group bounding the northern rift on the east shows but little struc¬ 
ture. The synclinal group to the west of the great southern rift is nearly radial, 
narrow, and conical, and extends to a height of quite 24' from the limb. The 
corresponding group to the east extends not much more than half this height, and is 
broad and depressed towards the equator. 
On comparing the corona of 1886 with those of other years, it appears decidedly 
different from any previously photographed. The great northern and southern rifts 
extending for some distance along the limb, and the character of the rays filling the 
rifts, recall to some extent the more extreme form shown in 1878. The depression 
of the main coronal mass towards the equator, however, even on the eastern side, is 
not nearly so great as in 1878, and the western side is totally different in character. 
In fact, the western half of the corona of 1886 shows a striking resemblance to the 
corresponding side in 1871, but the compressed eastern half in 1886 and the wide 
polar rifts have nothing in common with the corona of 1871. 
In 1875 there was the same decided want of symmetry between the two sides of 
the corona, but in this case it was the western half which was more depressed towards 
the equator. In 1875, also, there was a greater tendency towards the extreme polar 
depressioj ‘1 of 1878. 
The corona of 1886 has no resemblance to that of 1882, which had no conspicuous 
polar rifts. Almost equally dissimilar was the corona of 1883, with a single great rift 
at the north pole only, opened at an angle of about 90°, but hardly extending to the 
limb, and very unsymmetrically placed with regard to the Sun’s axis. Of f he Eclipse 
of 1885, I believe the only successful negatives were those taken by Mr. Radford, at 
Wellington, N.Z., now in the possession of the Royal Society, but which have not yet 
been published. I am not certain about the orientation of these, but, as far as I can 
judge, they present no resemblance to the corona of 1886. 
In conclusion, it may be said that this corona occupies a middle place between the 
extreme forms of 1871 and 1 878. 
