606 
MR, J. NORMAN LOCKTER ON THE 
working under exactly the same conditions as during the eclipse, the instrument 
employed in Africa only shows 104 lines in the spectra of stars resembling the sun, 
in the region li to H, in place of 940 given in Rowland’s tables of lines in the solar 
spectrum. We, therefore, get a better term of comparison if we employ the spectrum 
of some star, such as A returns, which closely resembles the sun. Such a comparison 
is shown in Plate 14 ; out of 104 lines which the instrument is capable of depicting 
in the region li to IP, only 7 40 are shown in the spectrum of the base of the sun's 
atmosphere. This comparison amply confirms the conclusion that the lines reversed 
Comparison of tbe spectrum of the base of the chromosphere with Fraunhofer lines. 
at the beginning or end of totality, though fairly numerous, do not correspond in 
intensity, though some of them correspond in position with the dark lines of the solar 
spectrum, and consequently that the so-called “reversing layer” close to tbe photo¬ 
sphere is incompetent to produce, by its absorption, the Fraunhofer lines. Further, 
while the chromosphere fails to show most of the lines which are present in the 
Fraunhofer spectrum, it shows many 7 bright lines which are not represented among 
the dark ones. This again indicates that the chromosphere is not the origin of the 
Fraunhofer spectrum. 
This striking result is absolutely in harmony with all the spectroscopic observations 
