DEPOSITION OF SNOWY CRYSTALS. 77 
cdly tacked. These fringes were beautifully white, 
and the points or spines of which the fringes were 
composed, were tapered and radiated. Hence every 
rope or other substance, containing on its surface 
small fibres, suitable for the attachment of the 
frozen particles, became the centre or axis of a cy¬ 
lindrical icy zeolite. The angles the rays formed 
with each other, in consequence of the different 
roots from which they sprung, were various, and 
generally very acute. No doubt, the prevailing 
angle of those crystals that arose from the same 
root was 60°; but as the spines had various in¬ 
dependent attachments, they became more nearly 
parallel. Each fringe was formed of a chain of 
beautiful rosettes of spines ; each spine in the 
rosette tending to its attachment very near the 
common centre. Every spine consisted of a fas¬ 
ciculus of needles, so arranged as to form a taper¬ 
ing ray. The longest spines were about three- 
fourths of an inch. The needles strongly magni¬ 
fied, appeared like chains composed of drops of 
richly cut crystal. 
The fog which produced this beautifid appear¬ 
ance, came in showers of varying density. The 
particles were so small as to be quite invisible to 
the eye ; and as no dampness was perceptible, the 
particles must have been extremely minute. The 
temperature of the air during this deposition, was 
