Notes on the Aspect of Mars in 1882. 303 
visible a minute dark speck, sensibly in the position of the Lacus Tritonis, which 
had not been seen on March 11, although carefully looked for. 
The Syrtis Majov.—This fine marking (the Kaiser Sea + Dawes’ Ocean) was well 
displayed on March 11 and 13, when its aspect agreed better with the drawings made 
in 1871, 1873, 1877, and 1879, by Messrs. Green and Knobel, and myself, than with 
the Milan views ; Ginotria being invisible, and the darkest tone—rudely pear-shaped, 
with the narrow end to the north—lying next to the eastern coast, instead of 
turning south-westwards (Hind Peninsula), a portion of Libya projected into the 
Syrtis for some distance as a whitish spur, where the Milan charts of 1879 and 
1882 havea nebulous shade, as if the encroachment of the Syrtis upon Libya had not 
only ceased, but the state of things had been reversed since the conclusion of the 
Milan observations. A similar advance of Libya (Hind Peninsula) upon the Syrtis 
Major was noted on May 25 and 28, 1873, by Mr. Green, and by me on May 29 
of the same year. Towards the north the Syrtis Major appeared to bifurcate, and 
the two branches possibly joined the Arctic dark belt formed by the Sinus Alcyonius 
and Nilus. (But there was here a complication of minute detail which it was 
impossible to unravel satisfactorily, on account of the great distance of the planet 
and the perpetual slight flickering of the image.) From the preceding or western 
branch there proceeded a short dusky streak (March 11), possibly the Astapus ; 
and from the following branch, Nilus, &c. (Nasmyth Inlet), arose two streaks, one 
seen on March 10 and 11—Cole Palus with the northern portion of the Brison— 
the other (March 11 only), being probably the northern portion of the Euphrates 
(Lassell Sea‘). On March 10 a good view of the Sinus Sabzeus (Herschel II. Strait) 
and the Margaritifer Sinus was obtained. The last mentioned bay was deep, and 
very sharp in outline. From its apex there ran in a north-westerly direction a 
perfectly straight dusky streak, narrow and less definite in outline than the bay 
reaching nearly to the Nilus. This dusky streak was probably the Indus, with its 
prolongation the Oxus, the former being visible only as far as the point where it 
bends abruptly to the north-east in the Milan chart (1879). The two points of the 
vertex of Argus (Dawes’ Forked Bay) were not seen separately, and between this and 
the next preceding bay a whitish, ill-terminated promontory was very conspicuous. 
In no case was the doubling of the dusky streaks, which has been the latest 
discovery due to Signor Schiaparelli, and found by him to have a connexion with 
the change from winter to summer, detected by me—a circumstance not surprising 
when the minute diameter of the planet is taken into account, even supposing that 
the duplication in question had continued so long. It would seem from the 
remarks of Signor Schiaparelli, in his preliminary note communicated to the 
Accademia dei Lincei, and read at the meeting of March 5, 1882, which he has 
kindly forwarded to me, that the duplication referred to endures for a very short 
time (probably not much more than a Martian month), and that it commences 
with considerable abruptness, In some cases Signor Schiaparelli has been able to 
