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A distinct crater-row runs round its outer border on the W., and ultimately, as a delicate cleft, strikes across the Mare to the E. side of Ritter. Both crater-row and cleft are easy objects in a 4 inch achromatic under morning illumination.
With the exception of a few low rounded hills and ridges, a short crater-row under the S.E. wall, and two small craters on the S.W., there are no details on the floor, which, however, is otherwise remarkable for the dusky tone of its surface, especially on the N. This dark patch occupies the whole of the N.E. side of the interior, and is bounded on the S. by an irregular outline, extending at one point nearly to the centre, and on the W. by a curved edge.
The interior has a very rugged and uneven surface, upon the N. side of which are two very distinct craters, and a short crater-row on the W. of them. It is traversed from W. to E. by three bright streaks from Tycho, two on the N. being very prominent under a high light. LONGOMONTANUS. A much larger walled-plain, S. of the last.
The notable crater-row on the W., often utilised by observers for testing the steadiness of the air and the definition of their telescopes, should be examined when it is on the morning terminator, at which time Webb's homely comparison, "a mole-run with holes in it," will be appreciated, and its evident connection with the E. side of Stadius clearly made out.
Two craterlets on the floor, one discovered by Birt on Rutherfurd's photogram of 1865, and the other by Gaudibert, raised a suspicion of recent lunar activity within this ring. A magnificent valley, shown in part by Schmidt as a crater-row, runs from the S. of Halley to the W. side of Albategnius.
I have often seen it at this phase when its broad mass of shadow extended across the well-known crater-row W. of Copernicus, some of the component craters appearing between the spires of shade representing the loftiest peaks on the mountain arm. There is a prominent little crater on the crest of the arm between two of the peaks, and another on the plain to the west.
Schmidt represents the first as a crater-row, which it probably is, as it varies considerably in width. From the S.E. side of the formation extends a long cleft, terminating at the end of a prominent spur from the S. side of the Carpathians. There are also two remarkable rill-like valleys, commencing on the N. of Gay-Lussac A, which curve round the W. side of Gay-Lussac.
On the S., is the fine ring-plain B, connected with the S.E. wall near the crater-row by a well-marked valley, and nearly due E. of B is another, a square-shaped enclosure, C, with a very lofty little mountain on the E. side of it, and a crater on its S. wall. In addition to these features, there are many ridges and surface inequalities, very prominent under oblique illumination.
REGIOMONTANUS. A still more irregular walled-plain, of about the same area, closely associated with the S. flank of Purbach, having a rampart of a similar complex type, traversed by passes, longitudinal valleys, and other depressions. Schmidt alone shows the especially fine example of a crater-row, which is not a difficult object, in connection with the S.E. wall.
The floor of Parrot is very rugged. DESCARTES. This object, about 30 miles in diameter, situated N.W. of Abulfeda, is bounded by ill-defined, broken, and comparatively low walls; interrupted on the S.E. by a fine crater, Descartes A, and on the S.W. by another, smaller. There is also a brilliant crater outside on the N.W. Schmidt shows a crater-row on the floor, which I have seen as a cleft.
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