Soon after the West African eclipse Professor Todd, of Amherst College, proposed that more systematic observations be made for the probable state of the sky along eclipse tracks, with the view of at least selecting stations having the most favorable local conditions. The method was tried in Chili, April, 15, 1893, and in Japan, August 8, 1896, with some success. Heretofore the available meteorological records, which were originally taken for other general purposes, had been consulted, and some idea formed of the prevailing tendency to cloudy conditions. In accordance with the improved method, the United States Weather Bureau has been conducting special observations on the cloudiness occurring from May 15th to June 15th in each of the three years 1897, 1898, and 1899, for the morning hours of the eclipse--between 8 A. M. and 9 A. M. A tabular form was sent through the local offices to such observers as were willing to act as volunteers in making these records, and their reports have been studied to discover how the cloudiness behaves along the eclipse track at that season of the year. Each of the three years gives substantially the same conclusion--namely, that there is a maximum of cloudiness near the Atlantic coast in Virginia, extending back into North Carolina, and also near the Gulf coast in Louisiana and in southern Mississippi, while there is a minimum of cloudiness in eastern Alabama and central Georgia. The following table will serve to make this plain: _The Prevailing Cloudiness of the Sky along the Eclipse Track._ -------------------+--------------+------------------ STATE. | General sky. | Sky near the sun. -------------------+--------------+------------------ Virginia | 40.3 | 38.0 North Carolina | 32.4 | 29.9 South Carolina | 26.4 | 24.9 Georgia | 16.4 | 14.7 Alabama | 18.2 | 17.7 Mississippi | 30.8 | 29.2 Louisiana | 32.9 | 27.7 -------------------+--------------+------------------