At the very start of observations its longitude chanced to be nearly central and it was made out; but so far off was the planet that only its northern part could be detected, because, as afterward appeared, this part was the stronger, the canal being decidedly inconspicuous, whereas other canals, the northern and even the Pallene and the Dis, were strongly marked. At the next presentation the planet was nearer, and details previously hidden for the distance now came out. Among them was the Brontes, which, showing better than in January, could be traced all the way to the Sinus Titanum. A drawing (I) made on February 25 and reproduced in the text shows its appearance at the time. Its emergence under neared conditions only served to accentuate its relative inconspicuousness, for it showed now notably inferior to the northern canals, and this not only in the matter of general visibility, but in the character it displayed. It was a line of hazy definition, contrasting thus with the sharp dark forms of its northern neighbors. [Illustration: II. March 30.] [Illustration: III. April 3.] As the planet steadily approached the earth, and the canals to the north became better and better seen, the Brontes instead of sharing in the general improvement did exactly the opposite. It grew less visible when it should have grown more so, if distance had been the cause of its appearance. It was now only to be seen at the north, even when it was seen at all; a state of things exemplified in Drawings II and III. [Illustration: IV. May 4.] As the planet now went away and detail should have dimmed, the Brontes proceeded to do the opposite. One had almost said it was actuated by a spirit of contrariety. For now when it had reason to grow faint it grew in conspicuousness; just as, before, when it should have become evident, it had declined. Distinctly farther off and smaller as the planet was at the next presentation, the Brontes had clearly developed both in tone and in the amount of it visible. This was in May (Drawings IV and V). In June bad seeing prevented good observations, but in July, Drawing VI, when the region again came round, the Brontes, in spite of the then greatly increased distance, asserted itself so strongly that even in not very good seeing its presence could not be passed by. [Illustration: V. May 7.] This contrariety of behavior had about it one very telling feature. That the canal waxed or waned in exact opposition to distance and even toward the last to seeing too, showed conclusively that neither distance nor definition could in any way be held responsible for its metamorphoses. A very fortunate circumstance, this of the observations, for it directly eliminated size of disk, phase, and seeing, for which correction are none too easy to make, and which in the minds of the sceptical could always remain as unexplained possibilities of error. [Illustration: VI. July 18.]