[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Stn,—The conditions required by Mr. G. C. Whitworth's lunar puzzle (Spectator, September 4th) are these : an eclipse of the sun occurring near midday at the summer solstice. Visible evidence of size, shape, opacity, &c., entitles me to say that in a sense I can see the moon during the eclipse. These conditions would appear to have been fulfilled on June 28th, 1908, when an annular eclipse of the sun was partly visible at Greenwich about 6 a.m. The waning moon might be seen before sunrise on the 27th, about twenty-seven hours before conjunction, especially if the eye were assisted by earth-shine, and the new crescent after sunset on the 29th, when thirty-two hours old. The previous new moon occurred on May 30th at 3.15 a.m., and the following one on July 28th at 7.17 a.m. The moon would thus be visible every day from the evening of May 31st to the morning of July 26th, or fifty-
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