BUSCHING.—A ring-plain S. of Zagut, about 36 miles in diameter, with a moderately high but irregular wall. There are several craterlets within and some low hills.
BUCH.—Adjoins Busching on the S.E. It is about 31 miles in diameter, and has a less broken barrier. There is a large crater on the E. wall, and another smaller one on the S.W. Schmidt shows nothing on the floor, but Neison noted two minute crater-cones.
MAUROLYCUS.—This unquestionably ranks as one of the grandest walled- plains on the moon's visible surface, and when viewed under a low sun presents a spectacle which is not easily effaced from the mind. Like so many of the great enclosures in the fourth quadrant, it impresses one with the notion that we have here the result of the crowding together of a number of large rings which, when they were in a semi-fluid or viscous condition, mutually deformed each other. It extends fully 150 miles from E. to W., and more from N. to S.; so it may be taken to include an area on the lunar globe which is, roughly speaking, equal to half the superficies of Ireland. This vast space, bounded by one of the loftiest, most massive, and prominently-terraced ramparts, includes ring-plains, craters, crater-rows, and valleys,—in short, almost every type of lunar formation. It towers on the E. to a height of nearly 14,000 feet above the interior, and on the W., according to Schmidt, to a still greater altitude. A fine rill-valley curves round the outer slope of the W. wall, just below its crest, which is an easy object in a 8 1/2 inch reflector when the opposite border is on the morning terminator, and could doubtless be seen in a smaller instrument; and there is an especially brilliant crater on the S. border, which is not visible till a somewhat later stage of sunrise. The central mountain is of great altitude, its loftiest peaks standing out amid the shadow long before a ray of sunlight has reached the lower slopes of the walls. It is associated with a number of smaller elevations. I have seen three considerable craters and several smaller ones in the interior.
BAROCIUS.—A massive formation, about 50 miles in diameter, on the S.W. side of Maurolycus, whose border it overlaps and considerably deforms. Its wall rises on the E. to a height of 12,000 feet above the floor, and is broken on the N.W. by two great ring-plains. On the inner slope of the S.E. border is a curious oblong enclosure. There is nothing remarkable in the interior. On the dusky grey plain W. of Maurolycus and Barocius there is a number of little formations, many of them being of a very abnormal shape, which are well worthy of examination. I have seen two short unrecorded clefts in connection with these objects.
STOFLER.—A grand object, very similar in size and general character to Maurolycus, its neighbour on the W. To view it and its surroundings at the most striking phase, it should be observed when the morning terminator lies a little E. of the W. wall. At this time the jagged, clean-cut, shadows of the peaks on Faraday and the W. border, the fine terraces, depressions, and other features on the illuminated section of the gigantic rampart, and the smooth bluish-grey floor, combine to make a most beautiful telescopic picture. At a peak on the N.E., the wall attains a height of nearly 12,000 feet, but sinks to a little more than a third of this height on the E. It is apparently loftiest on the N. The most conspicuous of the many craters upon it is the bright deep circular depression E. on the S. wall, and another, rather larger and less regular, on the N.W., which has a very low rim on the side facing the floor, and a craterlet on either side of the apparent gap. A large lozenge-shaped enclosure abuts on the wall, near the crater E., with a border crowned by a number of little peaks, which at an early stage of sunrise resemble a chaplet of pearls. The floor of Stofler is apparently very level, and in colour recalls the beautiful steel-grey tone of Plato seen under certain conditions. I have noted several distinct little craters on its surface, mostly on the N.E. side; and on the E. side a triangular dark patch, close to the foot of the wall, very similar in size and appearance to those within Alphonsus.
FARADAY.—A large ring-plain, about 35 miles in diameter, overlapping the S.W. border of Stofler; its own rampart being overlapped in its turn by two smaller ring-plains on the S.E., and by two still smaller formations (one of which is square-shaped) on the N.W. The wall is broad and very massive on the E. and N.E., prominently terraced, and includes many brilliant little craters. Schmidt shows a ridge and several craters in the interior.
LICETUS.—An irregular formation, about 50 miles in maximum width, on the S. of Stofler, with the flanks of which it is connected by a coarse valley. Neison points out that it consists of a group of ring-plains united into one, owing to the separating walls having been partially destroyed. This seems to be clearly the case, if Licetus is examined under a low sun. On the E. side of the N. portion of the formation, the wall rises to nearly 13,000 feet.
FERNELIUS.—A ring-plain, about 30 miles in diameter, abutting on the N. wall of Stofler. It is overlapped on the E. by another similar formation of about half its size. There are many craters and depressions on the borders of both, and a large crater between the smaller enclosure and the N.E. outer slope of Stofler. Schmidt shows eight craters on the floor of Fernelius.
NONIUS.—A ring-plain, about 20 miles in diameter, abutting on the N. wall of Fernelius. There is a prominent bright crater on the W. of it, and another on the N., from which a delicate valley runs towards the W. side of Walter.
CLAIRAUT.—A very peculiar formation, about 40 miles in diameter, S. of Maurolycus, affording another good example of interference and overlapping. The continuity of its border, nowhere very regular, has been entirely destroyed on the S. by the subsequent formation of two large rings, some 10 or 12 miles in diameter, the more easterly of which has, in its turn, been partially wrecked on the N. by a smaller object of the same class. There is also a ring-plain N.E. of Clairaut, which has very clearly modified the shape of the border on this side. Two craters on the floor of Clairaut are easy objects.