A NEW 3.25 MICRON ABSORPTION FEATURE TOWARD MONOCEROS R2 IRS-3/

A new 3.2-3.5 mu m spectrum of the protostar Mon R2/IRS 3 confirms our previous tentative detection of a new absorption feature near 3.25 mu m. The feature in our new spectrum has a central wavelength of 3.256 mu m (3071 cm(-1)) and has a full width at half-maximum of 0.079 mu m (75 cm(-1)). We explore a possible identification with aromatic hydroc arbons at low temperatures, which absorb at a similar wavelength. If t he feature is due to aromatics, the derived column density of C-H bond s is similar to 1.8 x 10(18) cm(-2). If the absorbing aromatic molecul es are of roughly the same size as those responsible for aromatic emis sion features in the interstellar medium, then we estimate that simila r to 9% of the cosmic abundance of carbon along this line of sight wou ld be in aromatic hydrocarbons, in agreement with abundance estimates from emission features.