ON FLAMSTEEU'S STAVES "OBSERVED, BUT NOT EXISTING." 



71 



where there is no star to be seen now. But Pi. 2''. 9S, 26 Arietis (Dm. +190.3G5 . 6™. 4) differs about 

 15' in right ascension. lu fact, we have 



26 Arietis for ISOO : 34° 51' 44"; +18° 57' 36" 

 Precession to icOO —1 31 22 —30 28 



Proper motion in llQy (Miidl. Br.) —7 +5 



26 Arietis for 1690 : 33 20 15; +18 27 13^ 



26 Arietis —Fl. 314 -13 5; -1 27 



By reading, therefore, in the Historia Ccelestis Britannica, 1692, December 10, the time of 

 transit, S'' 18™ 58» instead of S^ 19™ 58% we come upon tliis star, and the star denominated 28 

 Arietis has originated from a mistalce of 1™. Already Miss Herschel had made this conjecture, 

 and Baily had hardly any reason not to accept it. 



2) 



B. Fl. 639. 



The absence in the skies of the star, which in the British Catalogue is reported thus: 



100 Tauri G'^'s 700 2' 0"; 15° 50' 5" 



seems to have puzzled much the older astronomers, and Bode, assuming the observation to be 

 unmistakable [Astronomisches Jahrbueh, 1788, p. 175), takes pains to show (ib., 1817, p. 249) that 

 it could not have been any one of the four asteroids that were then known. 

 In the Historia Ccelestis, II, p. 389, stand the following observations: 



Baily found this in accordance with the MS., except that at the third star (which is exactly 

 the questionable one) "the zenith distance is marked as doubtful in the original MS. entry." (The 

 sign of uncertainty ( :: ) attached to the last star perhaps was placed two lines too low in the print?) 

 The other stars are identified by means of a Tauri. Eeducing the times of transit for rate of clock 

 to 9'' 20", the third and fourth columns of the next table are obtained. 



In the same table are added, in column 6, the striw eoehleoe readings converted into arc, and in 

 column 7 the differences of these with the readings jjer lineas diagojiales, which sliow at least that 

 both indications are in pretty good harmony with each other. With greater regularity, however, 



