OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 165 



through Aquarius into Capricornus. The darkness of Capricornus 

 may certainly be due to atmospheric absorption, and observations at a 

 more southern station are needed to decide the question. But the 

 band, as I see it, does not terminate in Aquarius ; it is continued to 

 Aquihx, quitting the zodiac altogether. This circumstance, combined 

 witli the evidence furnished by the Durchmusterung of a slight maxi- 

 mum of stellar density along the northern portion of the band, induces 

 me to regard it as a sidereal and not as a zodiacal phenomenon. 



The earliest account of the zodiacal portion of this band, so far as I 

 know, was given by Schmidt, who repeatedly observed it (S. 26, 29, 

 32, 33, 35, 36, 44, 49, 50, 51). The definite observation of Novem- 

 ber 11, 1849 (S. 36), has a particular interest. But it can scarcely be 

 doubted that many of the other observations refer to the same object. 

 On October 24, 1853, the observer noticed the extension of this band 

 into the region of a and /3 Aquarii (S. 44). Schmidt was in doubt 

 about the conclusion to be drawn from these observations (S. 68), 

 which may indicate that the explanation of them by a stream of stars 

 had suggested itself to him ; but he does not propose that hypothesis. 

 It seems likely that his perception of the luminous band under dis- 

 cussion had an influence upon many of his drawings of the ordi- 

 nary zodiacal light, which may partially account for the peculiarities 

 already mentioned (p. 152). 



Brorsen appears to describe this band as visible early in December, 

 1853 (II. 12). Later in the month, the advance of the ordinary zodi- 

 acal light tended to make it a less definite object. Groneman (H. 

 55) likewise describes a similar appearance on December 2, 1874. 

 The observation made at Toulouse on November 10, 1874 (T. 1251), 

 may perhaps relate to the same class of phenomena. Any observation 

 of light between the Pleiades and the Milky Way, however, needs to 

 be carefully verified by comparisons made on other occasions, for 

 certainly there is much galactic light in that region. The prolongation 

 beyond the Pleiades towards the southwest may belong to the band 

 already considered. There seems to me to be an extension of the 

 Milky Way on the opposite or eastern side, passing through and 

 beyond Prsesepe (Astr. Nachr., CII. 263), which may have had 

 something to do with the Toulouse observation. Jones noticed this 

 band, or part of it, on February 15, 1854 (Jj. 234). The narrow 

 band from the Pleiades did not attract his attention, unless we suppose 

 that it was in part the cause of the maximum of elongation which 

 occurs, as we have seen (p. 162), about the beginning of the year. 

 But the zodiacal light, as observed by Jones, is too wide to be readily 



