94 THE NEBULA ABOUT G ORIONIS. 



The small star No. 69 I do not find to have been noticed. 

 No. 34 is also, I think, a new addition ; }t follows No. 81 of 

 Herschel's Cape Catalogue. 



I do not find that No. 44 of the nineteenth magnitude has been 

 seen before ; it is situated in a brilliant district, and is a difficult 

 object to keep steadily in view ; it follows No. 41 at a distance 

 of about six seconds ; the direction of a line joining these two 

 stars is towards a of the Trapezium. 



Sir John Herschel's drawing shows the southern termination 

 of the Hujgenian region strongly preceding a, whereas I have 

 repeatedly laid the micrometer-wire upon it, and have found it to 

 be of the same right ascension as a. The difference of declina- 

 tion between this point and a is 161". 



His star No. 76 is well seen, but No. 78, to which the same 

 magnitude is given in his table, has not been seen steadily by me. 

 Indeed, the observations on it at different times have been so con- 

 tradictory, that I could only account for the discrepancies by sup- 

 posing it to be a variable star of short period. 



In respect to the evidence of change in this nebula, the follow- 

 ing points seem to demand attention. 



In the first place, the regular, graceful, and well-defined out- 

 lines, indicated in Sir John Herschel's figure, both of the Mes- 

 sierian branch and that from the Huygenian region, sweeping along 

 north of the stars Nos. 45 — 50 and 61 of my catalogue, certainly 

 do not exist at present ; or, I should rather say, I have not been 

 able to trace them with our telescope at times when I could dis- 

 tinctly see stars that had escaped his notice. The outline of 

 the Messierian branch cannot be distinguished below the star 

 No. 61, while the bright portion of the Huygenian region ter- 



