116 OF METEORS. CHAP. 3. 



winter nights, and in summer also, when there 

 are dry Easterly winds with a clear sky. They 

 have very much of the appearance of the real 

 stars, and have probably, from this circumstance, 

 derived their vulgar name : they leave little or 

 no train behind them, and shoot along in 

 straight lines, generally obliquely downward, 

 but sometimes horizontally.* 



The second kind are larger and more brilliant, 

 and generally appear in warm summer evenings, 

 particularly when cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, 

 and electric clouds abound : some of them 

 are very beautiful, and give much light : they 

 vary somewhat in colour and size. They have 

 sometimes a curvilinear motion. 



The third sort are strikingly different from 

 the two abovementioned : they are generally 

 small, and of a beautiful bluishwhite colour; 

 but their peculiar characteristic is that of leaving 

 long white trains behind them, which remain 

 visible for some seconds in the tract in which 

 the Meteors have gone. These tails which I 

 have endeavoured to represent in Plate VI. 



* I think I have observed that in summer time, when any 

 kind of falling stars appear, some feature of cirrostratus, 

 however small, may generally be seen about. But this does 

 not appear to be always the case in winter. 



