A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 21 



In the 'Comptes Rendus,' vol. xlv. for 1857, p. 257, M. Coulvier-Gravier 

 remarks, in a series of observations on the August periodical meteors during 

 a period of twelve years, that the maximum number per hour, from 9 p.m. to 

 10 p.m., are seen between the N.E. and E.N.E. to 2° 5' of N.E. From 2 to 

 3 a.m., between E.S.E. and S.E., 3° of E.S.E. From 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. the 

 maximum has advanced 65° towards the South (or 11° per hour); so that 

 one would conclude that at 6 a.m. the maximum would be between the S. 

 and S.S.E., 7° of S.S.E. 



The above is also confirmed by the general result for other months of the 

 year, i.e. the maximum for August being in the morning between the S. and 

 S.S.E., the general average for the year, of shooting-stars, being E.S.E. 



Mr. G. C. Bompas's valuable generalizations on this fact of the number 

 of meteors increasing regularly from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., as that the number 

 appearing in the East is double the number originating in the West, are given 

 in a resume at p. 131 of the volume of the British Association Reports for 

 1857, held at Dublin. 



No. 5. — Mr. R. P. Greg gives the following results, taken from a catalogue 

 he has constructed of the most remarkable meteors on record, as regards 

 their general observed direction ; without reference, however, to the precise 

 hours of observation, a matter probably of less consequence in very large 

 meteors moving near the earth's surface, than in the case of ordinary sporadic 

 shooting-stars. 



The number for each month here varies quite accidentally, as details con- 

 cerning precise direction are frequently wanting in the various published 

 accounts of these phenomena. 



