40 REPORT 1871. 



3. TJie August Shower in 1870. — In the 'Meteorological Bulletin' of the 

 Moncalieri Observatory for October 1870, the first results of observations in 

 Piedmont on the star-shower of the 10th and 11th of August last are com- 

 municated. As already observed in the last Report, the frequency of the 

 meteors did not exceed the ordinary average of the shower, and they were 

 somewhat more frequent on the night of the 10th than on that of the 11th 

 of August. They appeared to proceed from several radiant-points, besides 

 the principal one of the shower, in Perseus. Among the contemjjoraneous 

 radiant-points, T^, Pj (the former occurring in August in Pegasus, and the 

 latter usually appearing in Auriga in the latter part of September) were 

 observed to be conspicuous. 



4. The November Shower in 1870. — The preparations made for recording 

 the return of the November meteors in 1870 were in a great measure disap- 

 pointed by the cloudy state of the sky at several of the English stations. 



The following letter from Mr. Backhouse announced a more favourable 

 condition of the sky at Sunderland on the morning of the 14th of November 

 than that which prevailed at Manchester, Birmingham, York, and London, 

 where no meteors of the shower could be observed : — 



" Between 2" 20"° and 3'' 42"^ a.m., on the 14th, I watched for meteors ; I 

 only saw seven in fifty-six minutes, watching in a cloudless sky. Of these 

 only four belonged to the shower. I enclose the particulars. I did not 

 watch much on the morning of the 15th. It was mostly cloudy, and I saw 

 no meteors." — Of the conformable meteors two left trains, one was station- 

 ary close to, and the others radiating very nearly from, the small star x 

 Leonis. The unconformable meteors appeared with short courses in and near 

 the constellation Taurus, and of these one was as bright as Sirius. It was 

 of a yellow colour, describing a path of 3°, near e Arietis, from the direction 

 of the Pleiades, and it left no streak. 



Five meteors, from undetermined radiant-points, were seen through breaks 

 in the clouds by Mr. J. E. Clark, at York, on the morning of the 14th, and 

 two Leonids of some brightness, in a watch of one hour (interrupted by the 

 clouds), on the morning of the 1.5th of November. 



On the morning of the 14th of November the sky was clear at Glasgow 

 from 2^ lO™ until 5'' 15"" a.m., and twenty-six meteors were recorded by 

 Mr. A. S. Herschel, of which twenty-one were conformable. Of the latter 

 the paths of eleven, prolonged backwards, crossed, and of five passed close to 

 the curve of Leo's sickle. Seven meteors left persistent streaks, which were 

 faintly visible in the full moonlight. The proportion of magnitudes of the 

 conformable meteors was :— 



Of meteors equal to or brighter than a ist-mag. » ; 2nd do. ; 3rd do. ; 4th do. 

 Number of meteors seen 3 675 



Meteors of smaller magnitudes were rendered invisible by the moon's light ; 

 and the most striking conformable meteor of the shower, recorded at 

 4'' 25" A.M., was as bright as Sirius. It described a course of 25°, directed 

 nearly from fi Leonis, in three-quarters of a second, and left a broad streak 

 on its whole path for two seconds. The following numbers of conformable 

 and unconformable meteors were recorded in the half-hours ending at 



hm hm hm hm hm hm 



1870, November 14th, a.m 2 40 3 10 3 40 4 10 440 5 10 



Conformable meteors 146253 



Unconformable meteors i o o 4 o o 



In the fii'st and last half-hours the sky was partially concealed by clouds ; 

 at 3** 38" A.M. a group of three first-, second-, and third-magnitude meteors, 



