OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 43 



ever, was the unfavourable state of the sky which prevailed during the 

 forty-eight hours intended to have been devoted to the watch (and which 

 continued to prevent further observations during the last remaining nights 

 of the months of April), that with the exception of a few meteors of the 

 shower observed by Mr. Wood at Birmingham, and of the corresponding 

 group of meteors recorded by Mr. Herschel at Bury St. Edmunds, no un- 

 broken series of observations were received. The sky first became quite clear 

 at the latter place at 9*^ 30" p.m., and the following numbers of meteors were 

 seen in the half-hours ending at — 



h m h h m h h m h h m 



1871, April 20 p.m. 9 30 10 1030 11 11 30 12 (12 30 a.m. April 21). Total. 



Number of meteors seen ...31 31 11 6 25 



All but eight of their apparent paths, projected upon a map, when prolonged 

 backwards, pass across a circular area about 15° in width, of which the 

 centre is at a point in R. A. 267°, N. Decl. 35°. Nine of these conformable 

 meteors left bright trains. Of the eight unconformable meteors, four are 

 widely erratic meteors of the same shower, and the remaining four moving 

 in the opposite direction were directed from an unknown radiant-point in the 

 south. The path of one of the latter was remarkably serpentine in the latter 

 portion of the meteor's course. The following are the numbers of meteors of 

 the different magnitudes observed : — 



As bright as Jupiter or Sirius. As 1st mag. star. 2nd. Srd. 4th. 5t.h. Total. 

 3 4 S 5 4 4 25 



The last meteor was observed at 12'' 35™ a.m. on the 21st. The sky then 

 rapidly clouding over did not permit the progress of the shower, at Bury St. 

 Edmunds, to be further watched. On the previous and on the following 

 night the sky was also cloudj\ 



At Birmingham Mr. W. H. "Wood recorded the appearance of nine 

 shooting-stars between the hours of lO"" 20™ and 11''30™ p.m. on the night of 

 the 20th of April, five of which were noted in the fii'st, and four in the latter 

 half of the watch ; five meteors diverged from the constellation Lyra, three 

 from that of Corona, and the remaining meteor moved transversely to the 

 former ones from the neighbourhood of Polaris. The numbers of meteors 

 seen of different magnitudes were, l = Sirius, 2 = lst mag.*, l = 3rd do., 

 5 = 4th do. : total 9 meteors. The brightest meteor of the shower moved with a 

 nucleus of briUiaut blue, flickering light, about the brightness of Sirius, from the 

 direction of Corona. Soon after half-past 11 o'clock the sky became over- 

 cast, and remained so at I'' and 2^ a.m. on the morning of the 21st, when 

 regular watching was abandoned. The maximum, as far as could be ascer- 

 tained from these observations, occurred after midnight on the morning of 

 the 21st ; the rate of apparition for one observer, while the sk)'^ was clear, 

 being seven or eight per hour between ten and eleven o'clock, and twelve or 

 fifteen per hour during the half-hour immediately before and that imme- 

 diately after midnight. Between ll** 15™ and 11'' 45™ p.m. on the night of 

 the 2ist, Mr. Wood observed no meteors at Birmingham, although one-third 

 of the sky was visible, quite clear, through the broken clouds. The appear- 

 ance of the April shower in this year appears, therefore, to have taken place 

 on the date and at about the hour expected for its return, from the time 

 of its last conspicuous appearance. 



7. Meteor-shower of July 1871. — At sea, between Norway and England, 



Mr. A. S. Herschel watched for the periodical meteors (first pointed out by 



. Capocci, at Naples) on the night of the 16th of July. The sky was perfectly 



clear from ll** p.m. until 2'' a.m. on the morning of the 17th of July, and 



