A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 289 



Taking the average of these positions, 



E. A. Decl. 



O o 



for August 9 41 +57S 



.. 10 45 +56'S 



II 44"S+56'S 



Tho arerage of 3 days. . . . =43"5 56-8 



which agrees well enough with the result of Schiaparelli's and Zezioli's ob- 

 servations for this year. 



At Milan, Prof. 8chiaparelli considered the Perseids of August 1868 more 

 conformable than usual ; the declination of the radiant-point was determined 

 more precisely than, perhaps, its right ascension, as about 57°. Zezioli, at 

 Uergamo, found 



E.A.=43°, DocL -}-57°. 



Signer Zezioli, of Bergamo, has also sent to Mr. 11. P. Greg particulars of 

 about 600 meteors seen in March and April 1868, most of which Mr. Greg 

 has reduced upon the charts prepared by Mr. A. S. Herschel for the British 

 Association, and the results as to radiants are given in the second edition of 

 the Atlas of Meteor Chnrts*. 



At Rome, Mancini states tho horary numbers for three observers thus, — 



No. 



9th August 21; 



ictli , 46 



ntli „ 41 



12tll „ 18 



Mr. 11. P. Greg, at Whitby, considered the principal radiant for tho carher 

 part of the August shower (from 2nd August to 8th August) as very close 

 to k Persci, or about E. A. 44°, N. Decl. -|-57°. 



2. The November Meteoric Shou'er in 1869. — « Captain Donald of the < Pres- 

 ton,' from Bombay to Liverpool, reports that on the 14th inst., when thirty- 

 eight miles S.S.AV. of Kinsale (N. lat. 51° 42', W. long. 8° 31'), from 2h. a.m. 

 till after daybreak, meteors appeared to be bursting in every direction, like 

 innumerable rockets flying across the heavens. The principal direction was 

 from S.E. to N.W. The weather was rather overcast at first." — Liverpool 

 Mercury, Nov. 28th, 1868. 



From the logs of various vessels transmitted to him for analysis, Captain 

 H. Toynbec, head of the Ocean-Meteorological Department of the Board of 

 Trade, has kindly extracted, at the solicitation of the Committee, the follow- 

 ing entries, in which the occurrence of this star-shower is noticed as having 

 been observed at sea. 



Extract from the log of the ship ' Spray of the Ocean,' Capt. P. Slaughter, 

 from Bombay to Liverpool, " Nov. 14th, 1868, N. lat. about 15°, W. long, 

 about 32°" [in the N.E. trades of the Atlantic Ocean].—" From midnight 

 until daylight a continual succession of meteors ; countless ; many of them 

 of great magnitude and briUiaucy, their direction mostly from between N.E. 

 and N.W. towards the latter point. Their tracks, also, mostly parallel to the 

 horizon, at altitudes from about 10° to about 35." 



Under the same date and hour, in a corresponding position of the S.E. 

 trades, where no lightning is usually seen, an entry in the log of another 

 vessel contains a memorandum of the appearance of constant lightning. 



» These cliarts containing 2r> plates, can be obtained on application to Messrs. Taylor 

 and Francis, Red Lion Coui-t, Fleet Street, London. 



