A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 295 



cloud in 1868 considerably surpassed that traversed by the earth on the 

 13th-14th of JN'ovember, 1866. 



3. Meteoric Shower of December 12th, 1868. — The cloudy and unsettled 

 state of the weather in England on the periodical night of the annual return 

 of this meteor-shower prevented any continuous observations of shooting- 

 stars. A considerable shower of meteors was, nevertheless, noted by Mr. 

 Wood, at Birmingham, who reports as follows : — 



" Some meteors were observed on the 10th, but the overcast state of the 

 skies on the nights of the 11th, 12th, and 13th prevented observations re- 

 quisite to fix the time and intensity of the maximum (except within wide 

 limits). An hour's observation, however, on the morning of the 12th gave 

 evidence of a good display, namely, twenty meteors per hour for one observer, 

 of which 53 per cent, radiated ^'ery accurately from Gcminorum, and the 

 remaining 47 per cent, from the coexistent radiants, Ga, LG, Eg, EG. The 

 shower presented the usual features, — meteors white, with an occasional 

 bluish tint, brief in duration and traiuless." 



4. Meteoric Showers of Januanj 2nd, April 11th and Jpril, 20th, 1869. — At 

 London and Manchester the sky on the night of the 2nd of January was densely 

 overcast. On the night of the 3rd the sky was remarkably clear in the 

 neighbourhood of Loudon. Mr. Crumplen, and two other observers, watch- 

 ing there, independently, for several hours failed, however, to get a glimpse 

 of any shooting-stars. If the shower took place on the previous night it 

 must accordingly have been short-lived, and its limits must have been de- 

 fined within very narrow bounds. Mr. Crumplen also watched for meteors 

 on the night of the 24th of December, 1868, when the sky was partially 

 clear, without success. The unfavourable character of the weather for ob- 

 servations of luminous meteors in England throughout the last winter and 

 early part of the spring was equally attended by negative results on the 

 10-llth, and 20th of April, 1869. 



At Moncalieri, in Piedmont, forty meteors were observed on the evening 

 of the 11th of April, of which two were bolides (see Catalogue) whose 

 apparent paths were accurately recorded. Two other bohdes appeared on 

 the same evening with such briUiancy that the attention of all the seven 

 observers stationed on the terrace of the observatory, and looking towards 

 different parts of the sky, was di-awn towards them by their light. Eather 

 Denza is preparing for publication the observations of meteors made in 

 Piedmont during the first four months of the present year, among which the 

 number of bolides recorded has been unusually large. 

 ^ On the morning of the 21st of April, 18G9, between 2h. and 4h. a.m., 

 eighty-four meteors were counted at Moncalieri, of the usual characteristic 

 brightness, and radiating, with the general uniformity of the meteors of this 

 shower, from a point in the neighbourhood of the constellation Lyra. (Bul- 

 letins of the Eoyal Academy of Belgium for June 1869, vol. xxvii. p. 632-4.) 



In the Meteorological Biilletin of the Observatory of Urbino for April and 

 May, 1869, Prof. A. Serpieri records the apparent paths of forty-one shooting- 

 stars, observed during the evenings of those months ; nine of which were ob- 

 served in Ih. 10m. on the morning of the 21st of April. The last of these 

 nine April meteors was of red colour, moved slowly, as if resisted in its 

 flight, and left sparks of light upon its track. In a reply to Prof. Serpieri, 

 who sent these observations to him at Milan, Prof. Schiaparelli writes : — 

 "Seven of the nine meteor-tracks proceed from a radiant-point at about 

 E.A=267°, N. Dccl.= +35°. The radiant-point of the Comet I., 1S61, is at 

 about E. A.=270°-4, N. Decl.= + 33°-5. 



