A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 305 



The comet No. 21 agrees too closely in all its particulars -with the course 

 of the meteors of the 20th of April, from an observed radiant-point about in 

 11. A. 27S°-7, N. Decl. 35°, to leave any doi;bt of its connexion with the 

 star-shower of that date. Dr. Oppolzer, who observed the comet, remarks 

 that the visible connexion between its tail and nucleus was so slight as to 

 appear as if it would shortly be dissolved ; and the possibility that the comet 

 is gradually becoming broken up into portions is not an improbable assump- 

 tion to account for the extremely irregular returns of this great meteoric 

 shower. The occurrence of a meteoric shower with a radiant-point in 

 Cerberus (E. A. 273°-0, N. Decl. 2,5°-5), observed by Professor Herschel on 

 the morning of the 13th of April, 1864, agrees well with the elements of the 

 same comet as computed by Oppolzer. 



Orbits of the Meteoric Streams of Orbit of Comet I., 1861. 



April 13th and April 2Uth. Oppolzer. 



S3 23° 30° 29°-8 



TT 235° 229° 243°-2 



i 95° 83° 79°-8 



log q ... . 9-9706 9-9907 9-96412 



e 1-0 1-0 0-98346 



Again, reducing the nodal passages of Biela's comet at former returns to 

 the fixed equinox for 1850-0, they are found to be, with the corresponding 

 positions of the radiant-point : — 



Ypar Long, of Nodal passage Position of the Eadiant. 



?S of the Earth. E. A. N. Decl. 



Dec. 10 18°-7 o8°-l 



„ 4 22°-8 47°-7 



Nov. 28 23°-4 43°-0 



The meteors observed on the 6th-8th of December by Brandes in 1798, by 

 Flangergues and Herrick in 1838, and by Heis in 1847, are stated by the 

 latter observer (Die Periodischen Sternschnuppen : Cciln, 1849) to have 

 radiated from a point in Cassiopeia at about E. A. 25°, N. Decl. -)-40°. In 

 his latest list of radiant-points the radiant A,^ for the first half of December 

 is placed at E. A. 21°, N. Decl. + 54°, while in Greg's list of radiant-points 

 (see Eeport for 1868, p. 403) the elongated radiant Aj^, j^, producing meteors 

 in November and for some weeks earlier, is situated between a and S Cassio- 

 peite from E. A. 10° to 25°, and N. Decl. 54° to 60°. The radiant is sup- 

 posed to be continuous with A„ (Nov. 23-Dec. 18), near B Camelopardi, 

 whose position is about at E. A. 45°, N. Deck 60°. Observations on shooting- 

 stars on the nights of the last week of November and first week of December 

 accordingly deserve particular attention, with a view to determining the 

 exact position of their point of radiation. 



The following are some other comets of the list, all the particulars of whose 

 nodal passages and radiant-point appear to agree approximately with those 

 of meteoric showers included in Greg's catalogue of radiant-points for the 

 northern, and Heis and Neumayer's catalogue for the southern hemisphere. 

 The particulars of the meteor-showers apparently indicated are placed for 

 comparison, in the Table, adjoining those computed from the cometary orbits 

 to which they appear to correspond : — 



