A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 381 



served for some minutes. The streak then expanded, and became bent and 



Fio-. 1. 



rio-. 2. 



Pis. 3. 



twisted without losing its bright and dense appearance into the form of fig. 2. 



Ten or twelve minutes after its first appearance its form was that of fig. 3. 

 It was now drifting slowly from the east towards the west, and without 

 losing anything of its sharpness of definition and bright white appearance it 

 was hidden behind a cloud, fifteen or twenty minutes after the time of its 

 first appearance. (Report of M. Gilbin to M. de Fonvielle.) 



The accounts of numerous other observers in Paris, Eheims, and Strasbour"-, 

 in France, at Luxembourg, and at Geneva, Bern, Ziirich, and Lielthal, in Swit- 

 zerland, as well as at Lindau on the eastern shore of the Lake of Constance, 

 testify to the same general appearance of the meteor, the occurrence of which 

 near the date of the 9th of June, marked in the present year by the fall of 

 an aerolite (noticed in the next paragraph) in Algeria, and in 1866 by the 

 stonefall of Knyahinja, appears to connect it with the same aerolitic period to 

 which the latter meteorites belong. 



III. AiiuoiiTES. 



1867, June 9th, 10" 30"^ r.M. (local time). Plain of Tadjera, Amer Gue- 



bala, near Setif, Algeria. 

 A luminous body was seen to descend towards the earth, and when arrived 

 at a certain height to burst into fragments. The flash of light was followed 

 by rumbling noises, which ended in three loud reports, and were attended 

 by a fall of aerolites. Three stones, Avhich are undoubted meteorites, M'ere 

 afterwards picked up, and brought to Setif, which is ten miles from the place 

 of fall. A fragment, which is deposited in the museum at Algiers, is placed 

 at the disposal of the French Academy. (Comi)tesRendus, August 5th, 1867.) 



lY. SnOWEE-METEOES. 



Meteoric shower of October ISth to 20th, 1866. 



In these Reports for the year 18-47, the following observation occurs, 

 which refers to an abundance of meteors about the date of the 17th to the 

 26th of October, seen at Whitehaven by Mr. J. F. Miller, in the previous 

 year : — 



"I never saw more meteors than this winter. From October 17th to 

 December 17th they appeared in great numbers every clear night, some as 

 large as Jupiter. The most remarkable were between October 17th and 26th, 

 and on November 10th, 11th, and 12th." 



