408 REPoiiT — 1867. 



The boundaries of this area nearly coincide with that of the star-shovrcr 

 seen on the 13th of November 1832, which was succeeded in the following 

 year by the well-known great November shower in America, observed by 

 Twining and Olmsted, on the morning of the 13th of November 1833, by a 

 recurrence of which in the present year (1867), the shower now described 

 would thus be followed by a fitting sequel. 



(4.) The December meteoric shower, in 1866. 



At Kislmaglmr, Lower Bengal, India.— Extract of a letter from Mr. W. 

 Masters to Sir J. F. W. Herschel, Bart.—" Since the morning of the 14th 

 of November, diverging meteors were not seen or detected on any of the 

 periodic dates, except the 12th of December. I observed them at 2'' 30™ 

 A.M. of this date. They might have come on at an earlier hour, and they 

 appeared to have passed off by 3'' a.m. They shot divergingly, and with 

 great rapidity, from a point about 29° or 30° of North Declination, and 136° 

 of Eight Ascension. They darted ovA at the rate of about three per minute, 

 were small, described short and thin arcs of light, and left no traces. Some 

 showed themselves only as moderate flashes of light, about 40° or 50° from 

 this point, without any visible arc of light or course. 



" A bright meteor with a long train shot across the area of divergence 

 from nearly due south to north, or from Alphard (a) in Hydra, to d in Ursa 

 Major. — Kishnaghur College, 20th December, 1866." 



At Birminqham, Mr. Wood kept a strict watch for meteors on the nights 

 of the 12th arid 13th of December. «• On the night of the 11th, the sky at 

 Birmingham was overcast all night. Towards 11'' p.m., on the night of the 

 12th, meteors were very frequent, about one per minute in one half of 

 the sky, the other half of the sky being overcast. The sky then became 

 completely overcast, and remained so until shortly after midnight, when it 

 became partly clear, and the frequency of the meteors was found to have 

 greatly decreased. From 12'' 53"" a.m. until 1'' 15°' a.m., with two-thirds 

 to a quarter of the sky quite clear, none were seen. The maximum of the 

 shower probably occurred between eleven and twelve o'clock, beginning at 

 10" 30'" P.M. on the 12th, and ending at 1" a.m. on the 13th. The radiant- 

 point was between H and a Geminorum. The meteors were blue and white, 

 of momentary duration, and the majority of them without trains. On the 

 night of the 13th the sky was clear, but no meteors were seen in twenty 

 minutes from 9'' 30'" p.m. to 9" 50"' p.m. A display of aurora borealis appeared 

 in the N.N.W., with streamers rddiating from a point below the horizon, 

 mo\'ing from west to east, and 120° or more in length." 



At Milhroolc, Tuam, in Ireland, the sky began to clear on the night of 

 the 12th, at 9 o'clock. From that time until 1'' 25'" a.m. on the 13th, Mr. 

 Birmingham counted 260 meteors, of which number 20 only were uncon- 

 formable. Mthough nine meteors, between 9'' 15'" p.m. and 9'' 30'" p.m., 

 were shown by alignments to radiate from within a circle about 3° in dia- 

 meter, with its centre in E. A. 107°, N. Decl. 19°, yet a meteor, nearly 

 stationary at the intersection of lines joining (j and e, o and Q Geminorum, 

 appeared to indicate a somewhat higher radiant. In comparison with the 

 November shower, the aspect of the meteors might be described as dndery, 

 with, however, a few notable exceptions. They were mostly of a bluish- white 

 colour, many traiidess, but in general leaving a faint train of the same colour 

 as the nucleus. One meteor, that was brighter than Sirius, showed a serpen- 

 tine coxTrse. There was no well-marked time of maximum, but there seemed 

 to be alternate periods of repose and activity. At 3'' 8" an immense fire- 



