A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 407 
No star-showers were observed at Melbourne during the epochs (for the 
northern hemisphere) of the 2nd of January, 19th—21st of April, 18th of Octo- 
ber, 13th-14th of November, and 3rd—18th of December, during the five- 
year period of the observations, from 1858 to 1862. The months of June, 
July, and August are regarded by Dr. Neumayer as particularly rich, with 
respect to the hourly frequency of meteors. Many fine meteors were seen on 
board of the frigate ‘ Novara,’ on the voyage from Funchal to Rio Janeiro, 
between the 27th of July and the 2nd of August, 1857. An unusual number 
of meteors was also seen at Melbourne towards the end of February and be- 
tween the 8th and 17th of May in the year 1859. A notable number of 
shooting-stars and fireballs was seen at Victoria on the night of June 12-13, 
1861. A great number were also seen by M. Poey at Havannah, on the 
nights of the 27th and 28th of July 1862. Maxima of frequency of shooting- 
stars, in various years of the interval from 1858 to 1862, were observed at 
Melbourne on the following dates :—Jan. 28—Feb. 2, Mar, 12-15, May 8-17, 
June 3-14, July 27—-Aug. 2, Aug. 5-7, Oct. 25, Dec. 6, 12, 18, and 25. 
The ayerage hourly frequency, for the different months of the year, given 
in the memoir, differs in a very small degree from the results of the Melbourne 
observations as formerly stated in these Reports*. 
Particular accounts of several large meteors recorded in the southern con- 
tinent of Australia are included in the memoir, which have either been de- 
seribed in these Reports, or for which the original memoir must be consulted 
for special details of their description. 
“Notes and Reflections on the Astronomical Theory of Falling Stars,” 
by G. V. Schiaparellif.—In continuation of his former letters to Father 
Secchi on the orbits and probable origin of luminous meteors, Professor 
Schiaparelli last year resumed the subject, in a memoir read before the Flo- 
rentine Academy of Sciences, containing additional notes and mathematical 
. considerations of importance on the astronomical theory of shooting-stars. 
According to the best received hypothesis which existed before the dis- 
covery of their connexion with comets, the sun was regarded as surrounded 
by a series of meteoric rings, one of which, that of the November meteors§, 
returning once in a cycle of about 33-25 years, contains a principal group of 
meteors collected in one portion of its circumference, the remaining portions of 
the annulus being either nearly free from or totally devoid of meteors. Star- 
showers of annual occurrence like that of the 10th of August, present the 
phenomenon of a nearly continuous stream of meteors, varying only slightly 
in density in its different parts; while those which appear, at uncertain 
intervals of years, on the 2nd of January and 20th of April, must form a 
discontinuous stream of meteoric bodies, consisting of meteor groups irregu- 
larly distributed along its length, and separated from each other by inter- 
vening gaps. Finally, those isolated appearances described in catalogues as 
ereat star-showers of former times, which are not known to have returned, 
and the modern star-showers of the 12th of December, including, perhaps, 
‘among its appearances the great display of meteors observed by Brandes on 
_ * Report for 1865, p. 182. 
+ See Report for 1866, p. 127. _ 
 ¢ Memorie della Societa Italiana delle Scienze, 3rd ser. vol.i.pt.1. 4to, Florence, 1867. 
_ § The term “Leonids,” if applied to this shower as radiating from some point in the 
mstellation Leo, may, not improperly, be used to distinguish it from other meteors appear- 
simultaneously with it, as Professor Schiaparelli has applied the term “ Perseids ” to 
icate the meteors of the 10th of August which radiate from some point in the constel- 
lation Perseus. Mme. Scarpellini has employed the word “ uranatmi” (sidereal exhala- 
tions) to designate shower-meteors generally. 
