96 REPORT — 1872. 



and the feet of Gemini and Auriga, while the Leonids were directed from a 

 better-defined radiant-region in the head of Leo. Two more Leonids, and 

 two other meteors belonging to the group from Taurus, were recorded during 

 the short watch between 2'' and 2'' 30™ a.m. on the 14th. One accordant 

 observation of a meteor from Taurus, simultaneously observed at the Royal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, at 12'' 3'" 12% was obtained ; and the comparative rate 

 of frequency of the Leonids and of the unconformable or sporadic meteors 

 visible during the same watch nearly confirmed the results of the watch kept 

 by Mr. Glaisher's staff of observers at the latter place. 



At the observatory of Stonyhurst CoUege the Ilev. S. J. Perry obtained an 

 uninterrupted view of the November meteors during several hours of their 

 appearance on the morning of the 13th of November ; and the following 

 results are obtained from the list of meteors which he observed. The sky 

 was overcast until lO*" 15'" p.m. on the 12th (when a regular watch was com- 

 menced), and was clear, with the exception of a few stratus clouds, until 

 3^ 15"", when it became quite clear, and remained so until the end of the 

 watch at 6" 30™ a.m. on the morning of the 13th. The times and other par- 

 ticulars of the^appearance of fifty-five meteors were recorded, with the posi- 

 tions of their apparent paths among the stars. Of these about twenty were 

 Leonids, and fifteen, seven of which were Leonids, were as bright as first- 

 magnitude stars. The following numbers of shooting-stars, and of the 

 meteors which appeared to radiate from Leo, were observed in the successive 

 hours ending at — 



1871, Nov. 13th, A.M... 12'' 13'^ 14" 3'' 4" 5" G'' 6" 30™ Totals 

 Nos. of meteors seen .. 4 9 6 12 3 7 10 4 55 



Nos. of Leonids 2 1 71 1 6 2 20 



The majority of the unconformable meteors noted during the watch pro- 

 ceeded from the directions of those parts of Gemini, Orion, Taurus, and 

 Auriga near the head stars of Orion, or between the Hyades, the Pleiades, 

 and the Twins. 



" In the watch for meteors kept under the direction of M. Le Verrier in 

 France, on the nights of the 12th, 13th, and 14th of November, those ob- 

 served on the 12th and 13th issued from a point in the neighbourhood of the 

 constellation Auriga ; the ' Leonides,' or meteors issuing from Leo, were most 

 numerous on the night of the 14th" (Notes from the ' Comptes Rendus' of 

 Nov. 20, 1871, in ' Nature' of Nov. 30, 1871). 



The following description of the November meteors, as they appeared at 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne on the morning of the 15th of November, 1871, was 

 communicated in a letter from Professor Herschel, in ' Nature ' of the 30th 

 of November : — 



" Shortly before four o'clock on the morning of the 15th the clouds cleared 

 ofi", and the appearance of several meteors, one of which was as bright as 

 Jupiter, gave evident signs of the progress of the November star-shower. 

 The perfect clearness and darkness of the sky, in the absence of the moon, at 

 the same time gave especial brightness to the meteors and to their phospho- 

 rescent streaks. Between four o'clock and the first approach of daylight, at 

 six o'clock, thirty-two meteors were counted, or at the rate of sixteen per 

 hour, of which three were as bright, or brighter, than first-magnitude stars, 

 nine as bright as second, six as bright as third, and eight no brighter than 

 stars of the fom-th or lesser magnitudes. Twenty-six of these meteors were 

 directed from the usual radiant-point in Leo, which on this occasion, although 

 not very well defined, appeared to be approximately close to the star Zeta, in 



