OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 215 



Mr. Clark watched at Heidelberg for the return of the November meteor- 

 shower, during a partially overcast state (clouds concealing about one half 

 or two thirds) of the sky, on the mornings of the 14th and loth of November 

 last (1S74), for about 25 minutes on each date, and observed a small Leonid 

 and two Taurids on the former, and three brighter Leonids (two of which 

 left enduring streaks) and one unconformable meteor on the latter date. 

 The shower does not appear to have entirely disappeared, and its tendency 

 to reach a maximum on the morning of the 15th rather than on that of the 

 14th appears still to be sensible in its decreasing phase. At Heidelberg and 

 at Sunderland in England, Mr. Clark and Mr. Backhouse reported the state 

 of the weather at the principal periods of the December and January showers 

 as unfavourable for observations. No observations of the January star- 

 shower in ] 875 could, from the general prevalence elsewhere of similarly 

 unfavourable conditions, be obtained. 



The April Jleteor-sJiower in 1875. — All the accounts which the Committee 

 has received of observations on this star-shower during the bright moon- 

 light and hazy state of the sky on the nights of the 19th-21st of April last 

 are corroborative of the almost total cessation or disappearance of the shower 

 at the usual time of its annual retui-n. During a watch of l*" 30" on the 

 19th, and of 1" on the 20th, Mr. M'Clure, with one assistant at Glasgow, 

 observed only a single meteor (apparently not a Lyraid) on the former 

 night. At Newcastle-on-Tyne the sky was very clear from lO*" 50" p.ir. 

 until midnight on the night of April 20th, and five meteors, one of which 

 was a small Lyraid, were observed. Two of these were of remarkable 

 length of course and brightness, directed apparently from radiant-points 

 near Aquila, Arcturus, or in the southern hemisphere : but from the bright- 

 ness of the full moon meteors of smaller brightness than 3rd- or 4th-magnitude 

 stars would not have been visible on the occasion of this periodic watch ; 

 and with regard to the disappearance of the shower on the night of April 

 20th, some evidence of its occurrence may have been visible in foreign 

 countries, of which, on account of the maximum being reached during day- 

 time in England, the observation at English stations could only be very 

 partial, and may in this manner have been quite prevented. 



At Birmingham the sky was clear on the 21st, and in the fuU moonlight, 

 which stiU prevailed, Mr. Wood observed at Birmingham, at 10** 52", one 

 meteor only (a bright Lyraid) as the result of an attentive watch of 1" 5" 

 for the expected April shower. 



Meteor-showers of August 1875. — The stormy and unsettled weather of 

 the early days of this month interfered at almost every station with regular 

 observations^ the day and evening of the 10th of August itself being one of 

 most violent thunderstorms throughout the country, and but scattered 

 records of the Perseus shooting-stars were in consequence I'eceived. Noticing 

 meteors to be frequent on the night of July 28th, Mr. Crumplen mapped 

 some of their apparent courses in London between lO*" and 10'' 30" p.m. ; and 

 those of seven proved to be Perseids, with a radiant-point between ^ Persei 

 and Cassiopeia. A communication concerning observations of meteors on the 

 2nd of August was also received by the Committee from Mr. Hind, who 

 relates that between 9'' 30" and ll"" p.m. on that evening a number of 

 meteors were remarked, one of thom of a Lyroe brightness, the radiant- 

 point of which was " most decided," and its position was found to be at 

 omicron AndromedjB (R.A. 344°, Decl.-f-41°). The existence of this radiant- 

 point in August was pointed out in the first of Mr. Greg's general lists of 

 radiant-points (Report, 1864, p. 100, No. xxx.), attaching to it the sign EG 



