218 REPORT — 1875. 



Between 12" and 12" 30" on the night of August 11th, Mr. Greg observed 

 10 meteors, chiefly Persei'ds, in an interval of clear sky, at Buntingford, 

 Herts ; and four of these were of considerable brightness. The radiant- 

 region was diffuse, extending apparently between a Persei and e or t Cas- 

 siopeise. 



General Radiant-lists, and tJieir extension and corroboration by observations 

 {chiefly collected by the Committee since the year 1870). — The numerous 

 observations (principally of the periodical meteor-showers of January, April, 

 August, October, November, and December) communicated during the past 

 six or seven years, since the publication of the Committee's " Atlas of 

 Radiant-points " in the year 1867, which have remained' unpublished in 

 these Eeports since the year 1870, together with the printed meteor-cata- 

 logue of the " Eadcliffe Observations," Oxford, for the years 1869-1872, 

 aiford abundant materials for revising and correcting, and in some cases for 

 extending the list of Radiant-points included in that Atlas, of which ad- 

 vantage has only been partially taken by Mr. Greg in his most recently pub- 

 lished general lists of Radiant-points (see these Reports for 1868, p. 401, 

 the list of the ' Atlas ' of meteor-showers, 1872, Table facing p. 109, and 

 1874, pp. 324-339). The latter list contains all the combined radiant-lists of 

 various observers, and reproduces, with very little alteration, the earlier 

 meteor-shower list of the British Association ' Atlas ' in 1867, as the portion 

 of the Catalogue which depends directly upon observations collected by the 

 Committee. By comparison with the more recent observations, Mr. Greg is 

 now enabled to present the following modifications and instances of corro- 

 boration of his general list (p. 221) which the above-named continued series of 

 observations are found to afford, and which they suggest as desirable points for 

 verification in the case of a continued collection of occasional meteor-observa- 

 tions for such an object. Several new radiant-points are comprised among 

 these results ; and new positions and durations are assigned to several of the 

 formerly established showers, of which the particulars and the general 

 extent wiU most readily be gathered from the following notes of these com- 

 parisons supplied by Mr. Greg. The reference numbers in the first column 

 of the Table correspond to those of the general list in the volume of these 

 Reports for 1874 (p. 324), and to this list and to the older one of 1868 the 

 present Table supplies a five or six years' commentary and continuation. Some 

 radiant-points of the list deserve special notice as having received from the 

 new observations important illustrations. Showers formerly very conspicuous 

 are occasionally unnoticed, or were invisible in the newer observations. Of 

 these showers,B G (G. &H., No. 101) of the " Cygnids " in July and August 

 is an example, having been only very sparingly observed since the year 1870 : 

 while an eqiiaUy marked meteor-shower of July, near the head of Draco, BZ 

 (No. 102), has presented itself with greatest intensity in August as a con- 

 comitant of the 10th of August- meteors, and during the periods of observa- 

 tion immediately connected with the systematic watches for that shower. 



Two well-defined meteor-showers in October and November, and a third 

 in December, the Orionids of October 16th-24th, Taurids of Nov. 2nd-12th, 

 and Geminids of December 10th-14th, appear to be connected together by 

 intermediate meteors, absorbing with the principal radiant-points themselves 

 a large proportion of the sporadic meteors visible in those months. The first 

 two of these showers are in great part contemporary, the sliower-radiant in 

 Orion comprising, according to Schmidt, six subradiants in October and 

 November, with an average position at about R.A 83°, Decl. -f 11°. The 

 place of its maximum appearance, about the middle of October, is in some- 



