OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 



341 



weak showers near it, in Sagitta, and one in Taurus Poniatovii. Both tlie 

 Anser- Sagitta showers and the one near Taurus Poniatovii, seem to hare 

 been noticed previously by Mr. Denning, (Nos. 30, 34, 1877) on April 

 l<3th-19th, 1877, and by Captain Tupman (T. 35, 34) on May 2nd, 1870, 

 and they present some resemblances to the hypothetical shower- radiants of 

 the comets 1853 II, and 1844 II, which passed at the nodal dates, May 

 1st, and April 21st, slightly within the earth's orbit at their descending 

 nodes. Some other accordances of the same kind presented by these new 

 April showers are pointed out in the accompanying Table.' 



Comet-Node 



Date and Position of Radiant- 

 point, and No of Meteors 



Description of Radiant- 

 point. 



1844 11s, \ 



(t£ distance - 0-08)/ 



1857 II b, \ 

 (0 distance - O07)J 



April 21 2S8-5+ 5 



Hav 2, 1870 285 +12 



April 1G-19, 1877 28G + 5 



(12 J,s) 



April 19-23 275 +11 ( 7 js) 



5 



("iUsj 



May 1 29G-5 + 13' 



May 2, 1870 298 + 5 



April 16-19, 1877 303 + 13 



1790111s, 1 

 (0 distance - 0-06) J 

 [And 1763 ??, Mar. is, 

 + 0-02, 312-5 + 21-5] 



1784 II {J, "I 

 (3 distance + 006) j 



April 19-23 



April 24 



May and June 



f2S7 +22 



292 + 14 



302 +18 



319 +19 



310 +24 



April 19-23 312 +22 



April 26 3345 + 33 



\ -.;i in no f 321 + 31 



April 19-23 | 333 + ^ 



Near S Aquilse. 

 T34. Near CIS Aquilse 

 D (77), 34. Near S 

 Aquilse. 



DAY kc. Taurus Ponia- 

 tovii. 

 Near y Aquilae, £ Sagitta;, 

 T 35. Near £ Aquilae. 

 D (77), 30. Near p- 



Aquilse. 

 (20 |s) | DW kc. Near a (Bode) 



and 5 Vulpeculae. 

 ( 7 4,s)|DW&c. Near£ Sagitta:, 



7 Aquilae. 

 DW kc. Near y Sagitta?, 



p Aquike. 

 Near e (Bode) Pegasi. 

 G (76), 74. Near i 



(Bode) Vulpecula3. 

 f DW kc. Near .<? ( Bode) 

 \_ Vulpeculpe. 

 Near ir Pegasi. 

 DW&c. Near/t,CCygni 

 DW kc. Near m (Bode) 



Lacerta;. 



The rough approximations of a few of the slenderest circum-Lyrid 

 radiants to some hypothetical comet- showers, which this Table shows, ar e 

 much too loose to allow any certain inferences of connection to be drawn 

 from them, but the resemblances in the cases of the second and third of 

 these accordances are perhaps sufficiently well marked to merit attention, 

 and to give occasions for renewed investigation. 



A list of sixty-seven cases (omitting the four indubitable comet- 

 showers of the Lyrids, Perseids, Leonids and Andromedes) of similar loose 

 agreements between observed meteor-showei's, and hypothetical comet ones, 

 by Professor Herschel, appeared during the past year in the pages (p. 

 309-395) of the ' Monthly Notices,' immediately preceding those of the 

 paper by Mr.Denning which has just been quoted. Of these accordances 

 it is enough to say, that while single instances occur where the corre- 

 spondence is tolerably close, they are in all such cases unsupported, at 

 present, by corroborative determinations, and that they have among 

 the numberless similar questionable instances of comet- likeness, and even 



