622 



NATURE 



{April 29, 1 8 So 



recovered it both on July 28 and 29. It appears to be identi- 

 cal with a radiant given by Schmidt at 31° + 55", August 

 3-12. The diagram shows the observed paths of 86 I s (in the 

 region of the radiant point) recorded at Bristol in the years 

 1S77-8, and includes some tracks in the catalogues of foreign 

 observers. 



II. Contemporary with these, x Perseids, or Perseids II, my 

 observations in July, 1878, led me to recognise a large number of 



slow meteors with long paths (averaging 17 ) and occasionally 

 leaving faint trails of sparks, ascending amongst the stars of 

 Pegasus, Andromeda, &c„ which, by their parallelism of motion, 

 obviously proceeded from a common radiant point south of 

 Pegasus. I watched them narrowly, and determined the position 

 with fair precision as near S Aquarii. The best display of this 

 fine shower was on July 27, when 22 of its meteors were 

 recorded, and in the Jh. preceding midnight on July 30, ei^ht of 



Fie. 1. — Shower of x Pe: 



these Aquanads were visible, though the radiant was close to the 

 horizon ; but on the following night the shower appeared to have 

 become extinct. In 1879, July 28, it reappeared, giving very 

 long gradual meteors similar to those seen the year before. The 

 continuation of this radiant in August is rendered extremely 

 probable by my observations in 1877, when I detected a good 

 centre at 342 - 12 from 12 meteors, August 3-16, and by a 

 bright stationary meteor, also recorded at Bristol, on August 9, 



point 33° + 53", 



. July 38— August ] 



1879, at 342° - 16°. Major Tupman had obtained the best previous 

 observations of this shower. On July 27, 1S70, and several ensuing 

 nights, he saw many meteors from an accurate radiant at 340°- 

 14 , and the position and epoch of the shower, as he determined 

 it, agree perfectly with its apparition in 187S-79 recorded at 

 Bristol. Prof. Herschel had also, as early as July 28, 1865, 

 tfaced a few of its meteors. There are later showers (of very 

 slow meteors) from the same region of Aquarius. The diagram 



