148 Proceedings of. the British Association. 



mcnclature of the Stars. " As regards the collection of syno- 

 nyms, the detection of errors in mistakes of entry, copying, print- 

 ing, or calculation, and their rectification, and the restriction 

 within their just boundaries, of the existing constellations, the 

 work of your committee has been progressive. * * As regards 

 the revision and re-distribution of the southern constellations, a 

 catalogue has in the first place been prepared of all the stars 

 within the circle of 70° S. P. D., down to the fifth magnitude, 

 with their present actual magnitudes, as determined by a series 

 of observations, made expressly for that purpose, which catalogue 

 is in course of printing and publication by the Royal Astronomi- 

 cal Society. With the magnitudes of this catalogue, a chart has 

 been constructed, of which several copies have been made, and 

 have been employed for the purpose of grouping the stars in vari- 

 ous ways, (without regard to existing constellations,) and with 

 reference only to forming among themselves the most compact 

 and striking groups which their distribution in the heavens ad- 

 mits, and which the correctness obtained in the magnitudes has 

 now, for the first time, rendered practicable. After trying many 

 systems and arranging the groups in a great variety of ways, 

 your committee have agreed on adopting, as the boundaries of 

 the new regions into which they propose distributing the south- 

 ern stars, only arcs of meridian and parallels of declination for a 

 given epoch ; thus including each region within a quadrilateral 

 rectangular figure, whose angular points being tabulated in R. A. 

 and Decl., may be treated as artificial stars, and thus brought up 

 by the usual tables of precession to any other epoch, their situa- 

 tion among the stars being unchanged. Thus it will become a 

 mere matter of inspection of a catalogue arranged for the original 

 epoch, (which they propose to be that of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society's forthcoming new Catalogue,) which region any given 

 star shall belong to. Proceeding then to assign more particularly 

 the limits of the several regions, they have succeeded in forming 

 an arrangement, in which (subject to such revision and modifica- 

 tion as may arise between this and their final Report.) they feel 

 disposed to rest. * * As respects the nomenclature of the new 

 regions, the committee are at present engaged in considering it ; 

 but some principles which will probably influence their recom- 

 mendation when the subject is sufficiently advanced for that step, 

 ajcfi stated in a paper, which will appear in the forthcoming vol- 



