1.8.C. 40 Procs. of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal. [N.S., XVIII, 
decreasing distance from the Galactic plane. Stars of all de- 
grees of brightness are more numerous in the vicinity of the 
Milky Way which is thus of fundamental importance in all 
stellar problems. The crowding towards the galactic plane is 
however found to be most pronounced for the faintest stars. 
The results of various researches in this connection by Kap- 
teyn, van Rhijn, Seares, and Chapmen and Melotte give values 
for the galactic concentration in substantial agreement with 
one another. 
Forming the star ratios for the several galactic belts, it is 
found that though their decrease is an essential characteristic 
for all parts of the sky, the regions most affected are near the 
galactic poles where the ratios are uniformly smaller. The 
_ Particular areas, as the dark patches in Taurus, the great 
rift near 6 Ophiuchii have been carefully studied by Barnard 


