H., A. Newton on November Star-Showers. 53 
to a different family, as he distinctly states that they constitute 
a sub-family only ; and he was quite right in considering the 
fhein ng of the raadtle as not of sufficient importance to form a 
family difference. Indeed, it is doubtful whether this could be 
considered as of sub- -family importance, were it not codrdinate 
with the far more important character of nA a ee alluded 
to above. The family Melaniide of Mr. Gillis far from being 
“heterogeneous ;” it was indeed so well restricted, even upon the 
meagre data then at hand, that subsequent i investigations do not 
make it necessary to alter its limits, Whether Mr. Gill’s family 
* Melanopide” is sufficiently distinct in “the: ebstrereydu iin of 
the animal and the notch in the aperture of its shell,” “ remains 
to be determined by future investigation. But, in any ia it 
would be quite unscientific to approximate this group to the 
American Melanians, on account of their simple pallial margin. 
[Note.—-While the Rees article is in press, I have an ee: through 
the apt of Mr. Binney, to examin oe soft parts of a single specimen of the 
reserved in spirits. Here I find the glandular laminz of the e gene- 
rative duet ia nearly as in Melania virginica (p.43). The left or ia 
— is distended wi the pris products, while the outer one is folded o 
. T. VI.—The original accounts oP the displays in former times of 
“the November Star-Show ver; together with a determination of the 
length of its cycle, its annual pe and Pag Bee orbit of the 
group of bodies around the sun; by H. WTON 
[Concluded from vol. xxxvii, p. 389.] 
IN the last volume of this Journal (pp. 877-389) were given 
the accounts of displays of the November star-shower on thirteen 
different years, from A. D. 902, to A. D. 1833. From them may 
obtained some important pels cteine 
L The length of the annual period—The middle of the first 
display may be soonest as Oct. 18th, A. D. 902, at 5 o’clock, 
A. M., Italian time. The same hour, New Haven time, may be 
taken for the middle of the last shower, nein 18th, A. D. 1 
or in old style, Nov. 1st. Between these two dates were 931 
years, of which Gin old style) spew ere leap rears There are 19 
odd days, and six hours are be added for the difference of 
longitude. This interval miwen as we: og reat Hence, one 
os 
Gill, loc. cit., p. 34. iad Dilcioils ts dels» jess 
Paper, should be “Pd The hi this group, being marine species allied spf ti 
