B. A. Gould—Southern Comet of February, 1880. 397 
Inquiries the next morning showed that the same phenom- 
enon had been observed on the evening of February 1st, by sev- 
eral persons, and one assured me that he had noticed it on the 
more than one occasion during the first year of my residence 
in this country. 
_ In the evening the ray or streak was about 380° long, and a 
little brighter than on the previous night, and it had moved 
laterally northward. Still, a careful search, beginning immedi- 
ately after sunset, failed to discover the head, or indeed any 
increase of brightness in the vicinity of the horizon, although 
the direction of the tail seemed toward the position of the sun. 
Careful drawings were independently made, on this and each 
subsequent evening during its visibility, by Mrs. Gould and 
Mr. C. W. Stevens; the maps Nos. 2 and 8 of the Uranometry 
affording an excellent means for very minute delineation. 
On the 4th I saw the head for a few moments in the twilight. 
It scarcely seemed brighter than Encke’s comet appeared under 
similar circumstances at its last perihelion; but it was much 
larger and had a coarse and undefined aspect. No nucleus 
was visible. There was no opportunity to discover any com- 
parison-star, before it was lost in the mists of the horizon ; but 
a rough position was obtained by means of the setting-circles 
of the equatorial. This gave, for 5" 27™ 55% of Cordoba sidereal 
time, R.A. 22" 24" 108, Decl. —31° 29-1. The altitude of the 
comet having been less than 2° 42’, no great reliance can be 
placed on this determination, which was moreover crude in 
other respects. 
On February 5th, I obtained tolerably good comparisons with 
an undetermined star, the approximate position of which is 
22" 41™ 40%, —39° 27’ for the mean equinox of 1880-0; and 
from that date to February 19th, there were but two evenings 
on which observations were not secured, the sky having been 
especially propitious during that period. The tail, which I 
think was brightest February 6th or 7th, although then not 
more brilliant than the Milky Way in Taurus, maintained its 
inordinate length of from 35° to 40° until it faded from view, 
Which took place only five days before the head became 
invisible in the 114 inch equatorial. Indeed it was with the 
greatest difficulty that I was able to observe it on the 19th, 
when it was only to be recognized as a slight whiteness in the 
field, unnoticeable without special attention. No nucleus was 
visible at any time during the whole duration of its visibility, 
nor was there any definite form or even perceptible outline to 
