Astronomy. 75 



nature, while in other parts of the plant a juxtaposition of special 

 characters of the different parents may be detected. 



While these are just the results which the morphological traits 

 of hybrids would lead one to expect, they lose none of their in- 

 terest on that account, and furthermore M. Brandza's studies 

 leave no doubt that anatomical investigation can render important 

 assistance to systematic botany in furnishing excellent collateral 

 evidence in cases of puzzling and doubtful hybrids. b. l. r. 



III. Astronomy. 



1. Catalogue of Radiant Points of Shooting Stars. — In the 

 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society [vol. 1, 

 No. 7] Mr. Denning has given some of the results of his inde- 

 fatigable observing during the last fourteen years. His observa- 

 tions were undertaken to ascertain the radiant points of the minor 

 star-showers generally. He presents a catalogue of nine hundred 

 and eighteen radiant points arranged according to date through 

 the year. At the end of the paper is a list ot 45 long enduring 

 and apparently stationary radiant points of shooting stars. The 

 individual observations of the meteors are not given, the number 

 (9177) registered in the 1297f hours of observation furnishing an 

 obvious reason. 



The mean horary number of meteors seen was 8 '3, but the 

 number obtained from observations at Ashley Down, in the 

 country, was 11*4, as compared with 8*2 in Bristol. The differ- 

 ence Mr. Denning attributes to the lights and smoke of the town. 



From thirty-eight shooting stars doubly observed he obtained 

 the average height at beginning 71*1 miles, and at end 48*2 

 miles. By a comparison of a large number of similar results 

 obtained by others he deduced the aA r erage height of 683 meteors 

 at beginning to be 76*4 miles, and of 756 meteors at end to be 

 <50 # 8 miles. If fire-balls and shooting stars were taken separately 

 he found the usual heights of fire-balls at disappearance to have 

 been 30 miles, and of shooting stars to have been 54 miles. 



The maximum number during the hours of the night were seen 

 between 2 and 3 a. m., when the rate was about double that 

 observed during the early evening hours. The observations were 

 apparently made in the absence of the moon, and allowance was 

 made in stating the hours of observing for time occupied in 

 registering the observed tracks. 



The mean hourly rate for the first six months of the year is 5*8 

 meteors, and for the last six months is 10'8. 



The existence of radiants continuing unchanged for several 

 weeks, and even months has been frequently asserted by Mr. 

 Denning, and is here reaffirmed as a fact of observation. Such 

 radiants are so at variance with received theories of meteors 

 that evidence of their existence needs to be of more than usual 

 positiveness in order to be accepted as conclusive. It is proper 

 then to note that it is not the radiant itself that Mr. Denning 



