Miscellaneous. 329 
extreme length of the tail was about 95°. The train of the comet was 
apparently made up of two distinct streams of luminous matter, differing 
greatly in width and length. The northern edges of the two were in the 
same line, but the extreme breadth of the shorter stream was much 
greater than that of the other. Its southern edge was badly defined, 
and somewhat concave outward. A very faint diffused light, rapidly 
widening out, could be traced far beyond the point where the sudden 
falling off of brightness occurred. This diffused light extended, on the 
evenings of July 4th and 5th, to the vicinity of Corona Borealis, or more 
than 40° from the nucleus, and attained to a width of 12° or 15° Its 
southern edge passed just to the north of the star Theta Bootis. The 
breadth of the tail, as distinctly seen, at its broadest part, was about 3°. 
On the evening of June 30th, the estimated breadth was 5°; but a faint 
light on the south side was traced 5° farther, giving an extreme breadth 
of 10°. On July 4th, the tail was visibly forked about 2° below the star 
Alpha Draconis, or 153° from the nucleus, On the following evening, 
the point of forking was 3° or 4° above the same star. The nucleus had 
advanced 53° toward it in the interval. 
It was also observed, on the evening of July 4th, that by examining 
carefully it could be discerned that the long narrow stream increased in 
breadth about in proportion to the distance from the nucleus. At the 
point where first seen as a distinct stream, its breadth was about 13°. 
Since July 5th the tail of the comet has decreased, from night to night, 
in brightness, as well as in length and breadth. 
The following places of the comet, as observed at the U. S. Naval Obser- 
vatory, Washington, have been communicated by Lieut. J. M. Gillies, 
Superintendent of the Observatory. The observations were made by Mr 
Ferguson with the large equatorial. 
! M. T. Washington. No. of Comp. & 3 
1861, July 2, 95 56m 193 10 8h 43m 69:97 +638° 12’ 147 
3, 8 46 46°3 2 9 51 41°15 66 9 52 °5 
ai 10 S73 5 9 52 52°55 66 ll 6:0 
A, 8 61 20°5 12 10 58 36:26 66 54 20 °6 
6-9 70. 625 4 12 31 12°57 64 51 7 °6 
On the night of the 3d, it was observed on the meridian with the transit 
instrument by Professor Robinson, U.S. N., and with the mural circle by 
Professor Hubbard. 
M. T. Washington. a p) 
July 3, 154 .21™ 468-7 10h 11™ 76-25 66° 33/ 317-5 
From the observations of the 2d, 4th, and 6th, the following elements 
of its orbit were computed by Prof. Hubbard :— 
Perihelion passage 1861. June 11.48955, Washington mean time. 
Longitude of the Perihelion, 249° 11’ 28-4 Mean eqx. 
Longitnde of ascending node, 278 58 32:'1j 1861-0 
Inclination of the orbit, 85. 37 35 °5 
Perihelion distance, 0°821531 
Motion direct. 
These elements give for the middle observation 
AR ~—Ta' 7 (c—0) 
ab = — 10-6 
It is obvious, from these elements, that this comet is not the same as 
the comet of 1556 (called Charles the Fifth’s comet), whose return has been 
anticipated for several years ; nor do these elements bear any resemblazice 
to those of any comet in the published catalogues. We must conclude, 
