METEORS AND METEOR SYSTEMS. 
25 
Epoch.. R.A. Decl. 
Epoch. 
R.A. Decl. 
July 27-30 & Aug. 
July 28-30 
July 30 — Aug. 1 
July 29 and Aug. 4 
and Sept. 14-15 
Aug. 6-13 
Aug. 6-12 and Nov. 
Aug. 6-12 and Sept. 
Aug. 6-12 
Aug. 6-12 
Aug. 10 
Aug. 12 
Aug. 21-23 
Sept. 1 
Sept. 21 
Sept.-Oct. 
Oct. 2 
Oct. 3-4 
Oct. 8 and 15 
341 - 13* 
326 - 12* 
32 + 53* 
30 + 36 
96 + 71 
70 + 65 
61 + 39 
61 + 48 
78 + 56 
43 + 58* 
31 + 18 
291 + 60 
306 + 54 
31 + 19 
78 + 57 
225 + 52 
133 + 79 
46 + 27 
Sept. 14-25 & Oct. 7 77 ql 
8 and Nov. 7 \ 77 + 31 
Oct. 8 
103 + 12 
Oct. 15 
133 + 20 
Oct. 15-16 
31+9 
Oct. 15-22 
92 + 16* 
Oct. 15 & 30 
108 + 23 
Oct. 31 — Nov. 4 
43 + 22 
Oct. 14-20 
106 + 50 
Oct. 
316 + 59 
Oct. 17-19 
Nov. 7 
102 + 72 
Nov. 8, 12, & 20 
62 + 22* 
Nov. 13 
148 + 23* 
Nov. 26-29 
155 + 36 
Nov. 26 
208 + 43 
Nov. 27 
29 + 46* 
Dec. 6 
80 + 23* 
Dec. 8 
145+ 7 
Dec. 9-12 
106 + 32* 
Dec. 9-12 
134 + 50 
Dec. 9-12 
152 + 43 
An asterisk is affixed to the major showers, though it is 
impossible to say in several cases, which of them are entitled to 
precedence. 
The two oldest, and certainly the most notable, of the 
meteor- systems of which we are at present cognizant are those 
of August 10 (. Perseids ) and Nov. 13 (Leonids). And since the 
magnificent star- shower of Nov. 27, 1872, we have a third 
specially interesting system, remarkable not only on account of 
its unrivalled intensity, but also on account of its probable 
identity with Biela’s lost comet, of which it apparently forms 
the debris. Repeated search for the comet has been fruitless 
since 1852, and this meteor-stream occurring at the end of 
November, and obviously following the same orbit, is the only 
indication we have of its present existence. As to the shower 
of Perseids in August they form the meteor-flight of Comet III. 
1862 : and the Leonids of November present an orbital resem- 
blance to Comet I. 1866. The former shower recurs annually 
with considerable activity, supplying about sixty meteors per 
hour (for one observer) on the night of the maximum intensity, 
so that the particles must be scattered pretty evenly along 
the orbit. But in the case of the two November streams the 
conditions are different. The atoms are evidently condensed 
about the regions of the cometary nuclei, and it is only at certain 
epochs (when the comets are near their nodal passages) that a 
rich display can be expected. The Leonids were seen by 
Humboldt in 1799 on November 12 ; and in the years 1833 and 
1866 they reappeared with striking magnificence, so that the 
periodical apparitions are due at intervals of 33£ years, and may 
