THE AUGUST METEORS. 
331 
is probably very near tbe truth. There is a secondary shower 
higher in declination (at about 44 J° -j- 60°), but this is merely 
a branch of the same stream, for the meteors exhibit the same 
specialities of appearance as those common to the major 
shower. An apparent diffuseness of the radiant point is often 
brought about by imperfectly registered tracks, and by allotting 
the meteors of bordering showers to the radiant of the Perseids, 
when in fact they belong to evidently distinct families. 
A few years ago the writer undertook the investigation of 
these co-Perseid showers from the large mass of shooting stars 
which had been registered at this epoch at foreign observatories, 
and are contained in the published catalogues of Heis, Schia- 
parelli (1872), Weiss, and Konkoly. These include many 
thousands of paths observed during the period from Aug. 6th 
to 12th; and such of these as were obviously directed from 
radiant points situated eastwards of Perseus , were projected 
on the star-maps prepared by Prof. Herschel for the purposes 
of the Luminous Meteor Committee of the British Association. 
In all 762 meteors were thus utilized, and they gave distinct 
evidence of the positions of a number of active streams in 
Auriga and Camelopardus , some of which were previously 
observed by Heis, and many of them have been confirmed by 
the writer during the last five years. The following list 
embraces the chief radiants thus deduced : — 
Meteor Showers east of Perseus, August 6 - 12 . 
Radiant. 
No. of 
Radiant. 
No. of 
No. 
a 
Meteors. 
No. 
a o 
Meteors. 
1 . 
70 + 64 
... 74 
10 . 
134 + 77 
... 30 
2 
61 + 39 
... 59 
11 . 
74 + 33 
... 28 
3 . 
96 + 71 
... 87 
12 . 
104 + 34 
... 13 
4 . 
61 + 48 
... 59 
13 . 
99 + 46 
... 17 
5 
51 4 - 74 
... 62 
14 . 
45 + 33 
... 18 
6 . 
78 + 56 
... 59 
15 . 
76 +74 
... 20 
7 
76 + 45 
... 43 
16 . 
52 + 20 
... 14 
8 . 
50 + 47 
... 42 
17 . 
87 + 34 
... 14 
9 . 
92 + 57 
... 42 
18 . 
87 + 15 
... 8 
The relative positions of these showers are depicted in the 
diagram (fig. 3) where the more prominent displays of the 
group are represented by deeper circles than the minor. 
Some of the latter cannot yet be regarded as certainly estab- 
lished, inasmuch as they rest on slender materials. 
Heis devoted much attention to the meteors of the August 
period during more than forty years (1833-75), and in his 
■extensive ‘results/ published in 1877, gives the following as 
the chief radiant points for August 9-11 : — 
