Hay, S. Wales." Dec. 22. As our servants were sitting at dinner by the kitchen window, two of them were startled by the sudden appearance of a brilliant meteor, apparently descending in the east, with a little inclination to north. It was not so large as the moon, but much larger than Saturn or Mars; white and like lightning, with a very quick course, leaving a train as broad as itself, and preserving its full size till lost behind the top of an oak tree at a little distance, whose branches, though leafless, seem to have concealed it from view. The next day I found, by means of a compass and joined ruler, that its azimuth was E. by N., its inclination towards north. about 10°; the upper window-frame, where it probably came in sight, 48°, and the top of the tree about 18° above the horizon. I have not as yet heard of any other observation of this remarkable meteor. The position of Hardwicke Vicarage, where it was seen, according to the Ordnance Map is long. W. 3° 4' 23", lat. N. 52° 5' 20"."

A comparison of this account with the observation at Braughing by Mr. Daw affords a rough determination of the real path and direction and of the probable place and altitude of this unusually bright meteor's course above the earth's surface; but owing to the absence of estimates of the duration of its flight, no probable value of the meteor's real velocity can be assigned. The course of this daylight meteor appears to have been from about 45 miles above the southern part of Warwickshire to about 15 miles above the centre of Northamptonshire, disappearing about 50 miles from Mr. Daw's position near Ware, in Herts, where he states that no sound of an explosion following its appearance could be perceived. The direction of its flight was from a radiant-point at about R.A. 250°, N. decl. 20° (near ß Herculis), distant about 45° above and westward from the apparent place of the mid-winter sun, which was shining brightly above the southern horizon when the meteor came in sight*.

The bright meteor seen in twilight on April 15th, 1876, at Bristol and Hawkhurst (see the accompanying fireball-list), must have passed over Ireland or the Irish Channel far west from Bristol, as the position of its apparent path there, near the setting planet Venus, differed very little from the similar account of its apparent path in Kent. The position of its radiant-point cannot have been the usual one in Virgo (about 196°,+0) in the early part of April, as its recorded path at Bristol, prolonged backwards nearly parallel to the ecliptic, crosses the constellation Virgo about 20° south of the equator in the neighbourhood of this position, proceeding from the direction of a region where no well-established radiant-point of ordinary shooting-stars has hitherto been observed.

The next large meteor, of which many contemporaneous observations were communicated to the Committee, some of which have also appeared in the daily newspapers, was that of July 25, 1876, about 10h 5m P.M. Several accounts of this fireball are contained in the list of large meteors accompanying this Report. It resembled the fireball of September 14th, 1875, in appearance, excepting that a decided green hue of the nucleus was observed, and a somewhat more voluminous train of red sparks and fragments appears to have followed the head. The light which it cast was not so intense as that of the fireball of September 14, and no sound of a detonation is related to have been perceived. The radiant-point of this large fireball was near Antares ; but, owing to its recent appearance, the descriptions of it hitherto collected

*Monthly Notices' of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. xxxvi. p. 217. Mr. Daw's place of observation, given as "Brangling" in that account, should have been Braughing, near Ware, in Herts.

have not been submitted to exact calculation, although some of those recorded in the present list are sufficient to determine with considerable accuracy its real path.

From the following descriptions it appears probable that a companion. meteor may also have been visible, corresponding nearly in the time of its appearance with the principal large fireball which was generally observed. Mr. John Lane, whose very exact observation of the meteor at Poplar, London, is included in the list, remarks:-" It appears to me there must have been two meteors seen near the same time, one sea-green and very large [the meteor of 10h 5" P.M., July 25], the other purple and somewhat smaller. The clear observation and description given by Mr. H. Pratt from Brighton I cannot harmonize with my own, while some others agree very well with it. My results are that it began vertically over a point in W. long. 1o, N. lat. 50° 10′, and ended over W. long. 2° 15', N. lat. 51° 43', at an elevation of about 34 miles. Distance travelled in relation to the earth 120 miles, in the orbit of the meteor 170 miles. Actual diameter about 500 yards."

The following duplicate observation of a shooting-star from the direction of a Lyræ on the date of this large meteor's appearance was obtained (as the Committee was informed by Mr. Denning) from a comparison of his own observations at Bristol with those made by Mr. Clark on that date at Street, near Glastonbury, about 20 miles south-south-westwards from his point of observation.

Another large fireball, apparently a Perseid, was very generally seen and recorded in the southern counties of England at about 11" 23m P.M. on the 11th of August, 1876, several descriptions of which are included in the accompanying fireball list. Of this bright meteor (which had a long course and possessed great illuminating power, and which left a persistent streak visible for about a minute, becoming curved or serpentine before it disappeared) the real path derivable from the observations hitherto collected has not yet been computed from the few exact observations of it which have been preserved. But of this fireball, and of an equally bright one which appeared at about 9h 26m P.M. on August 15, sufficiently abundant materials exist to enable their real heights and the true radiant-points or meteor-systems to which they must have belonged to be satisfactorily ascertained. As regards their brightness and appearance, some observations not contained in the above list are here subjoined, for which the Committee is indebted to the active correspondence and communications of Mr. Denning respecting the several bright meteors which have been visible in quick succession during the past month of August.

Keynsham, near Bristol (Mr. H. Marks).-On the 11th of August (1876) I was walking along a valley from about 10h 45m to 11" 15" P.M. [the time is a rough approximation], when all at once-I did not notice the star there before-an exceedingly bright star shot from about N.E. close to the horizon to S.W., leaving a tail I should say about halfway across the heaven, gradually disappearing, but not entirely gone, I should think, for 5 minutes. The star appeared about the size of a cocoanut, and caused a grand illumi

Vatan, & mun le summer ighting at 1 ani viam I man afterwards Vanga de innate lizzation, má via but 106 seen the star, asked me if I wv the Behrang vien I patei mt vina i vis, mnd showed him the li.. A me meets, ne so bright, siding a mute from a tie nearer tri ni samping bearer south. Bora of these ta vere arter and inger L KIT I ever saw before, and they increased did in size and inginess as the L A sketch is tadezet moving the ones of the meters Is 1 md the first from abont J.L. by X to wily and the second in a course from about XIE » SAT, bork tracks extending between prints a no very great altitude and at nearly equal apparent diermons here the bricon in those directions. It appears probable that bort of these large metects were Perseda of constienble brightness, of which the frst, bowener, at about 11*23", as observed elsewhere), left the most exaspiraces and long-endaring lightstreak on its course.

Meteor of August 15th, 1876, about 9o 30 PM. But Mr. W. Bash).— On the above evening I took a seat in my garden st about 99 45TM P.M. at the back of the house, which faces the south-west. I had scarcely been seated more than a minute, when I beheld an exceedingly brilliant meteor of a bizish colour, having a very long white train. It was the second largest meteor I have ever seen. It was at first perceptible to me on the eastern extremity of Ursa Major, but a little nearer the horizon. I should say at an apparent altitude of about 45. It travelled somewhat obliquely downwards from north-east to south-west, and it finally disappeared behind some houses. In its transit, which occupied several seconds, it passed behind a cloud, and emerging from thence was again equally brilliant." The duration given is 20 or 30 seconds; but this cannot be regarded as more than a very rough estimation of the real duration of the meteor's flight. The point of first appearance described is between Arcturus and the tail-stars of Ursa Major, which were on its left, or "eastern extremity" (practically), in the observer's situation facing the south-west.]

The account of this meteor's appearance by Lieut. H. de H. Haigh at Penn Ilthon, Newtown, in Wales (other particulars of his description being given in the above list), was as follows:-" At first it appeared larger, but not much more brilliant, than an ordinary shooting-star; but it rapidly changed colour from light yellow to red, and finally to a dazzling white resembling the magnesium light, but far more intense, at the same time giving off volumes of smoke, which trailed behind it like the tail of a comet. Its light about the middle of its course was so brilliant that one could have read by it.”

At Pontardawe, Swansea, it is described as the largest meteor ever seen in the district, falling in the north, and illuminating the country for miles around.

At St. Clear's, near Caermarthen, a splendid meteor, with a light like that of daylight, moved rapidly "eastward," followed by a train of most brilliant hues- green, orange, crimson, and violet. It lasted for about eight seconds. Mr. J. P. Norris, at Bristol, wrote:-" A splendid meteor has this moment fallen due west of this house. It first appeared in the neighbourhood of Arcturus, then seemed to burst and trail light of rainbow colours, and was visible nearly to the horizon slanting towards the north. Its distance cannot have been great, for we saw it for two thirds of its course against a dark cloud. It may therefore have fallen in the neighbourhood of Clevedon."

The direction of the meteor's motion in these accounts, its long dura

tion, and the absence of a persistent light-streak on its course, proves it not to have been a Perseïd, and the radiant was found by Mr. Denning, from other descriptions of its apparent course, to have been in the constellation Aquila. A similar optical illusion to that described by Mr. Norris, of the fireball appearing to be projected on a background of dark cloud during a part of its course, was noticed by an observer of the large fireball of September 14th, 1875, at Faringdon, Berks, Mr. W. Dundas, who writes that "the sky above was cloudless; but shortly before I lost sight of it some heavy clouds low in the sky (and before and after invisible) were brightly displayed as it passed them. To me it seemed at the time as if the meteor passed between me and them, and that the light on them was reflected, not transmitted. Of course, if the meteor was seen also at Bath it could not be so; but it suffered no visible diminution of brilliancy while passing these clouds "*.

66

An observer of the same meteor (August 15, 9.30 P.M.), at Cirencester, describes it as very magnificent, passing slowly across the north-western heavens, about midway between Arcturus and the horizon. The colour was a vivid pale green; it left a greenish wake behind it, and burst with brilliant scintillations of whiter light."

II. LARGE METEORS.

1876, June 15, about 8h 5m or 8h 15m P.M. local time, Suez, and several stations on the Grand Canal.-In the Comptes Rendus,' vol. lxxxiii. p. 28, a number of accounts from the station-masters at many places on the Suez Canal, from Suez to Rouville Simsah and Raz-el-beh, are reported by M. Lesseps of a very large detonating meteor which appeared at the above time. At the two latter places no sound of a detonation is described; but the meteor was extremely bright, bursting at last like a rocket, and moving in the south-east from west to east. This was also the direction of its motion at the midway station El-Ferdan, where its light was dazzling, its duration was three seconds, and a detonation followed it like distant thunder. The detonation was most violent at the "déversoir," where the meteor like a mass of white light moved from south to north, apparently approaching, and left in the zenith after its disappearance a comet-like cloud of light visible for several seconds (a perfectly similar appearance of the meteor was observed at Rameses). Almost immediately after its disappearance, a noise like that of thunder and detonations, which were for an instant terrifying, were heard. At the station of Kabret the meteor, intensely bright and lasting three seconds, was seen to burst like a rocket, and was immediately followed by a thunder-like report. At one of the southernmost stations the meteor seemed to fall in the neighbourhood, descending like a fiery dart, which burst at last, and sounds like distant cannons followed two minutes after its disappearance. At Suez the meteor illuminated the horizon brilliantly for a few seconds.

1876, July 8, about 8h 55m P.M. (local time), Indiana, U.S.-The following letter from Prof. D. Kirkwood appeared in the New York Tribune' of July 19, 1876, describing the appearance of a very brilliant fireball in the State of Indiana, U.S., on the above date, leaving a streak of light of unusual duration on its track:

"SIR,-A meteor of extraordinary brilliancy was visible in all parts of * ' Astronomical Register for April 1876, Appendix, p. 11,

Indiana on Saturday evening, July 8, about five minutes before 9 o'clock. Observations of the phenomenon have been reported from Paoli, Bloomington, Indianopolis, Elkhart, and various other points--the distance apart of the first and last-named localities being over 270 miles. Mr. J. W. Hollingsworth, of Paoli, says, 'Spectators agree in giving it a path from N.E. to N.W., with an altitude of at first 20°, and disappearing below the horizon. One careful observer states that the streak of light following remained visible more than 40 minutes of time, and all agree in ascribing a diameter of one fourth to one third of a degree.' At Indianopolis, according to the Daily Journal' of July 10, the meteor appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia at a point about 25° above the horizon, whence it proceeded in a right line to the north-west, and passed over an arc of about 30°, and vanished in space 10° above the horizon.'

"According to the observations at Paoli and Indianopolis, the meteor became visible at an elevation of 130 miles above the earth's surface. It is to be regretted that sufficient data have not been furnished for determining its height at disappearance, the length of its visible track, and the eccentricity of its orbit."

III. PERIODIC STAR-SHOWERS, 1875-76.

With the exception of the annual reappearances of the Perseids, there have been no marked occurrences of periodic star-showers during the past year. The few particulars relating to them which have been received will be described below; and the following details refer chiefly to the display of Perseids in 1875 observed on the continent, accounts of which in England, as described in the last Report, were obtained at a few stations only, owing to the stormy weather that prevailed on the principal periodic nights.

Star-Shower of August 9th-11th, 1875: Observations by the French Scientific Association (Comptes Rendus,' vol. lxxxi. p. 439, September 6th, 1875).— Report on the shower in Switzerland and elsewhere, by Dr. C. Wolf, of Zürich. At Rochefort, Messrs. Simon and Courbebaisse counted, on the average of the whole time of their combined watch during the night of the 10th of August, 133 meteors per hour. At Avignon 858 meteors were mapped in the same night between the hours of 8.35 P.M. and 3 40m A.M. by M. Giraud, assisted by several observers. At Lisbon, M. Capello noted at the Observatory ofl'Infant Don Louis' what appeared to be a maximum reappearance of the shower, 1227 meteors being counted during the watch on the night of August 10th. Details of the shower and of the radiant-points distinguished in it were also received from M. Tisserand at Toulouse and from the Observatory at Marseilles.

Prof. Tacchini obtained at Palermo a number of distinct centres of radiation of the shower, of which the following is a list; and he remarks that all these definite centres, when projected on a map, are included, as he has already formerly observed, in a narrow elongated area.

Average of all the above subradiant positions 42°-72, +53°-21.