nation, so much like summer lightning that a friend whom I met afterwards walking in the opposite direction, and who had not seen the star, asked me if I saw the lightning, when I pointed out what it was, and showed him the tail. A similar one appeared in about 10 minutes, but not quite so bright, taking its course from a little nearer north, and stopping a little nearer south. Both of these stars were larger and brighter than any I ever saw before, and they increased twofold in size and brightness as they went." A sketch is annexed showing the courses of the meteors Nos. 1 and 2, the first from about N.E. by N. to S.W. by S., and the second on a course from about N.N.E. to S.S.W., both tracks extending between points at no very great altitude and at nearly equal apparent elevations above the horizon in those directions. It appears probable that both of these large meteors were Perseïds of considerable brightness, of which the first, however (at about 11h 23m, as observed elsewhere), left the most conspicuous and long-enduring lightstreak on its course.

Meteor of August 15th, 1876, about 9h 30m P.M., Bath (Mr. W. Bush).— "On the above evening I took a seat in my garden at about 9h 45m P.M. at the back of the house, which faces the south-west. I had scarcely been scated more than a minute, when I beheld an exceedingly brilliant meteor of a bluish 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 " "*.

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 Perseïds, 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 3h 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.

At Dijon radiant-positions were also observed by Abbé Lamey, who noted the mean place of the principal radiant for all the nights at R.A. 37o, N. Decl. 45° (A), and recorded also the following general centres of showers which appeared to accompany the display :—at R.A. 320°-4, S. Decl. 1°.8 (B), and R.A. 331°, Decl. 0°.

At Bordeaux, M. Lespiault noticed the existence of several secondary radiant-points in or near the constellation Cassiopeia.

Notes of an abundant shower were also received from Rouen, Sainte Honorine du Fay, and from Courtenay, where M. Corun observed a remarkable light-cloud, or band of light, stretching with blunted terminations to a full length of 120°, and moving eastward, which he conjectures may have had some connexion with the display.

In addition to these observations collected and published in France under M. Le Verrier's superintendence, M. Ernest Quetelet communicated to the Belgian Academy of Sciences* an account of the August meteor observations made at the Royal Observatory at Brussels, and the following numbers of meteors were observed:

The largest meteor of the shower, at 11h 15m (Brussels time), on the 10th, exceeded Jupiter in brightness, and left a persistent streak visible for 20 seconds, which disappeared without presenting any indications of rapid currents in the upper atmosphere. Although a pretty bright display, this annual return of the August meteors was yet not so remarkable as to distinguish it as an exceptionally great reappearance of the shower.

At Cheadle, in England †, a very similar view of the shower, confirming its marked but not very extraordinary intensity, was obtained by Mr. G. T. Ryves, whose observations of the Perseids in 1871, communicated to the Committee by Mr. Symons, as follows, must have enabled him to make a fair comparison between the abundance of the meteors seen on this and on that earlier occasion:-"Took up a station at the top of the Wrekin with a party of friends for the purpose of observing the periodic display of meteors, Aug. 10th, 1871. Counted about 70 between 9h 30m and 11h 30m P.M., nearly all in the neighbourhood of the constellations of Perseus and Cepheus; none very remarkable. A larger number seen on our way home from 11h 30m P.M. to 2h 15m A.M., and of larger size, but not counted. One very brilliant one [sec the fireball-list in this Report], about 0h 33m A.M., lighting up the country."

* Bulletins de l'Acad. R. des Sciences de Belgique, 2a série, tome 39, 1875.

Astronomical Register,' 1875, p. 222. Erratum.-The position of the radiant-point of the Perseids in 1874 assigned by Mr. W. F. Denning at Bristol, in the 'Astronomical Register of Sept. 1874, "bewteen B, C Camelopardi and x Perseï, at R.A. 2h 55m, D. 58° 30' N.," was at R.A. 44°, N. Decl. 58°.5; not, as misprinted in these Reports (for 1875, p. 213), at R.A. 39°, N. Decl. 58°.5.

October, November, and December Star-Showers, 1875.-Of the annual meteor-showers in October and December no observations have been received. The state of the sky was unfavourable for continued observations on the periodic dates, and in the intervals of cloudless hours devoted at some stations to a watch, the preparations for recording the Orionids and Geminids in 1875 were unsuccessful, these showers being apparently absent on the expected dates. At Stonyhurst Observatory a meteor-watch was kept on the mornings of November 12th and 15th, and also at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on the latter morning, with favourable conditions of the sky, but in bright moonlight*. In 2 or 3 hours before daybreak on the first morning eight meteors were mapped at Stonyhurst College, two or three of which were Leonids, three Taurids, and the rest apparently sporadic. Twenty-four meteors at Stonyhurst and twenty-six meteors at Greenwich were mapped in 3 or 4 hours of generally clear sky on the morning of the 15th, of which ten or twelve meteors noted at each place were Leonids, and the rest were either Taurids or were directed from less certainly determined radiant-points. On the intervening mornings of the 13th and 14th the sky was either wholly or almost entirely overcast.

The Geminids of December 11-13, 1875, were watched for in England without success on account of cloudy skies; and equally unfavourable conditions prevented any satisfactory observations of the meteors of the 1st-2nd of January, 1876, from being made. But the night of January 1st proving clear at Sunderland, Mr. Backhouse saw two meteors, unconformable, on that evening, in a few minutes' watch, and towards five o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of January two others in 15 minutes, which were conformable to the radiant-point of the annual shower. On the following morning also, at about 2 A.M., Mr. Backhouse noted one meteor only in a watch of 23 minutes, when the sky, which had been overcast before, cleared partially, and it was conformable to the radiant-point of the shower.

The following notice of some shooting-stars seen by the expedition under Captain Parry in the Arctic seas occurs in the narrative of his third voyage (p. 64), relating the events of the winter at Port Bowen in the year 1824, and it appears to indicate an appearance of the Geminids with considerable brightness in December of that year; but the description includes meteors from other radiants as well as a particularly bright one directed exactly from the radiant in Gemini of the annual shower. The changes of the weather which accompanied these appearances being regarded by Captain Parry as in some intimate manner connected with the apparition of the meteors, are described in full detail; but except to observe that the meteors seen appear to have been as exceptionally remarkable as the sudden changes of the weather with which they were presumed to be associated, the notable features of the wind and weather which are stated in the original account to have accompanied them need not here be reproduced at length, but only the passages of the narrative may be transcribed in which the apparent paths and appearances of the meteors seen were recorded with careful accuracy and completeness. The particulars of a few meteors thus successfully preserved will doubtless be held by navigators and explorers as offering them a useful example for repeating wherever practicable, and making known in future to the best of their information, such highly valuable observations. "The meteors called falling stars were much more frequent during this winter than we ever before saw them, and particularly during the month * Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society,' vol. xxxvi. pp. 83 and 272 (December 1875 and March 1876).