stated that the antennæ are moniliform, so that the animal cannot be referred to its proper position.

APHRODITOIDES, Mont.

MSS. t. 64, f. 5.

"With eleven tentacula and two black eyes; the peduncles furnished with broad scales of an olive-yellow irregularly mottled, with dusky and minutely spotted with white. "The broad lateral scales which usually cover the back give this the appearance of an Aphrodita; the back beneath the scales and the inferior surface are of a nacoid-blue; the tentacles are placed, one between the eyes, two on each side a little lower, very short, and the others, which are longer, stand oblique behind the eyes; the palpi are small, the posterior end obtuse, terminated by two short stiles. Length, two inches; breadth exceeds an eighth. Taken by dredging at Torcross. 1814. Very rare." This remarkable animal appears at first sight to belong to the genus Polynoë, but this has scale-like processes the whole length of the body, which at once distinguishes it from that genus; and it has also some relation to the genus Iphionone (Kinberg), with its frontal tubercle; and it appears also to have some, and rather strong, relation to Sigilion boa, and it may even be a young specimen of that species. (?)

NOTES ON THE METEORIC SHOWER OF NOVEMBER, 1866;

WITH SPECULATIONS SUGGESTED BY IT.

BY W. PENGELLY, F.R.S., F.G.S., ETC.

It is well-known that astronomers had been for some time preparing the public for an unusually brilliant display of meteors rather before the middle of November 1866, and had succeeded in exciting a large amount of general interest.

Believing in well-founded scientific predictions, Mr. Vivian made arrangements with several other members of the Torquay Natural History Society, to meet on the summit of Waldon hill at Torquay, for the purpose of careful and continuous observation during the night of Monday-Tuesday, the 12th-13th of the month, and, if necessary or desirable, the following night also,-it being not quite certain on which of these nights the spectacle would be visible.

The first night was so cloudy that I thought it useless to go, but Mr. Vivian, with one companion, was at his post, and caught occasional glimpses of the sky, but saw no meteor. This encouraged the hope that the shower would arrive on the second night, and put us all on the alert.

During a considerable portion of the night of the 13th-14th, the sky was generally very clear, and, indeed, all but cloudless. A brilliant shooting star was seen as early as six in the evening. At eight I took a post of observation near my own house, and soon saw a few stars shoot across the sky. At eleven they began to be so abundant and beautiful as to leave no doubt that the great shower was near at hand; that even objects so apparently fitful and capricious as meteors were under the regulation of law, and characterized by periodicity. At 11h. 28m. a brilliant star became visible a few degrees west of the Great Bear, and with rapid flight shot almost to the horizon in the south-west. It left a beautiful, bright, blue train, which lasted a few seconds, and gradually faded away.

Very soon after this I started for Waldon hill, where I arrived as the clock struck twelve- the appointed hour. Mr. Vivian and a large party were already there, and amongst them was the Rev. R. E. Richards, who fortunately was able to give us the name of every fixed star down to the fourth magnitude. Some of the party had reached the rendezvous at eleven o'clock, and between that hour and midnight had counted about 200 meteors. After that time they became so numerous as to render enumeration impossible.

I certainly do not exaggerate when I state that from halfpast twelve to two o'clock there were three (I believe there were five) meteors every second on the average. In other words, there were in this hour and a half, certainly not fewer than sixteen thousand falling stars, and in all probability the number amounted to twenty-seven thousand.

After two o'clock they became gradually less numerous, and at half-past two the decrease was very marked. About a quarter after four, there were so few to be seen that we broke up our watch; but just before reaching my home, at half-past four, I saw two very fine meteors, which left good trains.

As was predicted, by far the greater number radiated from a point within the "sickle" in the constellation Leo, but the radiant of no inconsiderable number was in Perseus—much nearer the zeinth; whilst an occasional nonconformist, asserting the right of private judgment, shot across the sky in a very lawless manner.

Almost every eye was kept pretty steadily on Leo; nevertheless the opposite or western part of the sky presented the most pictorial effects. In the east, many of the flights were very short; indeed, in several cases they were foreshortened into a point; but in the west, they streamed down towards the horizon in a most grand, indeed, awe-inspiring manner.

When any striking meteor was observed to explode, a long silence was enjoined and strictly observed, in order, if possible, to detect detonations; but no sound was heard. I may state, however, that in more than one instance, a few persons stated that they did hear a noise; but as they also stated that it immediately followed the explosion, it was obvious that they had forgotten the distance of the meteors from us, or the rate at which sound travels, and that they allowed their imagination to impose upon their hearing.

Most of the stars were of a bright yellow light, which became tinged with scarlet on exploding. The trains were almost invariably a bright and slightly-bluish green.

At about half-past one, a smart but brief shower drove us for shelter to an adjacent house, the use of which Mr. Vivian had thoughtfully secured in the event of it being needed. The window of the room we occupied commanded the southwestern sky, and afforded us an opportunity of witnessing perhaps the grandest part of the spectacle. A very black cloud extended from near the zenith to within about thirty degrees of the horizon, leaving a zone of clear sky below it. From behind this cloud, the meteors shot down with rapid flight and in countless numbers, producing an effect which I shall never forget. The appearance was that of a cloud resolving itself, not into rain drops, but into falling stars: The illusion was perfect.

Of individual facts noted during the night, the following were the most interesting:-One star, after a very short flight, was seen to explode with a bluish-green light, very near the radiant in Leo. The burning matter gradually faded into a smoke or cloud-like mass. At first this was considerably diffused, but it soon contracted into a nebulouslooking patch of a somewhat compact form, and was visible through an opera glass for fully ten minutes, its position being apparently stationary throughout.

Another meteor shot off almost from our zenith towards the north-west, leaving a brilliant bluish-green train, which, after a few seconds, became a vaporous or smoke-like streak. Whilst we gazed at it, we saw it assume a vermicular motion, passing from a straight to a curved, and next to an undulating, small narrow band; then it gradually contracted in length, dilated in breadth, and ultimately became a small rudelycircular patch of cloudy-looking matter, which remained visible for several minutes, whilst it drifted towards the south-east,the direction in which a smart breeze was blowing at the time. Its change of form seemed to be effected by the movement of its south-eastern end only-that most remote from the meteor, -as if it had been drawn up against the wind towards its other extremity, or what may be called its head.

Soon after four o'clock a brilliant meteor shot away towards the west, from a point about ten degrees west of our zenith. It left a splendid train, from which it seemed to detach itself to pursue its flight alone. After a very short time the star itself exploded, and took the form of a cylindrical or wheatear-like mass of flame-the discarded tail being still visible.

Several meteors, by exploding near, but behind, the edge of a cloud, threw out a flash resembling lightning. Indeed, several observers pronounced it to be lightning, but I have

no doubt that the explanation I have given is the correct

one.

It was observed that, from three to four o'clock, there appeared to be more light diffused over the general sky than could be ascribed to star-light; but there was no appearance of the Aurora Borealis.

I have said that a brilliant shooting star was seen as early as six in the evening, and that I saw two fine ones at halfpast four the next morning. Now in the interval-ten and a half hours the earth passed through nearly three quarters of a million of miles; hence, to say nothing of the facts that the meteors were moving in a direction opposite the earth's and with a great velocity, the stream of stars we met was more than 700,000 miles in length.

There are one or two speculations, suggested by Shooting Stars and kindred phenomena, to which I will venture to call attention before closing this brief paper:

It is well-known that an impression remains on the retina of the eye for some time after the object which produces it is removed. The duration of the impression depends, amongst other things, on the vividness of the light proceeding from the object; being, indeed, a direct function of its intensity. From certain experiments, it seems that in the case of a burning coal, this duration is about the seventh part of a second. Now, as many of the trains of Shooting Stars remain visible for even two or three seconds, it is obvious that they are, not merely subjective, but real objective trains. Respecting their origin, there appears to be some difficulty in forming a definitive opinion. If they consist of burning matter furnished and abandoned by the meteor, it is not easy to understand why they remain apparently at rest. their inertia, their motion should be equal to that of the body from which they are detached, with, perhaps, the diminution of a minute quantity on account of the greater resistance, relatively to their mass, to which they may be exposed from the highly attenuated atmosphere through which they pass. The end, like every other point of the train, instead of moving after its parent, appears to be sensibly at rest, whilst the motion of the latter is not only sensible, but rapid.

From

It is well known that potassium decomposes the water on which it is placed, and, by uniting with the liberated oxygen, forms potassa. The heat produced by this oxydation is so great as to ignite the hydrogen which has been set free from the water. It is also known that aqueous vapour, or water *Lardner's "Hand Book of Natural Philosophy," page 694. 1851.