Spectrographic Observations of Peculiar Stars.

I. Z Andromedae displayed strong [Fe vu] lines in July and November, 1942. A table is given, de- scribing the spectrum of this star in three successive years. Attention is called to several bright lines recently found in CI Cygni. A description is given of the line emission in RS Ophiuchi; this became quite conspicuous in 1942. On July 19, 1942, the red coronal line was foimd in RS Oph; the green coronal line was absent at that time. New data on the emission lines of Fe i, Fen, [Fe ii], [Fe ml, and [Fe v} in peculiar stars are provided. II. Four stars with absorption shells are described in detail: HD 195407 MWC 346 has strong shell lines of B, Her 3965, and HeI triplets (23P°-n3D). HD 172694 = MWC 303 shows only a strong and sharp shell line of Hei 3889, while the other observable Re i lines are broad. HD 155851 = MWC 253 shows a somewhat weaker shell line of He i 3889. HD 187399 = MWC 321 shows a set of strong sharp Balmer lines displaced to the violet of the centers of the broad B wings. All four stars belong to the main sequence. Ill. This section contains descriptions of the spectra of 83 Be stars from the catalogue of Merrill and Burwéll. The bright lines of several stars have changed since Merrill's last published descriptions. At- tention is called especially to MWC 23, which has a strong shell spectrum of H, and to MWC 342, which has strong emission lines of H, Fe ii, [Fe n], and shows structure in the lines of H. IV. The fluorescence and recombination mechanisms of line emission in shells are related to the gen- eral characteristics of the shell spectra. Emphasis is placed on the effects of ejection, axial rotation, and turbulence. The spectacular "nitrogen flaring stages" of novae are discussed, and the associated spectro- scopic phenomena are interpreted