The Balmer Decrement in Some Be Stars.

Measurements of the Balmer decrement as far as the last visible emission line have been made for four Be stars. These measurements show that the strengths of the lines arising from the high levels (>H ) are much greater than would be expected from the theory for a planetary nebula. The effect of selfabsorption has been investigated for a simplified transfer problem, and it is shown that this effect could possibly explain the observed decrements, though unknown factors are involved.