Beta Cephei stars from a photometric point of view.

This is an observational review, with an emphasis on photometric data and their interpretation. Two lists are presented, one containing Beta Cephei stars and the other Beta Cephei suspects. These lists then serve as a basis for discussing such topics as the location of Beta Cephei stars in the observational and theoretical H-R diagrams, the evolutionary state of these stars, the period-luminosity and period-luminosity-color relations, and observational identification of pulsation modes. The paper also includes references to recent work connected with the theoretical discovery that an opacity mechanism is responsible for the excitation of Beta Cephei-star pulsations. Finally, observational programs for verifying the consequences of this discovery are suggested.