Among other gaseous nebulæ may be mentioned that called by Sir John Herschel the “dumb-bell” nebula. It lies a little south of the sixth magnitude star 14 Vulpeculæ, and was discovered by Messier in 1779, while observing Bode’s comet of that year. In small telescopes it has the appearance of a dumb-bell, or hour-glass, but in larger telescopes the outline is filled in with fainter nebulous light, giving to the whole an elliptical form. Several faint stars have been seen in it, but these probably belong to the Milky Way, as Dr. Huggins finds the spectrum gaseous. Dr. Roberts has photographed it, and he thinks that “the nebula is probably a globular mass of nebular matter which is undergoing the process of condensation into stars, and the faint protrusions of nebulosity in the _south following_ and _north preceding_ ends are the projections of a broad ring of nebulosity which surrounds the globular mass. This ring, not being sufficiently dense to obscure the light of the central region of the globular mass, is dense enough to obscure those parts of it that are hidden by the increased thickness of the nebulosity, thus producing the ‘dumb-bell’ appearance. If these inferences are true, we may proceed yet a step, or a series of steps, further, and predict that the consummation of the life-history of this nebula will be its reduction to a globular cluster of stars.” Among the gaseous nebulæ may also be included those known as “annular nebulæ.” These are very rare objects, only a few being known in the whole heavens. The most remarkable is that known as 57 Messier, which lies between the stars Beta and Gamma Lyræ, south of the bright star Vega. It was discovered by Darquier, at Toulouse, in 1779, while following Bode’s comet of that year. Lord Rosse thought it resolvable into stars, and so did Chacornac and Secchi, but no stars are perceptible with the great American telescopes, and Dr. Huggins finds it to be gaseous. The central portion is not absolutely dark, but contains some faint nebulous light. Examined with the great telescope of the Lick Observatory, Professor Barnard finds that the opening of the ring is filled in with fainter light “about midway in brightness between the brightness of the ring and the darkness of the adjacent sky. The aperture was more nearly circular than the outer boundary of the nebula, so that the ends of the ring were thicker than the sides.” The entire nebula was of a milky color. A central star, noticed by some observers, was usually seen by Professor Barnard, but was never a conspicuous object. He found the extreme dimensions of the nebula about 81″ in length by about 59″ in width, or more than double the apparent area of Jupiter’s disk. It has been beautifully photographed by Dr. Roberts, and he says “the photograph shows the nebula and the interior of the ring more elliptical than the drawings and descriptions indicate; and the star of the _following_ side is nearer to the ring than the distance given.