At the end of the first volume of " As tronomical Observations, made at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich," pub lished in 1776, Dr. Maskelyne, the pre sent Astronomer Royal, has given a cata logue of 34 principal stars, in right ascension and north polar distance, adapted to the beginning of the year 1770, and which, being the result of several years' repeated observations, made with the utmost care and the best instruments, may be presumed to be ex ceedingly accurate. In 1776, a work was published at Berlin, entitled " Recueil de Tebles Astronomiques," in which is contained a very large catalogue of stars from Hevelius, Flamstead, M. de la Caille, and Dr. Bradley, with their latitudes and longitudes for the beginning of 1800, with a catalogue of the southern stars of M. de la Caille, of double stars, of change able stars, and of nebulous stars : a work very useful for the practical astronomer. To these may be added Dr. Herschel's catalogue of double stars, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1782 and 1783 ; M. Messier's nebula: and clusters of stars, published in the " Con noissance des Temps," for 1784; and Dr. Herschel's catalogue of the same kind, given in the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1786.
In 1789, Mr. Francis Wollaston publish ed in folio, a " Specimen of a general Astronomical Catalogue, arranged in Zones of North Polar Distance, and adapted to January 1, 1792." In forming this catalogue, Mr. Wollaston has not made any use of those which precede Flamstead, except, in a small part, that of Hevelius : but all the stars in the British catalogue of 1725 are inserted, as well as those which are in the three latter cata logues of M. de la Caille ; those of Dr. Bradley, in the Nautical Almanac for 1773 ; of M. Mayer ; of Dr. Maskel}me ; the double stars of Dr. Herschel ; M. Messier's nebula ; and all those of Dr. Herschel, excepting his second and third classes ; that is, all those which are capa ble of being discerned with any teles cope inferior to his own. This work contains five distinct catalogues, viz. Dr. Maskelyne's new catalogue of 36 princi pal fixed stars ; a general catalogue of• all the stars in zones of north-polar distance ; an index of the general catalogue ; a catalogue of all the stars, in the order in which they pass the meridian ; and a catalogue of zodiacal stars, in longitude and latitude.