COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
	      INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
        	         Number 813

                		            Konkoly Observatory
                            		    Budapest
		                            1973 July 21

         	THE UNUSUAL SPECTRUM OF CSV 1855

    The faint southern star No. 1855 in the 1951 Catalogue
of Stars Suspected of Variability, discovered by Hoffmeister
to range from m_pg=11 to 13, is contained, though not so noted,
in Wackerling's (1970) catalogue of early-type emission-line
stars and in Stephenson and Sanduleak's (1971) list of luminous
stars in the Southern Milky Way. It was found to show bright
H_alpha by Henize and Wray and by Stephenson and Sanduleak, and the
latter further noted the presence of line emission in the blue
spectral region.
    A recent inspection of an excellent 60-minute blue 
objective-prism plate taken by N. Sanduleak on Feb. 25, 1968 with
the Curtis Schmidt at Cerro Tololo indicates that this star
shows several fairly strong unusual emission features, probably
due to Fe II, in addition to very strong H_beta and moderately
strong H_gamma. The emission lines are not seen below H_delta, and the
spectrum is nearly continuous at shorter wavelengths. Comparison
of this exposure with earlier plates taken in June and July 1967
for the Southern OB Survey, which are less well exposed, 
indicates little spectrum or magnitude change. In view of the 
variability of the object, a possible similarity with XX Ophiuchi
is suggested.
    I am happy to acknowledge the assistance of Drs. W. P.
Bidelman and N.J. Irvine in the preparation of this note. This
work was supported in part by NSF Grant GP-21203 to Case Western 
Reserve University.

                                            SANG GAK LEE
Warner and Swasey Observatory      
Case Western Reserve University
E. Cleveland, Ohio

References:
Stephenson, C.B. and Sanduleak, N. 1971, Publications of the
  Warner and Swasey Observatory, Vol. 1, No. 1. The object, which
  is No. 2662 in this catalogue, is to be found on Chart 39. Its
  coordinates are: alpha = 12h17m55.8s, delta = -62d5'1" 1900.
Wackerling, L.R. 1970, Mem. Roy. Astr. Soc. 73, 153. [BIBCODE 1970MmRAS..73..153W ]