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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
RCB stars are surrounded by circumstellar dust and gas moving radially outwards at ~200 km/sec. The circumstellar shell is made up of discrete puffs of matter, a typical puff occupying an area ~0.03 of a complete shell. On the average puffs are ejected about once every 40 days (comparable with the known pulsation periods of RCB stars). The reddening law of the dust indicates that it is composed of small carbon particles (radii ~100A). The flux from the shell at L typically varies by 1 to 3 mags over periods of 1000-2000 days. The average mass loss rate is ~10−6MO/yr.