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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Observations of Be stars are summarized and discussed, with a view to establishing dimensions of, and physical conditions within, their envelopes. Shell stars and Be stars are considered together, the observed differences between them being considered as due to the size of the envelope and the angle that the rotational axis makes with the line of sight. Rotational ejection of matter is insufficient to account for the formation of the envelopes. Theories of the structure of envelopes are also discussed. The envelopes of Wolf-Rayet stars are considered in a similar way. The interpretation of these is complicated by the known binary nature of many Wolf-Rayet stars. Other groups of stars possessing envelope-like structures – U Gem stars and old novae, symbiotic stars, and T Tauri stars – are briefly mentioned. The problems of stellar envelopes, first listed by Struve thirty years ago, are still unsolved.