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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2010
The properties of the solution of the differential equation governing the evolution of localised line-centred disturbances to a marginally unstable plane parallel flow were described by Hocking and Stewartson (1972). A corresponding study of the properties when the initial disturbance is point-centred is presented here. A localised burst at a finite time can be produced, for certain values of the coefficients which can be determined analytically. When the equation permits solutions with circular symmetry, two kinds of bursting solutions, as well as solutions which remain finite, are possible, but the boundary between bursting and finite solutions could not be determined analytically.