Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Earlier surveys of the line radiation from neutral hydrogen in the Magellanic Clouds (Kerr, Hindman, and Robinson 1954; Hindman, Kerr, and McGee 1963; Hindman et al. 1963) have shown that the amount of gas associated with these extragalactic bodies is relatively large. The gas appears widespread, surrounding the stellar bodies in a single continuous and very tenuous envelope with a marked bridge in the vicinity of the optical wing of the SMC linking the two main concentrations.