This paper contains a detailed study of the Poisson cluster process on the real line, concentrating on two aspects; first, the asymptotic distribution of the number of points in [0,t) as t→ ∞ for both transient and equilibrium cluster processes and, secondly, a general formula for the probability generating function of the equilibrium process. Asymptotic formulae for cumulants of the process are also derived. The results obtained generalize those of previous writers. The approach is analytical, in contrast to the probabilistic treatment of P. A. W. Lewis.
