Lewis Swift discovered NGC 2491 = Sw. III-37 on 15 Nov 1885 (along with NGC 2496) with the 16" refractor at Warner Observatory and recorded "eeeF; pS; iR; B* nr W; sp of 2 [with NGC 2496]; e diff.". His position is ~1.5' NW of CGCG 031-007, which the CGCG, RNGC and PGC have adopted as NGC 2491. There is a mag 11 star 2.8' NW, which could be the "B[right] * nr W", though a similar star is also 2.4' NE. The IC 2 has a note from Herbert Howe that "only a few stars 14 mag. The "B *" is 10 mag."

Harold Corwin notes there are two brighter galaxies 10' N (CGCG 031-005 and CGCG 031-008) which would have been in Swift's field though neither of these have bright stars preceding (nor are they south-preceding NGC 2496). But CGCG 031-007 is quite faint to have been noticed by Swift, so this identification is uncertain.

600/800mm - 24" (1/31/14): at 375x appeared faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, low even surface brightness. Located 3.7' SW NGC 2496. A mag 11 star is 2.8' NW and a similar star is 2.4' NE.

24" (1/25/14): at 375x appeared very faint to faint, small, elongated 4:3, 20"x15", low even surface brightness. Located 3.7' SW of much brighter NGC 2491. PGC 1335584, an extremely faint galaxy (V = 16.5), was just glimpsed 1.4' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb