William Herschel discovered NGC 4899 = H II-300 on 8 Feb 1785 (sweep 372) and noted "Faintish, cL." CH's reduction is at the west edge of MCG -02-33-090 = PGC 44841. In the Slough catalogue, JH mistakenly assumed his two observations of h1517 = NGC 4924, were the same as H II-300 = NGC 4899, and that his father made a 1° error in polar distance. JH listed both objects correctly in the GC. Dreyer notes the NGC description should read "cL" instead of "eL".

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/11/88): fairly faint, fairly large, oval ~N-S, fairly low surface brightness. Appears brighter at the south end.

600/800mm - 24" (6/1/13): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 5:3 SSW-NNE, ~1.7'x1.0', broad concentration, large slightly brighter middle but no distinct core or nucleus. The central region increases to a vaguely defined nucleus. Hint of spiral structure in the halo. Located 8.2' WSW of mag 7.5 HD 112945. NGC 4863 lies 19' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb