DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER AM HER VARIABLE IN THE PERIOD GAP

Recently, Buckley et al. drew attention to a new AM Her variable, RE 1 93 8 - 4612, discovered by the ROSAT survey with a period of 2.33 h w hich places it in the middle of the usual 2-3 h period gap for catacly smic variables. Here, we report the discovery of yet another AM Her va riable, V2009 - 65.5, with a period of 2.66 h, also within the period gap. We argue that the anomalously high proportion of AM Hers within t he period gap indicates that the canonical magnetic braking mechanism used to explain the orbital evolution of other CVs may not be applicab le to the AM Hers. Possible alternative models are discussed.