Photometry of intrinsically luminous stars in galactic fields at longitudes l = +/- 45 degrees

We present UBV (and some H beta) photoelectric photometry of some 100 lumin ous star candidates in each of two 10 degrees-15 degrees wide longitude zon es centered symmetrically relative to the Galactic center in the Milky Way at longitudes l= +/- 45 degrees. The southern field contains significantly more massive stars than the northern field, suggesting a real asymmetry. Th is accords with the remarkable lack of known Wolf-Rayet stars in the northe rn zone as opposed to 14 known in the southern zone. If this is not just a local fluctuation on a kiloparsec scale, it is not obviously related to the known bar in the Galaxy.