Investigation of the Decay of Orbitally-Excited                                
B Mesons and First Measurement of the Branching                                
Ratio BR ( B*_J --> B* pi )                                                    
  
From 4 million hadronic Z0 decays recorded by OPAL, we select                  
a sample of more than 570,000 inclusively reconstructed B mesons.              
B* mesons are reconstructed using the decay B* --> B gamma.                    
Orbitally excited mesons B*_J are reconstructed in the B* pi                   
and B pi final states. The selected B* candidates are used to obtain           
samples enriched and depleted in the decay B*_J --> B* pi,                     
from which we perform the first measurement of the branching ratio             
Br(B*_J->B* pi).                                                               
  
 Parallel session :1                   
 Plenary  session :3