Production of excited beauty states in Z decays

A data sample of about 3.0 million hadronicZ decays collected by the ALEPH experimentat LEP in the years 1991 through 1994 is used to make an inclusive selection of B hadron events. In this event sample 4227±140±252B* mesonsin the decayB*→Bγ and 1944±108±161B** u, d mesonsdecaying into a B mesonand a charged pion are reconstructed. Here and in the followingB** u,d denotes the eightL=1(bū) and (bd) states and their charge conjugate.