62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Directly above Cetiis is the long, straggling constellation of Pisces, 

 the Fishes. The Northern Fish is represented by the group of stars 

 near Andromeda and the Triangles. A long band or ribbon, supposed 

 to bind the fish together, trends thence first southeast and then west 

 until its joins a group of stars under Pegasus, which represents the 

 Western Fish, not to be confounded with the Southern Fish described 

 near the beginning of this article, which is a separate constellation. 

 Fable has, however, somewhat confounded these fishes; for while, as I 

 have remarked above, the Southern Fish is said to represent Venus 

 after she had turned herself into a fish to escape from the giant Ty- 

 phon, the two fishes of the constellation we are now dealing with are 

 also fabled to represent Yenus and her interesting son Cupid under 

 the same disguise assumed on the same occasion. If Ty])hon, how- 

 ever, was so great a brute that even Cupid's aiTOWs were of no avail 

 against him, we should, perhaps, excuse mythology for duplicating the 

 record of so wondrous an event. 



You will find it very interesting to take your glass and, beginning 

 with the attractive little group in the Northern Fish, follow the wind- 

 ings of the ribbon, with its wealth of little stars, to the Western Fish. 

 When you have arrived at that point, sweep well over the sky in that 

 neighborhood, and particularly around and under the stars Iota (i), 

 Theta {&), Lambda (A.) and Kappa (k). If you are using a powerful 

 glass, you will be surprised and delighted by what you see. Below 

 the star Omega (w), and to the left of Lambda, is the place which the 

 sun occupies at the time of the spring equinox — in other words, one of 

 the two crossing-places of the equinoctial or the equator of the heav- 

 ens, and the ecliptic, or the sun's path. The prime meridian of the 

 heavens passes through this point. 



To the left of Pisces, and above the head of Cetus, is the constel- 

 lation Aries, or the Ram. Two pretty bright stars, four degrees apart, 

 one of which has a fainter star near it, mark it out plainly to the eye. 

 These stars are in the head of the Ram. The brightest one, Alpha (a) 

 is called Arietis ; Beta {p) is named Sheratan ; and its fainter neigh- 

 bor is Mesarthim. According to fable, this constellation represents the 

 ram that wore the golden fleece, which was the object of the cele- 

 brated expedition of the Argonauts. There is not much in the con- 

 stellation to interest us, except its historical importance, as it was more 

 than two thousand years ago the leading constellation of the zodiac, 

 and still stands first in the list of the zodiacal signs. Owing to the 

 precession of the equinoxes, however, the vernal equinoctial point, 

 which was formerly in this constellation, has now advanced into the 

 constellation Pisces, as we saw above. 



The little constellation of the Triangles, just above Aries, is worth 

 only a passing notice. Insignificant as it appears, this little group is 

 a very ancient constellation. 



And now we come to the so-called "Royal Family." Although 



