442 MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. [SECT, xxxvir. 



of the surface of the northern hemisphere. It occupies the 

 constellations Leo, Leo Minor, the body, tail, and hind legs 

 of Ursa Major, the nose of Camelopard, the point of the tail 

 of Draco, Canis Venatica, . Coma Berenices, the preceding 

 leg of Bootes, and the head, wings, and shoulder of Virgo, 

 which is the richest part. There is a lesser nebulous region 

 in this hemisphere, but entirely separated from the pre- 

 ceding, which occupies the chest and wing of Pegasus, the 

 constellations Pisces and Andromeda. If we could imagine 

 the ring or zone of the Milky Way to encircle or coincide 

 with the horizon, the great nebulous mass would form a 

 canopy over head, descending down to a considerable dis- 

 tance on all sides, chiefly towards the north pole ; and the 

 richest part, which is in Virgo, would then be directly over 

 head in the north pole of the Milky Way, that is in 12 h 47 m 

 right ascension, and 64 north polar distance. 



With the exception of the Magellanic clouds, there is a 

 much greater uniformity in the distribution of the nebulae 

 in the southern hemisphere than in the northern. They 

 are separated by spaces of vacuity of greater or less dimen- 

 sions. One of these barren regions extends for nearly fifteen 

 degrees all around the south pole, and close on its border ; 

 the lesser of the Magellanic clouds occurs completely insu- 

 lated ; while the greater Magellanic cloud is in connexion 

 with something approaching to a zone of connected nebulous 

 patches which extends along the back of Dorado, through 

 a portion of Horologium and Eridanus, part of Fornax, and 

 over the paws of Cetus to the equator, where it unites with 

 the nebulous regions of Pisces. 



The Magellanic clouds form two of the most striking 

 features in the southern hemisphere ; both of these nebulae 

 are visible to the unassisted eye, being nearly of the same 

 intensity as the brighter portions of the Milky Way ; but 

 the smaller is entirely effaced by moonlight, and the larger 

 nearly so. THey are altogether unconnected with the 

 Milky Way and with one another. The Nubecula Major is 



