June, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



129 



Falcon '" ; and Gamma, the northern stai-, Tai-azed the 

 ■ Robbing one. " 



The rest of the constellation can be made out without 

 much trouble, but the figure is by no means so good as 

 that of Cygnus. Two stars, Zeta and Epsilou, near 

 together, mark the tip of one wing in the north-westerly 

 direction, and a veiy much fainter pair. 70 and 71, 

 mark the tip of the other wing, about the same distance 

 on the other side of Altair. Proceeding from Gamma 

 down the Milky Way, we find Mu. Delta and Lambda, 

 reproducing roughly the arrangement of stars which 



to that in which he is shooting. This is the explanation 

 of the phrase — " Another Arrow cast 



W^ithout a bow ; " 

 nor can either of the three heroes, who are near at hand, 

 tlie Herdsman, the Sorpcnt-holdcr, or the Knecler have 

 despatched it. The Herdsman grips his crook, the 

 Scrpcnt-holder has both hands full of the twining snake, 

 and if we accept the guess of Panyasis that the Knecler 

 was really Hercules, Germanicus tells us that one hand 

 held a club, the other a lion's skin. 



Parallel to the Arrow, and of not much larger extent. 



\\m 



IXX . XY XIX IIIAX 



IIAX 



lAX 



AX 



-;*"t .. 



CEPHEUS 









•il 



..V 



\ DRACO 





CY&NUS, . , _ _..',T 



. - ,1^ e ' • 



V 



•r 



I 



j 

 i 





•A 



V 



'32 ^ .-: 



,r LYRA 



13 



n 





■a / 

 / 



, . BOOTES 

 ■\ • 



\ 



• • 





>. ^r 



» ^ CORONA •P 



PEOASUS 



< VULPECULA 

 \^. — .. _^ 



.' DELPHINUS 







I 



• 5 '«S 



109 s ' 



PHINUS \ :.,«^ ,J -- ^4 •"» 

 ^\X. !SA&1TTA^ ^^..•«' I 



•s 



HERCULES 

 •0. 



\-- 'serpens 





I 



/serpens \ i 



K / 



\ •! 





^^. 



*■ T AQUARIUS 



•0 



- ^■m m wi Mil Ig [in \%% m~ 



AQUILLA 



-i \ 



41 

 OPHIUCHUS 



I'f 



.> A» 





♦ ^ :^ 



XXII 



XXI XX XIX XVllI 



Star Map No. fi ; The Region of Cygnus. 



XVII 



XVI 



marks so clearly the neck and head of the Swan. Fol- 

 lowing the line of the three stars. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, 

 we find they point downwards to a bright star, Theta ; 

 between this and Delta, but nearer to Theta, is Eta, 

 one of the regular variable stars of short period, visible 

 in all its phases to the naked eye, its period being one 

 of four hours over the week. 



The quotation from Ai-atus at the licad of this paper 

 refers to a little constellation which in a certain sense 

 is the most interesting in the entire sky, the constel- 

 lation of the Arrow. Possessing only five little 

 stars of the fourth magnitude, and extending in a 

 narrow line, but 4° in length, increased by the moderns 

 to 10°, it is nevertheless one of the oldest constellations, 

 being mentioned three times by Aratus in his celebrated 

 poem, and having its five principal stars duly cata^ 

 logued by Ptolemy. The history of the Arrow was 

 lost even in the time of Aratus. It was not shot by 

 Sagittarius the Archer; so much is quite clear, for it is 

 flying high above his head and in the opposite direction 



is the modern constellation, Vulpecula. framed by 

 Hevelius in 1690. Its principal interest to the naked- 

 eye observer is the meteor stream which radiates from 

 it in the latter half of June, and to the telescopic ob- 

 server the celebrated Dumb Bell nebula, just visible in 

 the field-glass. A line from Alpha Ophiuchi through 

 Zeta Aquilae, and another from Alpha Cygni through 

 Epsilon Cygni, will meet together in a pretty little con- 

 stellation, which, once picked out, can never be for- 

 gotten, its leading stars being so nearly equal in mag- 

 nitude and so close together. This is the constellation 

 of the Dolphin, containing ten stars in Ptolemy's cata- 

 logue. Two of these are a little brighter than the fourth 

 magnitude, and seven others range frojn that down to 

 the fifth. Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta form a com- 

 pact little lozenge, the straight line of Gamma and 

 Delta being continued on by Zeta and Epsilon. Though 

 the Dolphin is one of the ancient constellations, the 

 names attached to the two principal stars arc quite 

 modem, and are due to a piece of very clumsy humour 



