PORTION OF THE COSMOS.* NEBULA. 231 



15 m of Eight Ascension. The greatest local accumulation is 

 found in the northern hemisphere,, distributed through the 

 constellations of Leo and Leo minor, the body, tail, and 

 hind-paws of Ursa major, the nose of Camelopardalis, the 

 tail of Draco, the two Canes venatici, Coma Berenices (where 

 the north pole of the Milky Way ( 397 ) is situated), the 

 right foot of Bootes, and above all in the head, wings, and 

 shoulders of Yirgo. This zone, which has been called the 

 nebula-region of Yirgo, contains, as I have already remarked, 

 in a space ( 398 ) occupying the eighth part of the entire 

 celestial sphere, one-third of the whole of the nebulae. It 

 extends but little beyond the equator, excepting where at 

 the southern wing of Virgo it stretches as far as the extremity 

 of Hydra and to the head of Centaurus, but without touching 

 the feet of the Centaur or the Southern Cross. Another 

 and less considerable assemblage of nebulae in the northern 

 hemisphere, and which Sir John Herschel calls the nebula- 

 region of Pisces, extends further into the southern hemis- 

 phere than does that of Yirgo. It forms a zone running 

 from the constellation of Andromeda, which it fills almost 

 entirely, to the breast and wings of Pegasus, the band which 

 unites the two Pisces, the southern galactic Pole, and 

 Fomalhaut. A striking contrast to these well-filled regions 

 is presented by the almost desert space, as respects nebula, 

 which surrounds Perseus, Aries, Taurus, the head and upper 

 parts of the body of Orion, Auriga, Hercules, Aquila, and 

 the whole constellation of Lyra ( 399 ). If, in the general 

 view of the nebula and star-clusters belonging to the 

 Northern Catalogue (that of Slough), given in Sir John 

 Herschel's work on the Cape Observations, and where they 

 are distributed into the several hours of Right Ascension, we 



