i6o 
NATURE STUDY. 
Between Gemini and Teo there is a space occupied en¬ 
tirely by faint stars. This comprises the group Cancer, 
the Crab,and is the fifth of zodiacal constellations. Since 
there are no bright stars by which to recognize it, it must 
be located solely with reference to its neighbors. On 
a clear night one can see there a hazy spot like a patch of 
thin mist. In the telescope this is seen to be a magnifi¬ 
cent cluster of stars of the seventh magnitude and less, and 
is termed Prsesepe, the Manger. It is also sometimes call¬ 
ed the Beehive, and shows up well in a good opera glass. 
A Two-Headed Snake. 
The museum of the Institute has received from Mr. 
George I. Hopkins a preserved specimen of garter snake, 
Thanophis sirtalis, with two 
well developed heads. It was 
found, a few years ago. by some 
boys, near the Merrimack river. 
The length is about six inches, 
and most of it is like any ordina¬ 
ry snake. About an inch back 
from the nose, or noses, the body branches, and two per¬ 
fect heads are the result. When found it was alive and 
apparently well able to feed both mouths. 
A jar which had contained sweets had been placed on a 
shelf over a sink where Blatta germanica abounded. The 
cover was partly open. In four days, or rather four nights 
as the Croton Bug is not so frequently abroad during the 
day, over two hundred were suffocated while feeding upon 
the remainder of the sweets that were still adhering to the 
glass. Though the jar was not exposed as a trap, the re¬ 
sult seems to suggest a very simple and unique manner of 
being rid of these insects. 
