lies on
the same line the same distance beyond [b]. These two stars form the
tips of the inverted "Y" which distinguishes Cancer.

An imaginary line from Capella through Pollux will point out Acubens.
Close to it are two faint stars. The Bee Hive lies within an irregular
square formed by [g], [d], [[^e]], and [th], and looks like a nebula to
the naked eye.

In June, 1895, all the planets except Neptune were in this quarter of
the heavens, and Halley's comet was in this constellation on its first
appearance in 1531.

The dimness of [g] and [d] is an infallible precursor of rain, and if
the Bee Hive is not visible in a clear sky, it is a presage of a
violent storm.

[Illustration: CANCER]

HYDRA (hi'-dra)--THE SEA-SERPENT. (Face South and Southwest.)

LOCATION.--The head of Hydra, a striking and beautiful arrangement of
stars, lies just below the Bee Hive, in Cancer, 6[deg] south of Acubens in
that constellation, and forms a rhomboidal figure of five stars.

Hydra is about 100[deg] in length and reaches almost from Canis Minor to
Libra. Its stars are all faint except Alphard, or the Hydra's heart, a
second-magnitude star remarkable for its lonely situation, southwest
of Regulus, in Leo. A line drawn from [g] Leonis through Regulus
points it out. It is of a rich orange tint. Castor and Pollux, in
Gemini, point southeast to it.

The constellations Crater, the Cup, and Corvus, the Crow, both stand
on the coils of Hydra, south of Denebola, the bright star in the tail
of the Lion.

Hydra is supposed to be the snake shown on a uranographic stone from
the Euphrates, 1200 B.C.

The little asterism Sextans, the Sextant, lies in the region between
Regulus and Alphard. It contains no stars brighter than the fourth
magnitude.

[Illustration: HYDRA]

LEO (le'o)--THE LION. (Face South.)

LOCATION.--A line drawn from Pollux, in Gemini, to [g] in Cancer, and
prolonged about 12[deg], strikes Regulus, the brilliant star in the heart
of the Lion. Regulus lies about 9[deg] east of Acubens, in Cancer, and
about 12[deg] northeast of Alphard, in the heart of Hydra.

Leo is one of the most beautiful constellations in the zodiac. It lies
south of the Great Bear, and its principal stars are arranged in the
form of a sickle which nearly outlines the Lion's head. This group is
so striking as to be unmistakable. Regulus is in the handle of the
sickle. It is one of the stars from which longitude is reckoned, lies
al