But though it may be impossible to maintain that the Grecians have handed down to us in an absolutely unchanged form the figures of the ancient constellations as they were first imagined in remote ages, yet many proofs may be cited in favour of the opinion, that not lightly or arbitrarily did astronomical artists venture to tamper with the Zodiacal and extra-Zodiacal figures. Some of these proofs have already been pointed out in the foregoing Papers. Attention will be drawn to others in the consideration of the diagrams here given. In Plates XV., XVI., XVII., and XVIII., the positions of the solstitial and equinoctial colures amongst the constellations are given at the date 5744 B.C. Had it been possible, I should have liked to have drawn these diagrams as at 6000 B.C.--not only because it is easier to deal with and to remember a round number such as that, but also because at that date the solstitial colure passed through the ecliptic only one degree distant from the initial point of the Indian Zodiac--a point which there seems good reason to believe was the initial point of many, other than Indian, ancient Zodiacs. Owing to the mechanical restrictions of the precessional globe, it was not possible to adjust it to any more accurate date than that of 5744 B.C. It will not be necessary here to reiterate the considerations in favour of the opinion already advanced that the calendrical importance of the constellation Aries in some nations, and its symbolical importance in the mythology of others, may best be explained by the supposition that the choice of this constellation as “Prince and Leader” of the signs was made _not_ when its stars marked the spring equinox, but when they marked the winter solstice. Let us rather take this opinion as a working hypothesis, and turn our attention to the importance, in ancient symbolism, of the _four_ constellations--Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricornus--which, according to this hypothesis, marked the _four_ seasons, and the cardinal points 6000 B.C. Next in this order to Aries comes Cancer, _The Crab_ (see Plate XVI.). In Babylonia, it seems to be established that a _tortoise_, not a crab, represented the fourth constellation of the Zodiac. In Egypt, as we learn from the Zodiacs of Esneh and Denderah, it was the _scarabæus_ beetle that held the place given to the crab in the Grecian sphere.