Al-Sufi says that the Arabians did not make use of the figures of the Zodiac in their proper signification, because they divided the circumference of the sky by the number of days which the moon took to describe it--about 28 days--and they looked for conspicuous stars at intervals which, to the eye, the moon appeared to describe in a day and a night. They began with _al-scharataïn_, "the two marks" (α and β Arietis) which were the first striking points following the point of the spring equinox. They then sought behind these two marks another point at a distance from them, equal to the space described by the moon in a day and a night. In this way they found _al-butaïn_ (ε, δ, and ρ Arietis); after that _al-tsuraija_, the Pleiades; then _al-dabaran_, the Hyades, and thus all the "mansions" of the moon. They paid no attention to the signs of the Zodiac, nor to the extent of the figures which composed them. This is why they reckoned among the "mansions" _al-haka_ (λ Orionis) which forms no part of the signs of the Zodiac, since it belongs to the southern constellation of the Giant (Orion). And similarly for other stars near the Zodiac, of which Al-Sufi gives some details. He says that Regulus (α Leonis) was called by the Arabians _al-maliki_, the Royal Star, and that _al-anva_ consists of five stars situated in the two wings of the Virgin. These stars seem to be β, η, γ, δ, and ε Virginis, which form with Spica (α Virginis) a Y-shaped figure. Spica was called _simak al-azal_, the unarmed _simak_; the "armed _simak_" being Arcturus, _simak al-ramih_. These old Arabic names seem very fanciful. Al-Sufi relates that in the year 337 of the Hegira (about A.D. 948) he went to Ispahan with Prince Abul-fadhl, who introduced him to an inhabitant of that city, named Varvadjah, well known in that country, and famous for his astronomical acquirements. Al-Sufi asked him the names of the stars on an astrolabe which he had, and he named Aldebaran, the two bright stars in the Twins (Castor and Pollux), Regulus, Sirius, and Procyon, the two Simaks, etc. Al-Sufi also asked him in what part of the sky _Al-fard_ (α Hydræ) was, but he did not know! Afterwards, in the year 349, this same man was at the court of Prince Adhad-al-Davlat, and in the presence of the Prince, Al-Sufi asked him the name of a bright star--it was _al-nasr al-vaki_, the falling Vulture (Vega), and he replied, "That is _al-aijuk_" (Capella)! thus showing that he only knew the _names_ of the stars, but did not know them when he saw them in the sky. Al-Sufi adds that all the women "who spin in their houses" knew this star (Vega) by the name of _al-atsafi_, the Tripod. But this could not be said even of "educated women" at the present day.