The Zodiac is the zone of stars traversed by the Sun in the course of a year. This word is derived from the Greek _Zodiakos_, which signifies "animal," and this etymology arose because most of the figures traced on this belt of stars represent animals. The belt is divided into twelve parts that are called the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, also named by the ancients the "Houses of the Sun," since the Sun visits one of them in each month. These are the signs, with the primitive characters that distinguish them: the Ram [Aries], the Bull [Taurus], the Twins [Gemini], the Crab [Cancer], the Lion [Leo], the Virgin [Virgo], the Balance [Libra], the Scorpion [Scorpio], the Archer [Sagittarius], the Goat [Capricorn], the Water-Carrier [Aquarius], the Fishes [Pisces]. The sign [Aries] represents the horns of the Ram, [Taurus] the head of the Bull, and so on. If you will now follow me into the Houses of the Sun you will readily recognize them again, provided you have a clear picture of the principal stars of the Northern Heavens. First, you see the Ram, the initial sign of the Zodiac; because at the epoch at which the actual Zodiac was fixed, the Sun entered this sign at the vernal equinox, and the equator crossed the ecliptic at this point. This constellation, in which the horns of the Ram (third magnitude) are the brightest, is situated between Andromeda and the Pleiades. Two thousand years ago, the Ram was regarded as the symbol of spring; but owing to the secular movement of the precession of the equinoxes, the Sun is no longer there on March 21: he is in the Fishes. To the left, or east of the Ram, we find the Bull, the head of which forms a triangle in which burns Aldebaran, of first magnitude, a magnificent red star that marks the right eye; and the Hyades, scintillating pale and trembling, on its forehead. The timid Pleiades, as we have seen, veil themselves on the shoulder of the Bull--a captivating cluster, of which six stars can be counted with the unaided eye, while several hundred are discovered with the telescope. Next the Twins. They are easily recognized by the two fine stars, [alpha] and [beta], of first magnitude, which mark their heads, and immortalize Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter, celebrated for their indissoluble friendship. Cancer, the Crab, is the least important sign of the Zodiac. It is distinguished only by five stars of fourth and fifth magnitudes, situated below the line of Castor and Pollux, and by a pale cluster called Præsepe, the Beehive. The Lion next approaches, superb in his majesty. At his heart is a gorgeous star of first magnitude, [alpha] or Regulus. This figure forms a grand trapezium of four stars on the celestial sphere. The Virgin exhibits a splendid star of first magnitude; this is Spica, which with Regulus and Arcturus, form a triangle by which this constellation can be recognized.