But the observer must not expect to see much during his observation of Venus. In fact, he can scarcely do more than note her varying phases (see Plate 6) and the somewhat uneven boundary of the terminator. Our leading observers have done so little with this fascinating but disappointing planet, that amateurs must not be surprised at their own failure. I suppose the question whether Venus has a satellite, or at any rate whether the object supposed to have been seen by Cassini and other old observers were a satellite, must be considered as decided in the negative. That Cassini should have seen an object which Dawes and Webb have failed to see must be considered utterly improbable. Leaving the inferior planets, we come to a series of important and interesting objects. First we have the planet Mars, nearly the last in the scale of planetary magnitude, but far from being the least interesting of the planets. It is in fact quite certain that we obtain a better view of Mars than of any object in the heavens, save the Moon alone. He may present a less distinguished appearance than Jupiter or Saturn, but we see his surface on a larger scale than that of either of those giant orbs, even if we assume that we ever obtain a fair view of their real surface. Nor need the moderately armed observer despair of obtaining interesting views of Mars. The telescope with which Beer and Maedler made their celebrated series of views was only a 4-inch one, so that with a 3-inch or even a 2-inch aperture the attentive observer may expect interesting views. In fact, more depends on the observer than on the instrument. A patient and attentive scrutiny will reveal features which at the first view wholly escape notice.