Sagittarius and its neighbor, the small but rich constellation Scutum Sobieskii, attract us next. We shall first deal with the western portions of these constellations which are represented on Map No. 12. The star in Sagittarius is a wide triple, magnitudes three and a half, nine and a half, and ten, distances 40", p. 315 deg., and 45", p. 114 deg.. But the chief glory of Sagittarius (and the same statement applies to Scutum Sobieskii) lies in its assemblage of star clusters. One of these, No. 4361, also known as M 8, is plainly visible to the naked eye as a bright spot in the Milky Way. We turn our five-inch telescope, armed with a low magnifying power, upon this subject and enjoy a rare spectacle. As we allow it to drift through the field we see a group of three comparatively brilliant stars advancing at the front of a wonderful train of mingled star clusters and nebulous clouds. A little northwest of it appears the celebrated trifid nebula, No. 4355 on the map. There is some evidence that changes have occurred in this nebula since its discovery in the last century. Barnard has made a beautiful photograph showing M 8 and the trifid nebula on the same plate, and he remarks that the former is a far more remarkable object than its more famous neighbor. Near the eastern border of the principal nebulous cloud there is a small and very black hole with a star poised on its eastern edge. This hole and the star are clearly shown in the photograph. Cluster No. 4397 (M 24) is usually described as resembling, to the naked eye, a protuberance on the edge of the Milky Way. It is nearly three times as broad as the moon, and is very rich in minute stars, which are at just such a degree of visibility that crowds of them continually appear and disappear while the eye wanders over the field, just as faces are seen and lost in a vast assemblage of people. This kind of luminous agitation is not peculiar to M 24, although that cluster exhibits it better than most others do on account of both the multitude and the minuteness of its stars. A slight sweep eastward brings us to yet another meeting place of stars, the cluster M 25, situated between the variables U and V. This is brilliant and easily resolved into its components, which include a number of double stars. The two neighboring variables just referred to are interesting. U has a period of about six days and three quarters, and its range of magnitude runs from the seventh down to below the eighth. V is a somewhat mysterious star. Chandler removed it from his catalogue of variables because no change had been observed in its light by either himself, Sawyer, or Yendell. Quirling, the discoverer of its variability, gave the range as between magnitudes 7.6 and 8.8. It must, therefore, be exceedingly erratic in its changes, resembling rather the temporary stars than the true variables.