branch into Scorpio, in which the fiery red star _Antares_ is somewhat involved. In the upper left-hand corner of the Plate, at some distance from the Milky-way, is seen dimly the Nebula in Andromeda, which becomes so magnificent an object to telescopic view. PLATE XIV.--STAR-CLUSTER IN HERCULES. _From a study made in June_, 1877. In the constellation Hercules, a small nebulous mass is faintly visible to the eye, a telescopic view of which is presented in Plate XIV. It is one of the most beautiful of the easily resolvable globular clusters. The brilliancy of the centre gives the cluster a distinctly globular appearance, while the several wings curving in various directions, have suggested to some observers an irregularly spiral structure. The large stars of the cluster are arranged in several groups which correspond, in a general way, with the faintly luminous wings. PLATE XV.--THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION. _From a study made in the years_ 1875-76. This nebula, which is one of the most brilliant and wonderful of telescopic objects, readily visible to the naked eve as a patch of nebulous light immediately surrounding the middle star of the three which form the sword of Orion, and a little south of the three well-known stars forming the belt. The small stars in this, as in other Plates of the series, are somewhat exaggerated in size, as was unavoidable with any mode of reproduction that could be employed. The bright pentagonal centre of the nebula is traversed by less luminous rifts, the several subdivisions thus outlined being irregularly mottled as if by bright fleecy clouds. Toward the lower part of this bright pentagonal centre is a comparatively dark space containing four bright stars which form a trapezium and together constitute the quadruple star _Theta Orionis_, which, to the naked eye, appears as the single star in the centre of the sword. On three sides of the central mass extend long bright wisps, whose curves fail, however, to reveal the spiral structure often attributed to this nebula. On the east a broad wing, with wave-shaped inner border, stretches southward. East of the trapezium are two especially noticeable dark spaces. Close to the main nebula on the north-east, a small faint nebula surrounds a bright star, and a branch from another faint stream of nebulous matter forming a loop to the southward, encloses the nebulous star (_Iota Orionis_) shown at the top of the Plate.