SAGITTARIUS

, Sagittary, the Archer, one of the signs of the zodiac, being the 9th in order, and marked with the character of a dart or arrow. This constellation is drawn in the figure of a Centaur, or an animal half man and half horse, in the act of shooting an arrow from a bow. This figure the Greeks feign to be Crotus, the son of Eupheme, the nurse of the muses. Among more ancient nations the figure was probably. meant for a hunter, to denote the hunting season, when the sun enters this sign.

The stars in this constellation are, in Ptolomy's catalogue 31, in Tycho's 14, in Hevelius's 22, and in the Britannic catalogue 69.