After leaving Gemini the ecliptic passes through the small
constellation Cancer. Its way runs southeasterly for about twenty
degrees, passing just south of a charming little cluster of stars which
can be dimly seen with the unaided eye, but comes out brilliantly with
an opera-glass. It is called Præsepe, or the Bee-hive, and is the only
object to attract attention in Cancer. Fortunately, it is so situated
as to mark the line of the ecliptic through the constellation. The
Bee-hive rests almost exactly on the ecliptic.