by a cordon of canals that surround it on the north. Upon this cordon, composed of the Araxes, the Daemon, and the Agathodaemon, are beaded a number of spots, two of them, the Phoenix and the Tithonius lakes, being conspicuously prominent. Closer scrutiny reveals several more of the same sort, only smaller. These are all interconnected by a network of canals. Now just as it is in this region that the canals first show, so likewise is it here that the spots first make their appearance.
Although it was here that at this last opposition the spots were first seen, it was not here that their character and purpose became apparent. It was not until later in the season, when the Eumenides-Orcus began to give evidence of being yet more peculiarly beaded, that the true nature of the spots suggested itself to me.
The Eumenides-Orcus is a very long and important canal, connecting the Phoenix Lake with the Trivium Charontis. It is so long—3,540 miles from one end of it to the other—that, although it starts in lat. 16° N. and ends in lat. 12° S., it belts the disk not many degrees inclined to the equator. For a great distance it runs parallel to the northern coast of the Sea of the Sirens. From this coast several canals strike down to it; some stopping at it, others continuing on down the disk. Especially is the western end of the sea, called the Gulf of the
