Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 19:27:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Darryl Stanford
To: astro
Subject: Re: Historic constellations (was Re: Updated Constellation list -Reply

Hi Hartmut,
The excellent book, The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations by Michael 
Bakich contains all of the extinct & somewhat bizarre constellations.  A 
list & very short translation follows:

Antinous - Hadrian's Servant
Apes - A fly
Apis - A bee
Apparatus Chemicus - Fornax's original name
Argo Navis - the ship Argo
The Battery of Volta - Volta's battery
Cancer Minor - A "crablet"
Cesaries - Another name for Coma Berenices  
Cerberus - The 3 headed dog that guarded Hades
Cor Caroli - Charles I's heart
Corona Firmiana Vulgo Septentrionalis - This honored Leopold Anton von 
Firmian, Archbishop of Salzburg
Custos messium - Harvest keeper
Felis - Felix's ancestor?
Fornax Chemica - Fornax's original name
Friedrichs Ehre - Sword, pen & olive branch
Gallus - The rooster
Gladii Electorales Saxonici - Crossed swords
Globus Aerostaticus - The original hot air balloon!
Horologium Oscillatorium - Horologium's former name
Jordanus - Jordan's river
Leo Palatinus - the original lion
Lilium - a flower
Lochium Funis - A nautical log line
Machina Electrica - Electrostatic generator
Marmor Sculptile - the bust of Christopher Columbus
Mons Maenalus - the Mountain
Musca Australis - This is now Musca
Musca Borealis - Another fly!
Noctua - the Night Owl
Officina Typographica - a printing office
Phoenicopterus - teh Flamingo
Polophylax - Guardian of the Pole
Pomum Imperiale - the Orb of Emperor Leopold I
Psalterium Georgianum - the harp of George III
Quadrans Muralis - the Mural Quadrant.  This is where the Quadrantids 
gets its name.
Renne - a reindeer (Rudolph maybe?)
Robur Carolinum - the Royal Oak
Sagitta Australe - arrow
Sceptrum - the French scepter
Sceptrum Brandenburgicum - the Brandenburg Scepter
Sciurus Volans - flying squirrel (Rocky maybe?)
Solarium - sundial
Tarandus vel Rangifer - the same as Renne
Taurus Poniatowski - Stanislaus Poniatowski's bull
Tigris - the Tigris River 
Triangulum Minor - a small triangle
Tubus Herschelii Minor -  Herschel's telescope
Turdus Solitarius - another name for the sundial
Vulpecula cum Ansere - fox & goose.

So, there you have it!

Darryl