- Antlia is one of the constellations of the southern sky introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille on his map of 1756. He said in the accompanying description that it symbolized experimental physics. Lacaille originally called the constellation la Machine Pneumatique but Latinized this to Antlia Pneumatica on the second edition of the map published in 1763. Following a suggestion by John Herschel, the English astronomer Francis Baily shortened its name to just Antlia in his British Association Catalogue of 1845, and it has been known as that ever since.