Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/62

LEFT COCCOLOBA 38 COCHIN food value broadly corresponds to the potato. They are sometimes included under the name Yam, but are totally different from the true yam. The names more strictly belong to Colocasia anti- qnorutn, a stemless plant with ovate leaves, and flowers inclosed in a cylindri- cal erect spathe. This is a native of India, but was early introduced to Egypt and the Mediterranean countries, whence it has now passed even to Amer- ica. C. esculenta, C. macrorhiza, or tara, and C. Himalensis are also of economic importance in different parts of the world. COCCOLOBA, a genus of plants, order Polygonacese. C. %ivifera is the seaside grape, which grows on the shores of the West Indian Islands, Bermuda, and on the American continent. It has large glossy green leaves with red veins. The berries are eatable. It is an evergreen. The wood is used for cabinet work. A red coloring matter in it is employed as a dye. The wood, leaves, and bark are astringent, and a decoction of them evaporated forms Jamaica Kino. COCCOMILIA, a kind of plum growing in Calabria, the bark of which — especially of the root — is highly esteemed by the Neapolitan faculty for its virtues in in- termittent fever. COCCOSTEUS, a genus of fossil placoganoid fishes, pertaining chiefly to the Devonian and Old Red Sandstone system, but met with also in Silurian strata. The head was protected by a great shield covered with tubercles. Be- sides this bony cuirass there was also a ventral shield, but the rest of the body was naked. The mouth was furnished with small teeth. COCCULUS, a genus of plants, order Menispermaeese. In general the species are bitter febrifuges, C. crispus, a twin- ing species with tubercles or warts on the stem, found in Sumatra and the Mo- lucca Islands, is used by the Malays in intermittent fevers. The root of what was formerly called C. palmatus, but is now designated Jateoi'hiza palmata, found in Mozambique and Oibo, is the calumba-root of commerce, from which a bitter is obtained. A decoction of the fresh roots of C. villosus is administered by the Hindus in rheumatism and old venereal complaints. An ink is made j'rom its fruit. In Arabia a spirit is distilled from the acrid berries of C. Cebatha. COCCULUS INDICUS, a popular name given to a species of Menispermacese, which furnishes certain dried berries constituting an article of commerce. They are imported from the East Indies. There is no botanical species with this exact name. The drupe resembles a round berry, the size of a pea or larger, wrinkled externally, and with a brittle husk. The kernel is intensely bitter. It contains about one-fiftieth of its weight of a powerful bitter narcotic poison called picrotoxin. C. indiciis is a deadly poison, is used to give a bitter taste to beer, and is thrown into rivers to kill the fish. It has been used in form of ointment in certain skin diseases. They are commonly known in the United States as fish-berries. COCCUS, the typical genus of the family Coccidse. Many species are hurt- ful to plants in greenhouses and else- where. Gardeners call them bugs. C. adonidum (the mealy bug) does damage in hothouses, as does C. testudo. C. vitis (the vine-scale) injures vines, and C. hespeHdum oranges. Others, however, are of value as dyes. C. Cacti, found on the cactuses, is the cochineal insect. C. Ilicis, found on quercus coccifera, an evergreen oak in the S. of France, fur- nishes a crimson dye which has long been known to mankind. C. polonicus is used by the Turks as a red dye. C. laeca yields lac. COCCYX, the lowermost portion of the vertebral column, consisting of four, or more rarely five or three, divided terminal vertebra, which become more or less united into one with the ad- vance of age. They have been called united vertebrje. COCHABAMBA, a central department of Bolivia, with offshoots of the Eastern Cordilleras, and extensive plateaus. The climate is equable and healthy, and though poor in metals, its fertile valleys render it the richest as well as the most picturesque district of the republic. Ag- riculture and cattle-raising are the chief occupations. Area, 21,430 square miles; pop. about 730,000. The capital, Cocha- bamba (8,396 feet above the sea), on a tributary of the Guapay, was founded in 1565, as Ciudad de Oropesa. COCHIN, a seaport of Hindustan, in the Malabar district of the Madras presidency; on a small island; a pic- turesque place with many quaint old Dutch buildings. Its harbor, though sometimes inaccessible during the S. W. monsoon, is the best on this coast. Co- chin was one of the first places in India visited by Europeans. In 1502 Vasco da Gama established a factory, and soon after Albuquerque built a fort; he also died here in 1524. In 1663 the Dutch took the place, in 1795 the British. Pop. about 20,000.