Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/1008

 L I M

L I M

"by m = I ■: ff . The octave is nearly equal to nine greater limmas, and to thirteen letter b . [* Euler, Tentam. Nov. Theor. Mufic. p. 107, 108. b Ibid. p. 108.]

LIMNITIS, a word ufed by the antients to exprefs the con- cretion round reeds, or water plants, by fomc called adarce, or fomewhat analogous to that.

LIMOCINCTI, among the Romans, a kind of pricfts, who officiated at public facrifices, and were drefled with a gar- ment called //'ww, Sec Limtjs.

LlMODORUM, birds neff, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; the characters of which arc thefe. The flower is of the polypctalous anomalous kind, refembling the orchis flowers. The cup finally becomes a fiuit, which is per- vious by three fencftra?, and furniihed with a valve to each. The feeds are fmall, and refemble duft. There "is only one known fpecics of limodorum, which is the plant called by many orchis abortiva, and birds nejl. This plant differs from the orchis by fibrofe roots, and from the helleborinc in its having a fpear, or heel, to the flower ; as it does from the twy blade, by having its leaves placed al- ternately on the {talks. Town. Inft. p. 437.

LIMON, the lemon tree, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flowers and leaves are altogether like thofe of the citron, but the fruit is of an oval figure, and has but a thin flefhy fubftance, di- vided into many cells, containing juice, and callous feeds. To this it is to be added, that there is a peculiar, and appropriated general appearance in the lemon tree, by which the gardners, and other perlbns converfant in thefe things, readily diftinguifh it from the orange and the citron.

Thcfpecics of lemon, enumerated byMr.Tournefort, arethefe. I. The common lemon. 2. The little ball lemon. 3. The incom- parable lemon. jj-.The fweet lemon. 5. The Lifbon fweet lemon. 6. The pcar-fha'ped lemon. 7. The fpataphora lemon. 8. The fhardonian 'fomsti. 9. The barbadore lemon. 10. The fweet le- mon, it. The fharp lemon. 12. The citron-like lemon.

13. The citron lemon with one fruit including another.

14. Racemous fruited lemon. Town. Inft. p. 621. LIMONIATES, a name given by fomc authors to the eme- rald. Plin. lib. 37. cap. 10.

LIMONIUM, fea lavender, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the caryophyllous kind, being compofed of feveral ■petals arranged in a circular form, and arifing out of a tubular cup. From the fame cup there alfo arifes a piftil, which finally becomes a fingle oblong feed, which remains involved in the cup. This is the general ftate of the flowers ■of this genus of plants; but fome of them, inftead of their caryophyllous flower, have a one-leaved funnel- fa- "fhioned one, which is ever, however, fo divided into feg- Tnents at the end, that it refembles the flowers of the com- mon kinds.

The fpecies of limonium, enumerated by Mr. Tourncfort, are thefe. 1. The common large Ihmnium. 2. The late flowering large French Ihmnium. 3-Tlic fmaller limonium with olive-like leaves. 4. Hie little daify leaved limonium. 5. The little ■daify leaved limonium with fennel-like brandies. 6. The lefl'cr limonium with heart- fafhioned leaves. 7. The fmalleft limonium. 8. The little limonium with crooked tortuous branches. 9. The ceterach leaved limon'mm. 10. The hairy fiirub limonium. 11. The fmooth fhrub limonium. 12. The procumbent limonium with reticulated ftafks. 13. The Si- cilian heart-faihioned leaved limonium. 14. The little an- nual -limonium with echioide, or bullated leaves. 15. The Portugal limonium with fpear pointed leaves. 16. The Por- tugal limonium with leaves like the auriculas, 17, The Portugal hairy leaved limonium. 18. The limonium with curled appendages to the fialks. 1 9. The limonium with fea purfelain leaves. 20, The woody gall bearing limonium. 11. The Spanifh plantain leaved limonium with bullated leaves. 22. The Spanifh plantain leaved limonium with fmooth leaves. 23. The Spanifh limonium with divided leaves. 24. The limonium with leaves like ftatice, and con- glomerated heads. 25. The articulated blueifh green Spanifh ■limonium. Town. Inft. p. 341, 342.

The common fea lavender is an aftringent, and is given with good fuccefs againft diarrhoeas, dyfentcries, profluvia of the menfes, and haemorrhages of all kinds. The roots and leaves are the parts moft ufed.

Limonium gall, in natural hiflory, the name of a fpecies of gall, or vegetable protuberance, ferving for the lodging of an infect, affording a very beautiful appearance on the plant, and very common in the eaftcrn parts of the World. The galls of all kinds arc produced by the worm of a winged infect, hatched from an egg depofited there by the parent animal, that the young progeny may find food, and a de- fence from injuries, as foon as hatched. It is a general ob- fcrvation, however, that thefe protuberances on vegetables are the effect of the eggs depofited by the various fpecies of flies, but this of the limonium is lingular, in that it is pro duced from a butterfly egg, and is inhabited by a true ca- terpillar. The butterfly depofits her cge;s on feveral parts of the leaves apd. ftalks of this plant, amfthe young caterpil

lar, as foon as hatched, eats its way through the furface ; and continuing to eat when within, his depredations oc- cafion an abundant derivation of juices to the part, by means of which a gall, or protuberance, is formed, which is fuftained by a pedicle, and in all refpects refembles a fruit. This is of a roundifh figure, and by degrees grows to the fize of a nutmeg. It is compofed of feveral coats, or miffs ; the exterior ones are foft and fpungy, but the interior are harder, and more woody than the galls of the oak. As the generality of other caterpillars feed on the fubftance of the leaves of trees and plants, this eats only the infidc of its lodgment ; and nature fo readily fupplics this defect by new matter, that the cavity, in which it is lodged, is never found to be very great.

In the generality of galls, their being whole in every part is a proof, that the infect to which they ferve for a habita- tion is yet in them ; and when there is a hole feen on any fide, it Is a proof that they are empty, the creature having made its efcapc that way. But this does not hold good in this inftance j for though a fly may have a power of making a hole for itfelf to get out at, a butterfly has no organs with which to perform fuch a work; and confe- quently the caterpillar, while it has the proper organs, mult do it, and make the hole ready for the creature to come out at. If one of thefe galls be opened before there is any hole on its furface, the caterpillar is fure to be found alive, and in an eating ftate within ; but when the time of its transformation approaches, it ceafes to eat, and the laft ufe of its teeth is the gnawing a hole through its habitation, out at which it may efcapc when in its winged ftate. As foon as it has finifhed this aperture, it retreats back into its cell, and there fpins a web, in which it changes into a but- terfly. The creature always has the caution to place that part of the chryfalis, in which the head of the butterfly is, clofe to the aperture; and the creature then, as it makes its way out of the chryfalis, at the fame time gets into the paffage through the fhell of its habitation, and finally gets out of it before its wings arc unfolded, or expanded, as it would be impoflible for it to pafs through fo fmall an aperture with its wings hardened, and of their full fize. This feems the only known inftance of a gall formed by a genuine caterpillar. The inhabitants of the willow galls, though ufually eftecmed fmooth caterpillars, being not fo, but the worms of a four winged fly, Reaumur, Rift. Infect. Vol, 6. p. 227.

L1MOSA, in zoology, the name of a long legged water bird, common in Italy, and called by Tome glottis, totano, and pluviali's major. It is but a fmall bird, its ufual weight be- ing about feven ounces. Its beak is black, but fomewhat reddifh near the angle of the under jaw. The upper part of its head, neck, fhoulders, wings, and the forepart of its back, is variegated with brown and grey; the middle of the head feathers are black, and their ends whitifh. Its rump, and its whole breaft, belly, and throat, are white ; the long wing feathers are brown ; the tail feathers are variegated with brown and grey. Its legs are very long, and arc naked for two fingers breadth above the knee. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 221.

Limosa, in ichthyology, a name given by Salvian to the common mackrel, and in his figures to the thynnus, or tunny fifh, called the Spanijh mackrel.

L-IMOSELLA, in botany, the name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants, called by Dillcnius, and others, plantagi- nella ; the characters of which are thefe. The perianthium is erect, one leaved, lightly divided into five fegments at the edge, and remaining after the flower is fallen. The flower confifts of one petal, which is fmall, erect, acute, and lightly divided into five fegments at the end. The ftamina are four erect filaments. The antherse are fimplc. The germen of the piftil is oblong and obtufe. The ftyle is fingle, and of the length of the ftamina, and the ftigma is globular. The fruit is an oval capfulc, afExed to the bafe of the cup, compofed of two valves, and including two cells, in which are a great number of fmall feeds of an oval figure, Linnai Gen, PL p. 300. Dillen. Hort. Kith, p. 6.

LIMPET, patella, in conchyliology. See Tab. of Shells, N° 1, 2. and the article Patella.

The manner of the limpet's fattening itfelf to the rocks has not been well undcrftood till the time of Mr. Reaumur, though the fact was fo well known, as to become in fome places a proverbial comparifon.

The fhell of the limpet approaches to the figure of a cone ; the bafe of this cone is. occupied by a large mufcle, which alone has nearly as much flefh in it as the whole body of the fifh. This mufcle is not covered by the {hell, but ferves the creature equally to move forward, or to fix it- felf by at pleafure. When it is in a ftate of reft, which is the common cafe, it applies this mufcle every way round to the furface of fome ftone, and holds itfelf by that means fixed very firmly to it, infomuch that it is impoflible to take it off with the hands ; and thofe who would remove them are forced to ufe a knife for that purpofe, and the remov- ing the fifh this way is not eafy ; for every where that the

blade