Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/1009

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Made of the knife attempts to enter, the fifli fixes its mufcle with double force to the ftone. Mr. Reaumur, to try the force of the adhefion of this fifh, tied lines with weights at their ends to the (hells, when piaced in an horizontal direction on the ftone, and found that thirty pound was the leaft weight that would tear them off, and that they would refift that for feveral minutes. It might be naturally fup- pofed, that the caufe of this (frong adhefion was the ani- mal's thrufting the fibres of this mufcle into every fmall pore of the ftone, and there keeping them forcibly inflated : but were this the cafe, the adhefion mud ceafe with the life of the animal ; but it does not fo, for if a limpet be cut into feveral portions through the (hell and body, yet every portion, thus feparated, will adhere with its due proportion of force to the ftone. Neither can this force he refolved on the principles of the adhefion of two polifhed marbles, or that of the leather to the ftone in the common fport of children; for in both thefe cafes, whatever perpendicular force the adhefion can bear, the leaft force applied horizon- tally makes them flip, or Aide off from one another. But this is not the cafe in the adhefion of this fifh, it equally re- fifting horizontal and perpendicular force. The true caufe of this adhefion is a vifcous juice, a fort of glue thrown out by this mufcle, which, though impercepti- ble to the' eye, is able to produce thefe great effects. This is eafily perceived by the touch, however; for if immedi- ately after the removing a limpet from a ftone, the finger be applied to the place, it is fattened very ftrongly to it by means of the glue left there. If any wet, however, have touched the ftone, after the fifli was removed, there is no vifcofity perceived on it, the whole fubftance of the glue being immediately diffolved, and its effects wholly taken off by it. This is a confutation which may lead us to ob- ferve the great care of nature over all her works, manifefted eminently in this little fifh. It was nccefiary that it fiiould have a power of fixing itfelf to ftones, &c. to prevent its being wafhed away by every wave : this power is given it by means of a certain glue, which holds it very firmly ; but if this glue was not capable of being refolved, and its force deftroyed by fome power in the animal, it muft needs perifh for want of food, when once fixed to a barren fpot. Water is therefore made a folvent for this glue; the clofe adhe- fion of the outer rim of the great circular mufcle pre- vents the external water from acting upon it, elfe it muft always be deftroyed as foon as difcharged, and fo be of no ufe ; but the under furface of the body of the animal is all over covered with fmall tubercles, containing water, at leaft many of them do fo. When the creature then has a mind to unfix itfelf for motion, it only difcharges a quanti- ty of this water, and the whole cement diflblves before it. and fets the creature free. Thofe tubercles which do not contain water, probably contain the vifcous matter, or glue, whence it may be conveyed by proper veffels to the cir- cumference; fo that when the animal has a mind to fix itfelf to a ftone, it needs only fqueezc the one fet of thefe tubercles; and when it would unloofe itfelf, the other. The water contained in thefe tubercles is particularly nccef- fary in fome circumftances, in which, tho' : the creature could at pleafure, open the outer verge of the mufcle, to admit fea water, it would not do ; for it often fixes itfelf to rock. left dry at the ebb, and from thefe nothing but the water contained in itfelf could fet it free. The glue it is pro- vided with is but in a certain limited proportion ; for after removing the fame limpet three or four times, it is found no longer able to fix itfelf with any degree of firmnefs, till nature, after a proper time, has fupplied the diflipated vif- cofity. This vifcous humidity allotted to this animal, for the fixing itfelf to the rocks, is not peculiar to it ; the urtica marina has the fame, and the horns of the fea urchins, by which they fix themfelves, are endued with a power of dif- charging a liquor of the fame kind, which ferves them to the fame purpofe. Mem. Acad. Par. i 7 n. SeeURTici Marina, and Sea Urchin.

LIMUS, among the Romans, a garment reaching to the ground, and worn by the priefts, who on that account were called linwanclt. Pitifc.

LINARIA, toad fax, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; the charaders of which are thefe. The flower is compofed of only one leaf, and is perforated before, and runs into a heel behind. The forepart has two lips ; the upper of which is divided into two or more ferments', the lower always into three. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail into the hinder part of the flower: this finally becomes a fruit, or capfule, of roundifh figure, divided into two cells by an intermediate feptum, and containing feeds, in fome fpecies flatted others angular, or roundifh, and fixed to a placenta. The fpecies of toad fax, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. I. The great purple flowered broad leaved Portugal toad fax. 2. The great broad leaved Dalmatian load fax with very large flowers. 3. The broad leaved trifoliate Sicilian toad fax. 4. The leffer three-leaved yellow flowered toad fax. 5. The three-leaved blue flowered toad fax. 6. The daily leaved toad fax. 7. The white flowered daify leaved arjppi.. Vol. I.

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'ccifidx. 8. The Portugal toadflax with large hairy dalfy- like leaves. 9. The common frnooth ivy leaved toad fax •) called by many cymbalaria. 10. The Alpine hairy eyrnba- laria. 1 r. The hairy moneywort leaved corn toad fax, call- ed by moft authors elatine, or round lexttAfluellin. 12. The hairy yellow flowered moneywort leaved corn toadflax with auriculated leaves, called by authors the angular leaved elatine, or fluellin. 1 3. The blue flowered hairy auriculated leaved corn toad flax. 14. The hairy perennial ftone toad flax with yellow flowers. 15. The common fmall field toad flax, called by authors the leffer fnapdragon. 16. The mother of thyme leaved Itone toadflax, called by authorsyrW fnap- dragon. 17. The hairy duckweed leaved ftone toadflax. 18. The hairy knotgrafs leaved ftone toad flax. 19. The hairy moneywort white flowered Spanifh toad flax with white flowers. 20. The hairy broad leaved trifoliate Spanifh toad flax. 21. The Portugal fea toad flax with milkwort leaves. 22. The fmalleft hairy auriculated leaved toad flax with extremely fmall yellow flowers. 2?. The broad leaved fmall procumbent toad flax with a pale 'yellow flower, witii a gold coloured mouth. 24. The broad leaved trifoliate toadflax with a great purple flower, with a yellow openino-. 25. The violet coloured annual load fax with the* lower leaves roundifh. 26. The dwarf Portugal toadflax with flowers wanting the palate. 27. The common yellow toad flax with larger flowers. 28. The common yellow toad flax with fmallcr flowers. 29. The pale flowered toad fax

, with the deep yellow mouth. 30. '1 he taller pale flowered toadflax with a deep yellow mouth. 31. The whitifli flow- ered toad flax with a purple mouth. 32. The upright fweet toadflax with a dufky blue flower, with a yellow mouth. 33. The fmall creeping fcentlefs toad fax. 34. The great purple fweet fcented toadflax. 35. The great white fweet fcented toad flax. 36. The broader leaved fweet purple toad flax. 37. The narrowed leaved fweet toad flax. 38. The narrow leaved hoary toad fax. 39. The narrow leaved ruft coloured toad flax. 40. The yellow flowered mountain toad flax with dyers weed leaves. 41. The leaft flowered yellow toad flax. 42. The American toad flax with fmall yellow flowers. 43. The blue flowered field toadflax. 44. The violet coloured field toadflax. 45. The four-leaved yellow flowered toad flax. 46. The fmall pro- cumbent yellow toad flax. 47. The fmall flowered yellow dwarf toadflax with thick flefhy leaves. 48. The greyifh flefhy leaved Spanifh toad flax. 49. The blue flowered creeping toadflax. 50. The fnow-white flowered creeping toadflax. 5 1 . The low four-leaved purple toadflax. 52. The mollugo leaved many ftalked Sicilian toad flax. 53. The narrow leaved annual toad flax with large yellow flowers. 54. The beft hairy clammy leaved fea toad flax with yellow flowers. 55. The narrow leaved hairy, and clammy Spanifh. toadflax. 56. The thyme leaved ftone toad flax. 57. The narrow leaved annual toad flax with white flowers, with very long heels. Tourn. Inlt. p. 169, 170. There are fome other plants improperly ranked among the linaria by many authors. Of thefe are the ofyris frutefemt baeeifera, or fhrubby berry-bearing ofyris, which is a fpecies of cafa. The great leafy headed yellow toad fax of Cafpar Bauhine, which is a fpecies of flcabane. The baftard golden toad flax, and the white flowered mountain toadflax, which are fpecies of alchymilla.

Linaria, in zoology, the name of the linnet, a genus of birds, of which there are feveral fpecies. The general cha- racters of the genus are thefe. The birds of it are fome- what fmaller than the chaffinch.; their general colour is a greyifh brown ; their tail is a little forked, the outer feathers of it having white extremities ; and they all fing very fweetly. We have in England four fpecies of this bird.

1. The common brown linnet, well known to every one.

2. The linaria rubra major, or greater red headed linnet. This has a fine red head, a grey neck, a dufky reddifli brown back, and its bread and belly are fomewbat reddifh. The female of this fpecies, however, has no rednefs on its head, or bread, but has fomewhat of a greenifh cad among the brown of her back, and is yellowifh on the breaft, with fome brownifh fpots. 3. The linaria rubra minor, or leffer red headed linnet. This is fmaller than the former; and on the back is of the fame colour with the common linnet. The back part of its head is red, as is alfo its breaft, but the lower part of its belly is whitifh. In this fpecies the female, as well as the male, has a red head; and both have their beaks much Qiarper, and their feet and legs blacker than in the larger kind. This alfo is a gregarious bird ; the larger kind commonly flies fingle. 4. The lad fpecies is the linaria montana, or mountain linnet. This is the largeft of all the linnets. Its beak is very fmal[ ; its head and back are of the fame colour with thofe of the common linnet, and the feathers of its breaft and belly are black in the middle, and edged with a whitifh colour. The rump is of a fine and beautiful red, and is the only part of the bird which is fo. This is common in Derbyfliire, but feems not fo frequent in other places. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 192. See Linnet.

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