Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/138

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and fides are of a dufky iron colour. Its belly, which is pro- tuberant, is white. Its (kin is foft ; and it has" feven fins, befide the tail, which is rounded at the end. Its flefh is firm, and well-tafted.

The Amove guacu is like the former, of an oblong figure ; but it grows to fix inches in length. Its head is thick, its gills large, and its mouth is furnifhed with fmall teeth. Its eyes are fmall, their pupil black, and the iris yellow. It has feven fins, befide the tail, which is long, and rounded at the end. This fpecies is covered with fomewhat large fcales, and is of a rufty iron colour, but fomewhat paler on the belly than in any other parts.

The Amore tinga is of the fame fhape with the former, but is much fmaller, and is covered with whitiih fcales all over, but fpotted with brown fpots. Its tail is brown, and waved with different degrees of that colour. All the three fpecies are eaten, but the firfl is eftcemed the belt. They are caught about the American fhores. Margrave's Hift. of Brafil.

AMORPHA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants of the papilionaceous kind, the characters of which are thefe. The perianthium is one leaved, tubulated, and cylindric ; its mouth ' is ftra'it, and is divided into five fegrnents, the two upper ones being longer than the reft. The flower confifts of one petal, vertically ovated, hollow, erect, and a little larger than the cup ; this is inferted into the cup, between the two larger upper fegrnents. The ftamina are ten filaments, flightly co- hering at the bafe ; they are of an irregular length, but are longer than the flower. The anthera? are fimple ; the ger- men of the pift.il is roundifh ; the ftyle is of the fame length with the {lamina ; and the ftigma is fimple. The fruit is a lunated pod$ of a comprefled form, larger than the cup, and Covered with tubercles. The feeds are of an oblong kidney- like fhape, and two of them are contained in each fruit. This plant differs from all others in the ftructure of the flower, its fingle petal being a true vexillum, and the alse and carina being wholly wanting ; which is a very great An- gularity in fuch a flower. Vid. Limnsi, Gen. Plant, p. 342. Hort. Cliffort. p. 86.

AMPANA, in botany, a name given, in the Hortus Malaba- ricus, to a genus of plants, fince defcribed by Linnaeus, under the name of boraffus. Hort. Malab. 1. 10. See die article Borassus.

AMPELIS, the vine, in botany. See the articles Vine and Vitis.

Ampelis, in the Linnasan fyftem of zoology, the name of a genus of birds, of the order of the pafferes ; the diftinguifh- ing characters of which are, that the tongue is furnifhed with a rim, or margin all round ; the beak is of a conic form, and ftrait. Linn&us's byftema Naturae, p. 48-.

Ampelis is alio the name of a bird, of the magpye kind, called by fome Garrulns Bohemicus.

It is of the fize of the black-bird. Its head is crefted with a little plume of feathers, and is of a fine glofly brown ; its neck is very fhort, and variegated with black, brown, and white ; its breaft is of a reddifh brown, and its belly grey ; its back is of a chefnut brown, and its wing feathers variegated with black and grey. It is thought to be peculiar to Bohe- mia, not having been found in any other country. It feeds on fruits, particularly grapes, whence its name; and is very voracious, and generally flies in large flocks together. Ray s Ornithol. p. 91. Aldrovand. de Avib. 1. 12. c. 17.

AMPELITIS, (Cycl.) a bituminous earth, nearly referabling pit-coal, infomuch, that the difference between them is fcarce fenfible. Accordingly, Theophraitus gives its defcription un- der the the clafs of thefe coals ; and Dr. Woodward feems of the fame opinion. The Ampelites of the fliops, according to him, is the fame with our canal-coal found in Lancafhire. Woodvj. Nat. Hift. Engl. Fofll p. 165.

It differs from the common pit-coal, in that it is more friable and fat, and withal lefs compact and folid ; which, it muft be owned, does not agree with Woodward's defcription of canal- coal, whicb he rcprefents as very fine and hard, (0 as to take a pretty good polifh.

The beft, according to Diofcorides, is that of a black colour, refembling fmall pieces of the lapis piceus, or pit-coal, equally glofly on all fides, though, when kneaded up with a little oil, it readily melts.

it is found in the fame places with pit-coal, is ufed by huf- bandmen, &c. to fmear their vines with, againft: vermin, and is endued with a drying difcuffive power ; on which ac- count, it is alfo ufed for the dying of hair. Merest. Metal- loth. Arm. 5. c. 8. Libavius has treated at large of the Terra Ampclhis.

AMPELOGRAPHIA, the natural hiftory or defcription of the vine. See Vine and Vitis.

The word is originally Greek, compounded of «p«tfu$ 3 a vine, and y%x.(pv}, defcription.

Phil. James Sachs has publiflied &nAfmpelograhia s feu vitis vi- niferae ejufque partium confideratio phyfica, &c. Uratiflav. .1661. 8vo.

ArVlPER, a local term ufed in EfTex for a tumor, or phlegmon. In this fenfe, the word is alfo written Ampor. Vid, Skin. Etym. in voc.

AMPHERES, in antiquity, a kind of vcffels wherein each ma- riner wrought two oars at the fame time, one with his ri»ht- hand, and the other with his left. This is alfo called Amphe- ricum. Scheff. de Milit. Nav. 1. 2. c. 2.

A M PHI B ALUM, among middle age writers. See Amphi-

MALLUM.

AMPHIBIA, in natural hiftory, a clafs of animal?, whofe efTc-ntial characters are, that they have either a naked, or elfe a fcaly body, with no grinders, or denies molares, their teeth all fharp and pointed, and without radiated fins. Vid. Lin- n&us's Syftema Natune, p. 33. See the article Amphibious, Cycl. and Suppl.

AMPHIBIOUS (Cycl.)— In fome amphibious animals, as the frog, tortoife, &c. the heart has but one cavity, with an artery to receive the blood coming out of it, and a vein to convey it thither. Bagliv. Prax. Med.

In others, the foramen ovale appears to be ftill open for the paflage of the blood from the vena cava to the arteria venofa, without the help of breathing.

In the cafior diifeaed by the academifts of Paris, though the foramen was not found actually open, yet the ve/ligia, or marks of it appeared ; and the caufe of its clofure might well enough be accounted for, from the animal's having been de- tained a good while from the water, by which the part having been in difufe, it clofed up. In the otter the cafe is different ; there is no appearance of any thing like a foramen, and hence the neceflity the creature is under of rifmg, from time to time, above water, to take in air. Nat. Hift. Anim. p. gc. feq. Phil. Tranf, N°. 124. p. 595.

The ftructure of the feet of the caftor pronounces it amphi- bious at firfl fight, the fore-feet being formed like thole of terreftrial animals, who bold their food in their feet, e. er. fquirrels, while the hind-feet are fafhioned after the manner of river-fowl, with webs or membranes -between the toes, as the goofe, duck, &c Hift. Acad, Scienc. 1704. p. 81. A great part of the fly kind may be faid, in one fenfe, to be amphibious. Gnats drop their eggs in water, where hatchinsr, the young live and breathe after the manner of fifties, till at length undergoing a metamorphofis, they take wing, quit their native element, and become inhabitants of the air a. May not fwallows alfo be ranged under this clafs, which have been fometimes found to pafs their winter afleep under water, from which the warmth of the fpring awakes, and calls them forth b .— [ a Hook, Microg. obf. 43. p. jg6. b Mem. de Trev. 1718. p. 94.]

A late philofopher has advanced a paradox, that man may, by art, be rendered amphibious, and able to live under water as well as frogs. His principle is, that as the foetus lives in ictero without air, and the circulation is there continued, by means of the foramen ovale, by preferving the paflage open, and the other parts in Jlatu quo, after the birth the fame fa- culty would ftill continue. Now, the foramen^ according to him, whould be preferved in its open ftate, were people ac- cuftomed, from their infancy, to hold their breath a confider- able time once a day, that the blood might be forced to re- fume its antient paflage, and prevent its drying up, as it ufually does. This conjecture feems, in fome meafure, fup- ported by the practice of divers % who are taught from their childhood to hold their breath, and keep long under water, by which means the antient channel is kept open. A Cala- brian monk at Madrid laid claim to this amphibious quality, making an offer to the king of Spain, to continue twice twenty-four hours under water, without ever coming up to take breath''. — [ c Cornelii, Progymnafm. Phyf. ex. 7. Philof. Tranf. N°. 30. p. 579. d Mem. de Trev. 170? p. 1286.J J

It has been warmly controverted in France, whether the flefh of amphibious animals were to be ranked in the clafs of flefh, which is prohibited in Lent, or under that of fiih. M. Hec- quet inveighs feverely againft the practice of eating amphibious animals, as tortoifes, frogs, folan geefe, under the notion of their belonging to the fifhy tribe ; whereas, according to him, they ought rather to be referred to the clafs of birds and quadrupeds. Vid. Traite des Difpenf. de Careme, 1. 1. c. 24. Jour, des Scav. T. 43. p. 430. feq. It. T. 47. p. 531. Mem. deTrev. 1710. p. 2073. See alfo Andr. Rcgim. de la Careme. Jour, des Scav. T. 47. p. 44c. Elias Geifsler e has written exprefly concerning amphibious animals. M. Ottwald of Dantzic has left behind him ana- tomical obfervations on amphibious animals j but they yet wait for an editor ?.— .[ c De Amphibiis, Lipf. 1676. 4to. l Nouv. Liter. T. 9. p. 113.]

Amphibious is fometimes alfo applied to plants which draw their nutriment both from the earth and water. Diet. Ruff, in voc.

In which fenfe, willows, and the like, are amphibious plants. Amphibious, in this fenfe, amounts to the fame with what we more commonly call aquatic. See Aquatic, Cycl.

AMPHICOME, in natural hiftory, a kind of figured ftone, of a round fhape, but rugged, and befet with eminences, cele- brated on account of its life in divination. Mercat. Metalloth. Arm, 9. c. 55.

The word is originally Greek, a^pwofm, a. d. uirhmue co- mata, or hairy on all fides.

The