Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/564

 CRA

was always affected in the fame manner on eating either. Mem. Acad. Par. 1709. CRACKER, in zoology, the name of a frefhwater fowl, of the duck kind, known by authors under the title of anas caudacuta, and coda lancea, and called in fome parts of Eng- land the fea pheafant. It is of the fize of the common wi- geon ; its head is all over of a ferrugineous brown, but be- hind the ears there is a flight tinge of purple ; its neck is fomewhat longer than in the wigeon, and its beak of a blueim black j its head is fmall, and there is a white ftreak on each fide of it, which reaches down to the throat ; the throat is grey, variegated with tranfverfe lines, as is alfo the back, but "the fhoulder feathers are, in a great meafure, black. The tail is grey, with a mixture of white about the edges of the feathers, and is of a very different fhapefrom that of all the other fpecies of the duck kind, having two feathers much longer than the reft, and running out into narrow points, whence the fowl has the name of the fea pheafant. The female differs much in colour from the male, and much refembles the common tame duck ; (Tie has the fame long feathers, however. in the tail. May's Ornithol. p. 289. CRACKS, in timber. To remedy cracks. See Clefts. CRADLE, in (hip-building, a frame of timber raifed along the outlide of a (hip, by the bildge, for the more commodious and fecure launching of the vefiel. The cradle is much ufed in Italy, Spain, and Turky, where they alfo trim great mips in th^ cradle. CRAM A, in metallurgy, a name given by the antients to brafs, made by the mixture of copper and the lapis calaminaris, as at this time. They had alfo a kind of white brafs, or mixt metal, made of copper, in ufe among them, which they cftccmed much above the yellow. We find mention of this in Virgil, under the name of album oricha'cum, and the other old writers often call it album crama. We know of many ways of turning copper white : arfenic and many other mine rals will do it ; and the fpoons, and other utenfds, which fome years ago ufed to be made of a mixt metal, called alchymy metal, were a fort of white brafs. But it does not appear, that any of our methods have been the fame with that of the antients : the copper is rendered more brittle, and in fome fort debafed, in all our compofitions of this kind ; but in rhofe of the antients, it feems to have been rendered more ductile than at faff. Crama, Croma, and Chrama, in medical writers, are ufed to fignify a mixture of things, whether medicines or elements. Blancard. CRAM ASPARAGUS. See Asparacus. CRAMBE, wiUUfea cabbages, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower con- fifts of four leaves, and is of the cruciform kind : the piftil arifes from the cup, and finally becomes an unicapfular fruit, containing one oblong feed. See Tab. i. of Botany, Clafs 5. The fpecies of crambe enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: i.The cabbage-lcav'd fea crambe, called fea cale, and fea cabbage. 2. The broad rocket-leav'd fea crambe, with a fruit of the fhape of a fpear point. This is ufually efteemed a fpecies of rocket : and, 3. The narrower-leav'd, rocket-like fea crambe,w\th fpear-pointed Iced veflels. Tourn. Inft. p, 21 1. CRAMP y^S, orNuMi;^, in ichthyology, theEnglifli name

of the torpedo. See Raja and Torpedo. CRAMPER, in zoology, a name given by fome to the brama Jaxatilis, or Pagrus iudicus, a large and broad fea fifh, caught among the rocks on the mores of many parts of the Eaft-in- dies. Rays Ichthyogr. Append, p. 1. See the article Brama faxatilis. CRANE (Cycl.) — Crane, in zoology, a name improperly given in many parts of England to the fliagg or fmall cormo- rant, a bird common about our fhores. Crane, in zoology. SeeGRUS. Crane's bill, a kind of forceps ufed by furgeons, and fo named

from its figure. Crane's bid, in botany, &c. See Geranium, Crane-^', a name given by fome to the creature we commonly call father long-legs, and the authors of hiftories of infects, iipula terrejlris. This creature affords the microfcopic ob- server many curious particulars ; but the moft remarkable is, the furprifmg contraction of the mufcular fibres in the legs. Thefe being diflected in a drop of water, and placed before the microfcope, the flefhy fibres contract and diftend them- felves in a manner not to be imagined, and continue tin's mo- tion for fcveral minutes ; and this is conftantly to be obferved in this infect, and never in any other, fo far as has been yet obferved. Lewenhoek, Arcan. Nat. T. 3. p. 1 09. The inteftincs of this creature are alfo very wonderful, con- futing of numberlefs veffcls and organs, which maybe ieen as plainly by the microfcope, as the bowels of larger animals can by the naked eye. The tails both of the male and female are alfo of an amazing ftructure; the female's ends in a fharp point, with which fheperforates the ground, and depofites her ee^s under the grafs in meadows. Baker's Microfcope, p. 290.

. ,j alfo called macroped'mm, and by fome pedo. CRANIOLARIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plan's, called by Houfton, the firft obferver, mert,ma fpecies, but

CRA

improperly. The characters are thefe: the perianth mm is compofed of four fhort and (lender leaves, which ftand wide expanded, and remain after the flower is fallen. The fpatha is large, inflated, and of an oval figure, and is open on one fide all the way along. The flower confifts of one irregular petal: the tube is extremely long and (lender: the limb is plane, and bilabiatcd : the upper lip is roundifh, and cut into fome fegments, of which the middle one is the largeft : the lower lip is trifid : the fegments are all round, and the middle one much larger than the reft. The ftamina are four filaments, two of which are fomewhat fhorter than the others ; but all nearly of the length of the tube of the flower. The anther<e are fimple : the germen of the piftil is oval : the ftyle is (len- der, and of the length of the tube of the flower. Theftigma is thick and obtufe. The fruit is a bivalve capfule, of an oval figure, pointed at each end, and of a coriaceous texture ; and withm this is contained a woody nut, of a deprefled figure, pointed at each end, and furrowed on the furface ; fo that it in fome decree refembles the fkull of fome quadruped. Lumai Gen. Plant, p. 292. CRANIUM, in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of the echinus ?narinus, of the genus of the brijfoides. Klein's Echin. p. $6. See Brissoides. Cranium, the fkull. See Skull.

CRANNY, in the glafs trade, a round iron, whereon the work- men in the glafs-houfes roll the glafs, to make the neck of it fmall. Ne-i's Art. of Glafs, Append. GRASS 1ROSTR/E, in zoology, thenamecf a genus of fmall birds, diftinguifhed by the thicknefs of their beaks, as the fparrow, greenfinch, and the like. Ray's Ornithol. p. 148. CRAT./EGUS, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is the fame with that of the pear ; but the fruit differs from the pear both in fize and ftiape, being more properly called a berry than a large fruit, and containing a number of callous feeds, lodged in certain cells within it.

The fpecies of Crataegus enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The cratagus, with roundifh ferrated leaves, hoary underneath. 2. The erattsgus, with oblong ferrated leaves, green on both fides. 3 The arbutus-leav'd Virginian Cratae- gus: and, 4. The jagged-leav'd cratagus, called theparfley- leav'd medlar, and the forbus tormir.a'is. Tourn. Inft. p. 633. CRATERITES, in natural hiftory, the name of a gem men- tioned by Pliny, and faid to be extremely hard, and of a middle colour between that of the chryfolite, and of the com- mon yellow amber. This was plainly a fpecies of chryfolite. CRATEVA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the perianthium confifts of one leaf, divided into four fegments at the edge : thefe are of an oval figure, and ftand expanded, and the bafe of the cup is plane. The flower is compofed of four petals, of an oval figure, all bending upwards in the fame direction, and having ungues of the length of the cup. The ftamina are fixteen fe- taceous filaments, fhorter than the flower, and ranged on that fide oppofite to the petals. The anthers are erect and ob- long : the ftyle is very long and crooked : and the germen, which is of an oval figure, ftauds upon this. The ftigma has no pedicle, and is of the capitate kind. The fruit is a very large, globofe, flefhy berry, ftanding upon the ftyle, which grows thick, in order to become a proper pediclefor it. The feeds are numerous, round, and emarginated, and are contain- ed in one cell. Linnm Gen. Plant p. 231. Plunder, Gen. 21. CRATICULA, a chemical inftrument, made of fquare pieces of iron of about a finger's thicknefs, placed fo as to have half a finger's fpace betwixt them, It is ufed in making of fires to keep up the coals. Biancard.

The word is Latin 5 importing a roafter or gridiron. Jinf- worth. CRAVANT, in zoology, a name by which Bellonius and fome others have called the bernaele, a fmall fpecies of wild goofc, common in winter on the coafts of Lancafhire, and idly fuppofed to breed out of fhclls. Rays Ornithol. p. 274. See the article Bernicla. CRAX, in the Linnaean fyftem of zoology, the name of a di- ftinct genus of birds, the diftinsuifhing character of which, from the reft of the galling is, that the feet have each four toes, and the head is ornamented with a kind of feathery crown, bending backwards. Linncei Syft. Nat. p. 47. CRAY fi/b.'s. The delicate flavour of thefe fifh feems to be in a great meafure owing to their food. When they have well- taited food, their flefh preferves the relifh of it : but when they feed on other things, they are often rendered of no value, by the flavour communicated to their flefh by them. There are great quantities of thefe fifh in the river Obra, on the bor- ders of Silcfia ; but the people find them fcarce eatable, becaufe of a bitter aromatic flavour, very difagreeable in food. It has been fince obferved, that the calamus aromaticus grows in vaft abundance on the banks of that river, and that thefe creatures feed very greedily upon its roots. Thefe have a very remark- able bitternefs mixed with their aromatic flavour, while frefh, which goes oft* very much in the drying ; and on comparing the taftc of thefe roots with that of the cray-fif), there remains no doubt of the one being owing to the other. Act. Leipf. 1690.

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