Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/639

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but lightly debafed by earth ; and tHefe make very elegant fpec'imens. Hill's Hut. ofKoflils, p. 651. The various genera of foflilc echini, or Echinitee, are ufually known among authors by the names of fpatagi, cordati, ga~ Isati, pileati, dijcoidcs, ovarii, pentaphylloides. What is generally undcrftoad by the word Echinitts, is a fort of arched (hells, cr ftoncs formed in them, covered with di- vers eminences and cavities, fome of which arc difpoled into beautiful lines, diverging from the fummit ; and always hav- ing two apertures, the one for the mouth, the other for the anus of the animal : Ofthefe,

The echini cordati are fuch as have a remarkable furrow on one fide, or end, which is ufually broader than any other part of the body, and, by means of this furrow, reprefents, in fome degree, the figure of a heart at cards. The galeati are fuch as have the bafis fome what oblong, and the apertures ; one in the very margin, and the other near the margin, on the oppofite fide. The pileati and dtfeoides, are fubdifti notions of this kind.

The pileati are higher, and approach to a conic figure. The dij'coides are flatter, and more comprefled. The ovarii have only one aperture at the bafe, and have large and unequal tubercles and papilla?.

The pentaphylloides have rows of fhort lines, which are fo difpoled as to reprefent a cinquefoil leaf:

The fpatagi is a very comprehenfive term, taking in moft of the others as fubdiftinetions. It comprehends all that have two apertures in the bafe, and that are covered with finall tuber- cles. See Tab. of Foffils, Clafs 9.

ECH1NO DERMA, in natural hiftory, the name of the fca animal more commonly known by the name of the echinus marinus, or fea hedge-hog. Thefe are fifh living in an arched fhell, of various figures, according to the various fpecies ; and always, befides a vaft number of fmallcr protuberances and cavities, having two remarkable apertures, the one ferving for the mouth, the other for the anus of the animal ; which are varioufly placed in the different genera and fpecies. There are yet wanting, in natural hiftory, the proper cha- racters and diftinctions of cruftaceous and teftaceous fifties, and, till that is fix'd, there is no faying whether thefe crea- tures belong to the teftaceous or cruftaceous tribe. The co- verings of the pectuncles, and other fifh, ufuaiiy diftinguifh'd with us by the name of fhell-fifh, are univerfally allowed to be all. fhells ; and thofe of the crab and lobfter kinds are called crufts, or cruftaceous covering : But the Echini marini are yet wholly undetermined by authors, as to which of thefe claffes of animals they belong to. Pliny calls their covering fometimes a fhell, fome times a cruft, uiing the words tefta and crufta indifferently. Some allot them a place in the cru- ftaceous tribe, becaufe they have teeth like thofe of the crufta- ceous kinds, which the fhell- fifh want, but we are very far from knowing yet, whether the cruftaceous, or the echini, have all of them teeth, or not.

Many affirm that the fpines of the echini ferve them in the place of legs; but there are many alfo who deny this, and fome affirm, that they have, in the living fifh, found legs in another part, affixed not to the fhell, but to the body of the animal. Klein, Echinod. p. 4.

tDCHINOMETRA, a name given by fome to the feveral de- prefTed fpecies of the Ecb'inodermata. See Tab. of Teftaceous Animals, N°. 15, 16, 17, and the article Echinoderma.

ECHINOPHORA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the rofa- ceous kind, being compofed of feveral petals, arranged in a circular form, and thefe are collected into an umbellated head, and contained in the circuit of one common cup, which finally becomes an unicapfular fruit, containing an oblong feed. The fpecies of Echinophora, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The prickly fea Echinophora, called by authors the prickly fampire, and the fea parfnep. 2. The parfley- lcav'd Echinophora. Town. Inft. p. 656.

Echinophora. According to Linnaeus, the characters of this genus of plants are thefe : The general cup is an one-leav'd involucrum, divided into many fegments of a turbinated form, containing many flowers, and furrounding the germens. The particular cup of each flower is very fmall, compofed of one jeaf, divided into five fegments, ftanding upon the germen, and not falling with the flower. The feparate flowers are pentapetalous ; the petals unequal, and ftanding very wide afundcr at the mouth. The ftamina are five fimple filaments. The apices are of a roundifh figure. The piftil confifts of an oblong germen, placed under the cup, and within the general covering. The ftyles are two, and are fimple ; the apices are alfo fimple. The involucrum becomes finally indurated and echinated, and contains the feeds, which are of an oblong figure. Linn&i Gen. Plant, p. 525. Tourn. 423.

Echinophora, in ichthyology, a name given by Ronde- letius to a fpecies of fea-fnail, of the round-mouth'd kind, or clafs of the cochlear lunares.

He calls it Echinophora, becaufe it is all over befet with tuber- cles, but this is a very ill chofen name, as it confounds it with the echini, or fea eggs; he had much better have called it Cochlea tuberculofa. See Lunares, Gocbka.

ECHINOPKTHALMIA, in the works of the antient writers on medicine, the name of a difeafe, which was an inflamma- tion of that part of the eyelids, which is befet with hairs, or ^ on which the eye-lafhes grow.

ECHINOPTJS, globe tbijlle, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of a globofe fhape, and of the flofculous kind, being compofed of a number of flofculcs divided into feveral equal iegments at the ends, and placed on the embryo feeds, but each having its pe- culiar fquammofe cup, which is affixed to the thalamus of the flower, and contains the embryo, when it has ripened into a ked. The fpecies of Ecbinopus, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : r. The common Ecbinopus, or globe tbiftle. 2. The great Ecbinopus, with white flowers, and blue ftamina m the middle. 3. The letter Ecbinopus. 4. The fine-Ieav'd Ecbinopus, with violet-coloured flowers. 5. The lefler Echi-, nopus, with white flowers. 6. The lefler annual Ecbinopus, with large heads. 7. The American fhrub Ecbinopus, with flowers at the joints of the ftalks, and with ilex leaves hoary underneath. Tourn. Inft. p. 463.

ECHINUS, the hedge-hog. See Erinaceus.

Echinus Marinus. See EcHinoderma.

ECHIUM, in the Linnxan fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The cup is an erect perianthium, divided into five tapering fegments, and remains after the flower is fallen. The flower confifts of one petal, which forms a fhort cylindric tube, with an erect edge widening by degrees, and divided into five fegments, the two upper longer than the reft, and the loweft fmaller than the reft, and bending backward. The ftamina are five taper- ing filaments of the length of the flower. The anthers are obiong, and laid upon them. Thepiftillumhas fourgermina. The ftyle is flender, and of the length of the ftamina. The. ftigma is obtufe and bifid. Thecupferves in the place of a fruit, becoming ftifT and rigid, and containing in its bottom four roundifh and obliquely pointed feeds. Linnai Genera Plant, p. 60.

Echium, called in Englifh vipers buglofs, according to Tournefort is the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts iA one leaf, of a funnel fhape, and a little crooked, the upper edge ftanding much farther out than the inner one. The cup is divided, even to the bafe, into feveral fegments, and from it there arifes a piftil, which is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower, and is furrounded by four embryo's, which afterwards ripen into as many feeds. Thefe are of the fhape of a viper's head, and remain in the cup, which becomes much enlarged to receive them. Tourn. Inft. p. 135.

The fpecies of Echium, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The great rough white flowered Echium. 2. The great rough blue flowered Ecbium. 3. The Portugal Echium, with very large leaves. 4. The common Echium. 5. The white flowered common Echium. 6. The broad-leav'd cre- tick red flowered Echium. 7. The variegated flowered cre- tic Echium, 8. The narrow-leav'd red flowered cretick Echium. 9. The hairy fpotted wild Echium. 10. The large flowered fea Echium. 11. The annual procumbent Echium^ with blackifh red flowers. 12. The narrow-leav'd hairy Echium. And 13. The rofemary-leav'd Ecbium. Pliny has made a ftrange miftake in his account of this plant : He fays, the antients were acquainted with two fpecies of it a the defcriptions of which he gives correctly enough from diof- corides; but then he adds, that there is a third kind, called by fome perfonata, a plant with extremely large leaves, and with burrs, or prickly nodules, by way of fruit. It is clear from this, that the author confounded the words Artl'tum and Ecbium together, though fufficiently unlike both in found and orthography, to have been diftinguifhed j and his thixdEcbium is no other than the great arctium, or burdock. The flowers of the vipers buglofs are fuppofed to poffefs the virtue of cordials, in the fame degree with the borrage and buglofs. Some authors greatly recommend a decoction of the dried plant in epilepfies. It is faid that very fingular cures have been done by it.

ECHO (Cycl.) — There is an Echo at Bruffels which anfwers fifteen times ; but this is nothing when compared to one near Milan, where, upon firing a piftol, fifty- fix reiterations of the noife are heard, and when a louder piftol was difcharged, above fixty reports were counted. The firft twenty echoes were with fome diftinctnefs, but then, as the noife feem'd to fly away, and anfwer at a greater diftance, the repetitions are fo doubled, that they can hardly be all counted. Phil. Tranf. N°. 480. p. 220.

Echo, in mufic, pieces compofed in imitation of echoes. Brojf. Muf. Diet, in voc.

Sometimes alfo the word Echo ftands for Piano, intimating that the inftmment, or voice, is to play or fmg a(ter a foft and fweet manner. Organs and harpfichords have what they call an echo-froy. Id. Ibid.

ECHPHYAS, an cxcrefcence, or appendix, a word ufed by many of the antient writers in medicine. The appendicula vermifyrmis. is thus galled by many authors.