Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/831

 GUA

G U A

CSRYPOSIS, In medicine, the name of a diftemperature of the toe nails, in which they bend inwards, and make their way deep into the flefh. GUACAGUACA, in zoology, the Brafilian name of a bird of the larus, or gull kind, the eggs of which are much va- lued in America, but the flefh not at all. It is called by thePortuguefe there, the gaviota. See Gaviota.

GUACARI, in zoology, the name of an American fifh of a roundifh, or in fome fort a pyramidal figure, and of a foot or more than that in its common length. Its head is flat below, and round ifh on the upper part. Its mouth is fmall and round, and is placed in the undef part of the head, and is furniflied with a fort of beard, of (lender, but ftiff* bodies, refembling fhort fegments of hogs bridles. Its back fin is fomewhat prickly, as in the pearch, and its tail is fupported by ftrong nerves, and is very forked. Its head" is covered with a hard fhelly cruft, which feels rough to the touch ; and its body with triangular fcales, which are larger toward the tail than near the head ; and all of them are rough, as if they had been cut and ridged, and have a fort of tubercle in their middle ; fo that the whole fifh feems covered with a coat of armour, and has a quadruple arrangement of tuber- cles on each fide. It is all over of a pale faffron colour, but fomewhat deeper on the belly than on any other part, and is all over variegated with brown fpots, of the fize of mu- ltard feeds.

There is alfo another kind of this fifh which differs in co- lour, being all over of a dufky brown, fpotted with fmall fpecks of a fine deep black. They are both eaten, but the firft kind has very little flefh; the latter has more, and it is alfo better tailed. Marcgrave's Hift. Brafil.

GUACUCUA, in zoology, the Brafilian name of a kind of water bat. Barlteus, p. 224.

GUACUIA, the name of a very remarkable Brafilian fifh, called alfo by fome the vefpertilio aquations, or water bat, and by others the monoceros p'feis. The anterior part of the body of this fifh is like a plough ; the head is eight fingers long, and five wide in the broadeft part ; the hinder part of its body is round, and pointed toward the tail. It is broad and flat, and the head fcarcc appears beyond the rim of the body ; and has between the eyes a fingle horn, which is very hard, of a conic fhape, and near two fingers long. It has a tole- rably wide mouth, but no teeth ; and it has on each fide, in the middle of the body, an arm, and under thefe, on the belly, has two fins, which fcem to ferve as feet. It has a tough fkm, and no fcales. It is brown on the back, and full of tubercles, and is red on the belly. It, moft of all fifh., approaches to the rana pifcatrix. Marcgrave^ Hift. Braf. p. 39.

GUADUM, wood, a name given by the people of fome parts of France in common to the glaftum, or ifatis, properly called wsael) and ufed in dying a blue colour; and to the genijhlla ftnfioria, or dyers weed, ufed in dying yellow.

We alfo have the fame confufion of names in the Englifh lan- guage, many of our Herbals calling the geniftella wold, weld, or ivaad. The Latins alfo called both this and that by the fame name, cymenc, properly the Greek name of the geni- ftella. See Isatis.

GUAIAC (Cycl.)— Decoctions of this wood taken internally, as alio applied in fomentations externally, have been found of fervice in cancerous difordcrs. See Medic. Eff. Edinb. Vol. 5. Art. 9.

It is a very remarkable quality in guaiac, that the fait it yields has very little of the alkaline quality of other falts of that kind.

GUAIACANA, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, and is of the bell-fafhioned kind. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the under part of the flower; this finally becomes a roundifh, foft, and multicapfular fruit, containing a number of hard feeds.

The fpecies of guaiacana enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe. 1. The guaiacana, called by authors thebroad leaved Afri- can lotus ; and 2. the guaiacana, called the narrow leaved Afri- can lotus. Town. Inft. p. 600.

GUAIAVA, 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. The cup is of the fhape of a funnel, and finally becomes a foft coronated fruit of an oval figure, in the pulpy part of which there are enclofed feveral fmall feeds. There is only one known fpecies of this plant, which is the pomiferous guaiava of America, defcribed by Gafpar Bauhine, and others. Tourn. Inft. p. 660.

GUAIBI Cdara, in zoology, the name of an American fifh, called by the Portugueze burace de velka. It is flat bodied, with a rifing back, and is ufually caught between five and eight inches long, and of about a third part of its length in breadth. Its nofe is pointed, and its head very large, and in each jaw it has one row of very fmall teeth : its tongue and palate are red, and its eyes are large, and of a brownifh yellow. Its tail is forked, and it has Qnly one fin on the

back j the anterior fays ©f which are prickly, the others foft to the touch. Its fcales are of the fize of thofe of the pearch, they are of a filvery white, with dufky edges, and on the back are all over of a blueifh hue. It is caught among the rocks and about the fhores, and is eaten in con- iiderable plenty in the Brafils, both by the natives and Por- tuguefe. Mangrove's Hift. Brafil.

GUAIMINIBIQUE, in zoology, a name by which many au- thors have called the humming bird, or guainumbi. De Last's Hift. Ind. Occ. 1. 15. c. 7. See the article Guainumbi.

GUAINUMBI, in zoology, the name of an American bird, called the bumming bird, and by fome authors tomineus. It is a large genus of birds, many fpecies of it having been de- fcribed by authors, and many which they have not defcribed, having been fent into Europe by the curious. It is the fmalleft of all birds, but of the moft beautiful and lively co- lours of all others. It flies very fwiftly, and in flying makes a noife exactly like the humming of a bee, and is not much larger than the humble bee. It can fuftain itfelf a long time on the wing, and in that pofture thrufts its little beak into flowers, the juices of which it fucks and feeds on. As it has no other food but this, there is no keeping it alive, but all die that are taken ; and they are preferved and fent over as curiofities to us. Many have reported ftrange ftories of their fleeping all the winter months, and reviving at the approach of fpring ; but Marcgrave faw them in great plenty, in the woods in all feafons. The Indians make pictures with the feathers of thefe birds, which are fo brightly coloured, as to vie with the fincft paint, and fo thin as to be as clofe as colours on canvas, Rays Ornithol. p. 165.

The humming bird is fo fmall, that its leg and foot toge- ther meafure but half an inch, and its whole trunk not an inch. The body weighs only T \> of an ounce, which is about equivalent to a filvcr fix- pence ; whereas a titmoufe, the fmalleft bird among us, weighs two millings, or half a crown a. Its neft, which is made of cotton, is much of the fize and figure of the thumb of a man's glove ; its egg about the bignefs of a pea. Some of the Indians wear them in their ears for pendants b .[ — 2 Phil. Tranf. N° 2.00. p. 760. b Phil. Tranf. N° 206. p. 993.—]

GUALACLING, in natural hiftory, the name given by the people of the Philippine Iflands, to a fpecies of bird of the ftarling kind. It is of the bignefs of the turtle, it feeds on fruits, and is a very brifk and lively bird. It appears to be of a plain black colour, except when viewed in the fun, and then is feen to be of a vaft variety of bright colours.

GUAMAJACU ape, in zoology, a name by which Marc- grave, and fome other writers, have called the pijeis trian- gularis, Willugbbfs Hift. Pifc. p. 149. See Triangu- laris pifcis.

Guamajacu Atinga, in zoology, the name of a fifh of tha orbis or globe fifh kind ; which is thorny, and has the mouth of the ordinary frog-mouthed fpecies. It is ufually about feven fingers breadth long, and in the place of teeth has a hard bone above and below in its mouth. The holes for its gills are large enough to admit one's finger, and near thefe there are two fquare, broad, and fhort fins. Near the tail it has another fmall oblong fin, and one oppofite to it on the belly. Its tail is a fimple fin, of a finger and a half long, and a finger broad. Its head is covered with a hard bony fhell, and all its body with prickles, except on the belly, where it is foft as the belly of a frog ; the prickles are fo many fmall pointed bones. The head, back, and fides are of a brownifh grey, the belly is of a yellowifh white, as are alfo the prickles. It has about its gills, mouth, and back fin fome fmall black fpots. It can, at pleafure, inflate its whole body into the refemblance of a bladder. It is not eatable, but efteemed poifonous. Pi/a, Hift. Nat. 1. 5. c 16.

Guamajacu Guara, in zoology, a name by which fame call that fpecies of the hijlrix, or fea porcupine, called by Marcgrave Diabe. TVillughbys Hift. Pifc. p. 14.7. Sea the article Diabe.

GUANABANUS, a name by which Plunder, and other au- thors, have called feveral fpecies of the anor.a, Plumier 10. See the article Anoka,

GUAPERVA, in zoology, the name of an American fifh, of the toad fifh or rana pifcatrix kind, but different from that in many things, and remarkably fmall. It is feldorn found of more than four finger's breadth long, and its more ufual fize is but two fingers. It has no gills ; its mouth is large, proje&ed like that of a dog, and furniflied with ex- tremely fmall teeth. It has a bone, fupplying the place of a tongue. Its eyes are extremely fmall, and of a fine pale blue, like that of the turquoife. Between its eyes, or in the middle of its upper lip, it has a little horn, Handing up- right, but bending a little backward, and before that horn is a (lender filament, half a finger long, turned backward, and with a little button at its end. It has one large fin upon its back, and two fmaller on his belly or breaft, and in the middle of its body, but rather neareft the head. It has on each fide an arm, which toward the extremity degenerates into a fin, and is prickly at the end. It has no fcales, but a

tough,