Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/967

 •LAC

LAG

end of which the hard body of this refill will be found refclved into a purple liquor. This may yet again be dried, and when dried mull be reduced to powder, which powder will afford a fine ftrong tincture to fpirit of wine, being boiled in it in a tall glafs in a land heat for two or three hours. And by this procefs ftrong tinctures may be made from myrrh, amber, gum, juniper, &c. which will yield no tincture of ftrength to fpirit of wine alone, if treated in the ufual way. Shaw's Lcdt. p. 203.

LACCIA, in ichthyology, a name given by Paulas Jovius to the fhad, or, as we fometim.es call it, the mother of the pil- chards. See the articles Thrissa and Clupea.

LACCOPEDON, a word ufed by the old medical writers to exprefs the lax part of the fcrotum.

LACCOS, AoKte®-, among the Greeks, a ditch or trench ufed inffead of an altar, when facrifices were to be offered to the fubterranean or infernal Gods. Potter, Archzeol. Gra;c. 1. 2. c. 2. Tom. 1. p. 192. See Altar.

LACEDiEMONIUM Marmor, in the natural hiftory of the antients, the name of a fpecies of marble very hard, and of a beautiful green colour. It is a very clofe, even, and compact marble ; of a fine ftrong and bright green, and when polifhed, is the brighten: of all the green marbles, and is remarkable for this, that the colour is not regularly and equally diffufed through the whole mafs, but leaves in it many fpots and lines very bright and pale, and fome much deeper than the general colour, though there is no colour but green, in the whole, only in different fhades and degrees, fome parts approaching to black and others to whttenefs. It was originally found only in /Egypt, and there not in entire ftrata, but in large pieces warned off from the ftrata, and fometimes left on the furface, fometimes buried in the earth, and was greatly valued. It has been fince found in Italy and Germany, and in England. About five miles from the hot wells at Briftol there is a ftratum of it, whence it might be had in confiderable quantities. Its beauty would foon recommend it if it were once known : and though hard to cut, it would make amends for that by the high polifh it would take. Kill's Haft, of Fof. p. 469.

LACERTA, the lizard. See Lacertus.

Lacerta Chakidica, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of lizard, more ufually known by the name fcps. See Seps.

Lacerta Volant, a fpecies of lizard, which lives on trees, feeding on ants, flics and other infects, and doing no injury to man or any other large animal. It has membranes on its fides, which ferve the office of wings, in carrying it from one tree to another, and has been called by Gefner the dragon or winged ferpent.

LACERTUS, in ichthyography, the lizard fifh, a name given by fome writers to a fifh of the cuculus kind, much refem- bling the common mackerel, in fhape and in tafte, and more ufually called tracburus. Gefner de Aquat. p. 290. See Trachurus.

Lacertus is alfo ufed for a fifh of the garfifh kind, or acus oppiani, but larger than the common fpecies, and called by the Italian nfherrnen agnglia imperiak, or the imperial gar- fifh, and by the nfherrnen of England, particularly in Corn- wall, the girrock, in diftinction from the common kind which they caWjkipper. It is thicker in proportion to its length than the common garfifh, and has a fhorter and fharper fnout, and inffead of teeth, has only its jaws ferrated like a file. It is a fcarce fifh, but is more firm in its flefh than the common garfifh. Rondclet. de Pif. p. 32.

Lacertus, the lizard, in zoology, the name of a large genus of animals, comprehending all thofe quadrupeds which are oviparous, and have long tails continued from their bo- dies. The term oviparous is to be underftood however in a larger fenfe, expreffing fome among thefe, which though they have true and proper eggs within them, yet never depofit them as fuch, but keep them in their bodies till they are hatched, and bring forth living young ones. Some of the ferpents, as well as fome of the lizards, are of this kind,

. and the obfervation is as old as Ariftotle, who calls the creatures, whofe generation is of this kind, internally oviparous, externally viviparous. See Tab; of Quadrupeds and Serpents, N° 30. feq. and Rays Syn. Quad. p. 261.

Lacertus Orbicularis, in zoology, the name of a very lin- gular fpecies oUizard, which is not long and flenderlike the reft, but broad and rounded. Hermandez Lib. 9. c. 46. See the article Topayaxjn.

Lacertus Sqmmmojus, in zoology, a name given by au- thors to a fpecies of lizard, more eminently fcaly than any other kind. The general length of this creature is about 3 yard and half. His head from the nofe end to the fore feet, is not above three inches j he has no neck; his trunck from the fore legs to the hinder, is not above ten inches and a half, but his tail is exceeding long, not meafuring lefs than a yard and a half quarter ; the back part of his head is near two inches over; his nofe about an inch, his body nearly four inches, and his tail very taper, but ending in an obtufe end ; the under part of the tail is flat, the upper part hyperbolic ; the fore legs, contrary to what they are in other lizards, are longer than the hinder, thefe being not above three inches and a half in length, and thofe more than four. The claws of the fore feet are alfo longer, thofe of the

hinder being but about half an inch long, thofe of the fore once near an inch; there are on each foot four toes and a heel behind. He is all over, except his throat and belly, and die lower part of his fore legs, and the inward part of the hinder ones, covered with fcales very thick, and in folidity equal to the hardeft bone. The bafes of the fcales are of blackifh. yellow, the reft of a pale yellow, like that of old ivory. They are ftriated from the bafe to the cone, and are difpofed alter- nately in the manner of the fcales of fifties. In the body there are ten or eleven in each rank, and on the tail about five ; the largeft are near two inches broad, but the fmallcft, not more than a quarter of an inch. They are flat -on the forehead, the back and the fore part of the tail, but on the edges of the tail they are doubled into an acute angle. It is faid to be a very tame and inoffenfive animal. Grew's Muf. Soc. R. p. 46.

The throat and belly of this animal are befet with hairs, and Mr, Ray fuppofes it from that, to belong to the vivipa- rous quadrupeds, notwithftanding thaC its fhape has always made it be ranked among the lizard kind. It is prcferved in the mufeums of the curious, but we are not acquainted with the part of the world it lives in. Ray's Syn. Quad, p. 275.

Lacertus Subterraneus, the underground lizard, a very dif- agreeable and dangerous fpecies of lizard, found in the An- tilles iflands, and fome other places. They are often met with by the people who dig in marfhy places, and are of a very formidable afpect ; they are about feven inches long. Their back is covered with black glofTy fcales, with a few grey ones, mixed here and there among them, and they look fleek and glofly as if rubbed over with oil ; the belly is no lefs fcaly than the back, and their fkin is of a yellowifh colour. The head is fmall and fharp, and the mouth opens very wide, and is armed with very numerous and fharp teeth ; their eyes are very fmall. As foon as they are dug up, and thrown on the ground, they immediately dig their way in again, with their feet, which are prepared for that purpofe, and armed with fharp claws ; and when they are once in they burrow their way like moles wherever they pleafe. They do great mifchiefs to the inhabitants in their gardens and plantations, burrowing horizontally at fmall depths, and deftroying the roots of every thing they meet with. Their bite is efteemed as dangerous as that of the moft poifonous ferpent. Rochefort, Hift. des Antill.

Lacertus viridis, the green lizard, a very beautiful crea- ture, which is common in many parts of Italy, and is fometimes found in Ireland. It is confiderably larger than our land eft, and of a very beautiful green. See Tab. of Quadrupeds and Serpents, N p 30. and Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 263.

Lacertus alter fphinfteris, in anatomy, a name given by Santorini, and fome others, to one of the mufcles of the anus, now generally known by the name of the le- vator ani. The mufculus fedem at fallens of Vefahus, and latus of others. The thin termination of this mufcle, not the whole, is underftood by this name.

LACERUM_/o//#/«, among botanifts. See Leaf.

LACHNIS, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of foffils, of the clafs of the fibrarite ; the characters of which are, that they are fibrofe bodies, not elaftic, and compofed of fhort and abrupt fibres, or filaments.

The word is derived from the Greek x*'x^, a hair or fhort capillament or fibre. See Tab. of Foffils, Clafs 1. The bodies of this genus are divided into thofe which are compofed of larger and broader, and thofe which are com- pofed of fmaller and narrower filaments. Of the firft of thefe there are fix fpecies known among us ; and of ths other, four. Thofe of the firft are, 1. A pale flefh co- loured very glofTy kind, found in the marl pits of Derby- fhire, and of little value. 2. A glofTy greenifh white kind, found alfo in the fame county in a greenifh marl. 3. A greyifh white with thick filaments, common in the hills of Yorkfhire. 4. A dead looking white one common in Derbyfhire and Leicefterfli'ire. 5. A very gloffy white one in the clay pits of Yorkfhire ; and 6. A dull flefh coloured one in the Derbyfhire marl pits, which, as well as fome others of thefe, makes a very good gypfum with very little trouble. Kill's Hift. of Foff. p. 93 — 98. Thofe of the fecond fort, or the narrow threaded ones are, 1. A very glofTy pale red one, found in great, plenty on Mendip hills, and burning very freely to fine plaifter. 2. A blueifh white one common in the marl pits of Stafford/hire, though not regarded as a thing of any value by the owners of the pits. 3. A glofly greenifh grey one common on the fhores and in the cliffs of Yorkfhire. And 4. a very bright greenifh white kind, found in great plenty in Derbyfhire, and frequently ufed for burning into plaifter. It-is very certain, that moft of the reft, from the quantities they are found in, might be made a very profitable thing to the owners of the pits where they lie, though they are in moft places neglected. Hill's Hift. of Foff. p. 98, 99, 100, 101.

LACINIATED leaf, in botany. See Leaf.

LACRYMA cervina, in natural hiftory, a little round and hard bone, faid to grow in the great corner of a flag's eye after a certain age. Some alfo preferve under this name a thickened excretion from the inncrangleof that creature's eye, in colour and confidence refmibling myrrh, or ear- wax,