Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/990

 LEO

LEO

are thefe. i. The common Untijk. 2. The narrow leaved ' lentifk of Marfeilles.

It does not feem certain that the Untijk of the Arabians was the fame with the tree which we call by this name. For they always mention the lentifk as a fpecies of turpen- tine tree; and when they have treated of it at large under that head, both Avifenna and Serapion have, in other parts of their works, diftinct chapters on the majlic. The Un- tijk which they defcribe among the turpentine trees, was remarkable for its large fruit, and, as we find by Raw wolf, that there- is a kind of turpentine tree growing at this time in Arabia, remarkable for the fame character, it feems very probable that this was their kntijk, and that they did not call the tree which produces the majlick by that name, but only by that of the majlhk tree.

The antient authors in agriculture tell us, that the kntijk tree has three feafons of flowering and bearing fruit in the year, and that the times of fowing and reaping were di- rected by thefe, and that the vigour of its growth denoted a plentiful harveft, and its languifhing condition a bad one. Aratus cxpreftes all this very elegantly in verfe, and ufes the word Jkinus, mtoo?, for what is tranflated the kntijk ; but it is hard to fuppofe that the original author, who is Theophraftus, from whom Aratus has tranferibed the greateft part of his work, mould fay this of the kntijk, which flowery in April, and ripens its fruit in October, and then flowers no more till the following fpring.

The whole feems to be only intelligible this way. The word Jkinus is ui'ed by the antient Greeks, as the name of the efculent kind of fquill, as well as of the kntijk tree ; and this plant may very probably flower three times a year, being a vigorous bulb rooted herb, and a very quick grower. The fame author (Aratus) ufes the flower of the fquill, and the fruit of the kntijk., in different parts of his work, as the prefages of fowing and harveft ; and he exprefsly fays, that the fquill flowers produces fruit three times in the year. Since it is evident, therefore, that the word Jkinus, c-xp-k, fignifies both a peculiar fort of fquill and the kntijk tree; and fince it is certain that the fquill, in the countries where thefe authors wrote, does flower three times in the year, and that the kntijk never does, nor ever can do fo any where j it feems no rafh judgment to determine, that the anti- ent Greeks, whenever they gave thejkinos as the director for the fowing or reaping corn, meant the fquill by that word, never the kntijk tree ; though that happened to be called by the fame name as this fpecies of fquill was, and by the Athe- nians, indeed, the fquill in general.

The Latin writers, as they derived all thefe omens of the Jkinus from the Greeks, are not to be fuppofed to mean any thing but the fquill in thefe directions to the farmer, even though they have erroneoufly rendered the word by kntijeus. Cicero himfelf has fallen into this miftake, quoting theabovementioned paflage of Aratus, of the jkinos bearing flowers and fruit three times in the year, and tranflating it the Untijk ; but no authority can make us believe that this was faid of a tree, that can only flower and produce fruit once in the year. Sec Skinus. Lentisk-w<W, Lignum kntijci, is efteemed aftringent and balfamic, and is recommended in gonorrhoeas and the fluor albus -, but at prefent is little tried. LEO (Cycl.) — Leo, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the columbine, or aquilegia. Columella, among others, calls it by this name. Ger. Emac. Ind. %. See Aquilegia. Leo, the lion, in zoology. See Lion.

LiKO-pulex, a name given by Mr. Reaumur to a fpecies of in- fect: which feeds on the pulex arboreus, or common tree puceron, in the fame manner that the creature, called the formica lee, does on the ants : This being alfo, like that, an animal, yet in an imperfect mite, and finally to be changed into a different creature, this author has kept up the remem- brance of this analogy between them, by giving this a fimilar name.

The leo-pukx is ufually bred among the herds of the pulices, which he devours molt unmercifully. He is a worm of the hexapode, or fix legged kind, and very foon arrives at the time of his change ; after which he becomes a green fly with four wings. Another animal of this kind, and not lefs deftructive of this fmall race of animals, is a fix leveed worm of a whitifh colour, and fmaller than the former, which finally becomes a round bodied beetle. Another fpecies of thefe devourers this author calls vermis hyjlrix, the porcupine worm, from the vaft number of fpi- culje, or tender prickles, with which he is armed. This alfo finally becomes a round and fmall beetle. Reaumur. Hift. Infect. Tom. i. LEOCROCOTTA, in natural hiflrory, a name given by the antients to an animal, faid to be the fwifteft of all creatures in the world. Pliny, and fome others, have called it kucc- crotia, or kucrocotta, but thefe are only corruptions of rh( true name kocrocotta. It is defcribed as a mungrel, or ba ftard animal, unable to propagate its own fpecies, and pro< duced by the mixture of two different kinds of animals being begotten upon the lionefs by the male hya?na of form of the" larger kinds.

Pliny tells us, in another part of his hiflrory, of this mixture of thefe two fpecies, and fays, that the animal produced between them was called the crocotta ; whence we find, that the crocoita and the kocrocotta are the fame animal, though defcribed by molt authors as two diftinct ones. In another place, however, he calls the creature produced between a dog and a female wolf, by this name, crecotta \ fo that this word is not always to be afcertained in its fenfe. The kocrocotta, according to Pliny, has the head, neck, and breaft of a lion, as alfo the tail. He adds, that it is one of the moft voracious and deftructive beafts in the world, and that it imitates the human voice to draw men near it, that it may devour them ; and that its jaw is one continued bone, without any diftinctkm of teeth. The Greeks have not any where mentioned this animal, though they have in many places, and on many occafions, named the crocotta, and upon the whole it appears to be one of thofe animals, the exiftence of which is much to be doubted. 7'he Latin authors have made fome confufion between this creature and the mantichora, attributing the things that have been faid of one to the other. See Mantichora.

LEONTESERES, in the natural hiftory of the antients, the name of a fpecies of agate, famous in early times for its imaginary virtues in taming the rage of wild beafts, and not a little efteemed among us for its beauty. It is the molt variegated of all the agates. Its ground colour is yellow, and its variegations are flame colour, white, black, and green.

Sometimes it is one irregular congeries of all thefe colours, but more frequently it is very beautifully variegated with them in form of clouds and veins; the black and green par- ticularly are ufually difpofed in concentric circles, round one or more points. It is found only in the Eaft-Indics, and is very fcarce. Hill's Hift. of Foff. p. 487.

LEONTICE, in botany, the name given by Linnaeus to that genus of plants which Touxnefort and others have called leontopetalon. SeeLEONTOPETALON.

Leontice is alfo a plant mentioned by the antient Greeks, and called by them cacalia.

Diofcorides tells us that it had thefe names in common, and that it was of great virtue in curing difeafes of the ajpera arter'ta, orwnid pipe.

This medicinal plant of the Greeks was very different from that we now call cacalia. Some have defcribed it to have flowers like the oak, others like the olive tree, but the old manufcripts of Diofcorides all fay, the flow- ers were like thofe of bryony. Hence it could by no means be the cacalia of the moderns - t nor is it eafy to hy, from fuch fhort and uncertain accounts, what it was.

LEONTIASIS, a name ufed by fome authors for the ele- phant iafis.

LEONTODERON, in natural hiftory, a name given by feveral authors to a fpecies of agate, of a plain yellowifh colour, without variegations.

LEONTOPETALOIDES, in botany, the name of a genus of plants defcribed by Dr. Amman ; the characters of which are thefe. The flower is monopetalous, of the funnel fa- fhioncd kind, and divided into feveral fegments at the edge. This is fucceeded by a bladder, or inflated fruit, which con- tains a number of oval feeds.

The plant is a native of the Eaft-Ind'ies ; its root is tube- rous, and two inches thick in the middle ; it is grey on the outfide, and white within, and fends out but few fibres. There ufually arife four ftalks from each root. Thefe are very tall, and of a finger's thicknefs. Two of them ufu- ally bear each one large and beautiful leaf, very thin in its fubftance, varioufly jagged, and of a beautiful green. The two others bear each a tuft of flowers, which are large and yellow, and ftand in cups of a fine green, compofed each of one leaf, divided into fome fegments at the end. Each flower is fuftained on a pedicle of about an inch in length. Thefe are fucceeded by the fruit, which are green inflated bladders of an angular form, and of an inch diameter in the largeft part, from whence they run to a point, where they are purple. The feeds are large, ftriated, and of a pale brick colour. Act. Petrop. Vol. 8. p. 209.

LEONTOPETALON, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, called leontice by Linnaeus. Its characters are, that the calyx is very fmall and deciduous, and is compofed of fix leaves ; the flower confifts of fix petals of an oval figure, narroweft at the bafe, the three interior ones being alternately fmaller ; the ftamina are fix very ihort filaments ; the an- theras are erect, formed of two valves, divided into two cells, and open lengthwife from the bafe to the apex, where they are firmly united ; the germen is of an oblong, oval figure ; there is no ftyle ; the itigma is obtufe, and of the height of the ftamina; the fruit is a large, globofe, acuminated cap- fule, inflated, fomewhat fucculent, and containing only one cell. The feeds nre globofe and i'^w in number. There are only two fpecies of kontopctalon, 1. The konto- Petalon with tripartite leaves. And, 1. The fimple leaved leontopetalon. Vid. Linnai. Gen. Plant, p. 146. and Hill's Nat. Hift. Vol. 2. p. 377. feq.

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