Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/371

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pairs; fo that tke furrow, which had two ridges, or lands, turned towards it one time, rnuft have two turned from it the next time ; and this method keeps the furfaces of all the ridges or lands pretty nearly even. This, however, cannot be done on a hill, whofe declivity is fo great, that the plow is not able to turn a furrow againft it 3 but, in this cafe, perhaps, it may be fufficient to plow the ridges obliquely enough for the furrows to be turned both ways. This plowing in an horizontal manner, on hills, is the heft of all others ; but our farmers are not to be eafily brought into it though they fee thin lands of this kind ruined for want of it ■ their reafons for not doing it, are, that it would prevent the fuppofed benefit of crofs plowing ; and that they lofe more ground by having more furrows be- tween the ridges, than when they lay their lands flat ; where the lands are made much larger than the round ridges can conveniently be. But thefe are in reality very erroneous, as well as mifchievous opinions ; for more mifchief than good is done by crofs-plowing in general ; and inftead of any real lofs of land by ridges, the true ftate of the cafe is, that much ground is gained by it j that is, the furface of the earth is increafed in quantity ; for if a flat piece he plowed into ridges, and if in earth fixteen feet breadth, there be an empty furrow of two feet ; and yet, by the height and roiindnefs of the ridges, they have eighteen feet of furface, capable of producing corn equally with eighteen feet, while the piece was flat ; there is then, inftead of any lofs, one eighth part of profitable ground, gained by the altering the piece from a level into a ridge. Ridges, in the manege, are the wrinkles, or rifings of flefh in the roof of a horfe's mouth, which run acrofs from one fide of the jaw to the other, like flefh y ridges, with inter- jacent furrows, or finking cavities. It is upon the third or fourth ridge that we give the ftroke with the horn, in order to bleed a horfe whofe mouth is overheated. See Horn. RIDING {CycL) — Riding cajl, in husbandry, a term ufed by the farmers for a particular method of fowing their grounds, by making two calls upon a ground at the fame time. This is not much ufed, but it is a quicker way than the double cqft, which is the method now moft ufed. Plot's Oxfordfhire, p. 251. Riding clerk, one of the fix clerks in chancery ; who, in his turn, for one year, keeps the corrtrolment books of all grants that pafs the great feal. Blount. RIEMLING, in zoology, a name given, by feveral to the fmall frefh water nfh, called by the Latins phoxinus, and vulgarly the pink. Willugbby's Hi^.Pifc- p. 267. RIN/EUS mujculus, the name of a mufcle mentioned by Douglals, which he alfo calls nafalis : it arifes fieihy from the extremity of the os nafi, and adjacent parts of the os maxillare, and is inferted into all the cartilages of the alae, Its ufe is to open and dilate the noftril, by pulling that part outwards. RINAR, a word ufed by the chemifts to exprefs filings of any

thing. R1NEUS titarinttSy a name given by fome botanical writers to the crithmum, osfampbire, a fea plant ukd as a pickle. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. RING, (CycL) in angling, an inftrument intended to free the hook, when accidentally entangled among weeds. It is a circular piece of lead, of about fix inches round, and is faftened to a long packthread when it is to be ufed. It is flipped over the end of the angling rod, and let down into the water where the line conduits it to the hook ; the rod and line have then no farther bufinefs ; but the hook is en- deavoured to be difengaged by the pulling this ring back- wards and forwards by the firing which is faftened to it ; the hook is generally freed from the weed by this means j but if not, and nothing but the breaking of the tackle will do, the breach is made in this manner near the hook ; whereas if done without this ring, it might have happened in lbme other part of the line, or the rod itfelf might have been de- ftroyed by it. Rings of flies, in natural hiftory, the feveral rounds, or cir- cular portions, of which the bodies of thefe and other infects are compofed.

In the fly kind thefe are cruftaceous or cartilaginous, and confequently of a matter little capable of exteniion ; many actions of thefe infects require, however, that their bodies, or a part at leaft of their bodies, fhould be able to inflate or diftend, and contract their fize occalionally. Were every ring of the body one entire fcale, or fhelly fub- ftance, thefe changes could not be eafily effected ; nature has therefore fo provided, that the tender bodies of thefe little creatures are fufficiently defended, and yet all the ne- ceflary motions may be performed.

In many flies each ring is indeed one entire fcale ; but, in this cafe, it makes a circle round the body of the creature, whofe ends do not join, but have a furrow between them, and running the whole length of the body ; this furrow is placed under the belly, and is of different fizes in the different fpecies. It i s very narrow in the great blue fly, and much broader in many (mailer fpecies. This furrow is filled with a matter merely membranaceous., or in other fpecies, with a feries Suppl. Vol. II.

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of fmall moveable fades, ranged endwife one to another 1 ) and in number exactly equal to the rings of the body ; and on each fide, between thefe fcales and the extremities of the feveral ring}, there is a fmall membranaceous fubitance, which is capable of extending and giving way, as the in- flation or contraction of the body on different occafions may require. Reaumur's Hift. \\\{. Vol. 4. p. 256. Other fpecies of flies have to every ring two fcaly arches, which differ a little inbignefs; the one covering the back, and the other the belly of the creature; thefe arches arc joined on each fide by a mufcuiar membrane. When the body is in its ftate of finalkft exteniion, and is flatted, or contracted, this membrane is feen to make feveral foldings laid clofely over one another, and making the whole take up but a very fmall fpace ; and, in this cafe, the fuperior fcaly arch feems immediately to touch, and be joined to the inferior: but when the creature inflates, and extends its" body, the membrane opens from its feveral foldings, and gives room for a vaft increafe in diameter ; and the extre- mities of the two ranges of fcales feparate to a very confi- dcrable diftance from one another. The flies produced from the rat tailed water worms, give us an inftance of this mechanifm. In other flies there are none of thefe mem-' branes, nor furrows, but the body is compofed of rings made up each of two imgle fcales, one covering the back and the other the belly; but thefe, in the common ftate of the body of the creature, are laid a great way over one ano- ther, and are not fixed to that pofition, but can Aide afun- der as the creature diftends itfelf; and in many fpecies of infects thefe fcales continue to cover each other in part, even when the body is difiended to a very great degree. Bees, wafps, &c. are thus formed ; and it is extremely ne- ceflary that they fhould be fo, fince they have frequent com- bats with one another : if they were not thus armed, the ftrokes of their flings would eafily find entrance through fuch membranaceous commiflurcs as are found in other flies, and would prove fatal. Ibid. p. 257. Ring of faturn, in aftronomy, an opake, folid, circular arch or plane, like the horizon of a globe, which entirely encom- paftes, but no where touches the planet. See the article Saturn, CycL Ring dove, in zoology, the name of a bird of the pigeon kind, called by Aldrovand and other authors the palumbus torquatus, and by the Greeks phajja. Its beak is yellow, its feet naked and red, its legs feathered ulmoft down to the feet. The upper part of its neck has a very regular and beautiful white circle, from which the bird has its name; and its whole neck, above and below this, is beautifully variegated with changes of colours, according as it is oppofed to the light. Its head and back are of a dufky blue grey, and its throat and breaft of a grey mixed with purple, its belly of a pfain grey. The colours are all deeper, and more lively in the. male than female. It feldom flies fingle, but in large flocks, and builds on trees ; its food is ivy berries and other vege- table matter. See Tab. of Birds, N c 27. Ray's Orn. p. 185. Ring bead, an engine ufed in ftretching of cloth. 43 Eliz.

c. 10. Blount, Cr/tvel. VimG- fcalpel. We have a defcription and figure of a ring" fcalpel, for aflifting the delivery of women in child-birth, by Dr. Thomas Sinpfon, in the Medical Effays of Edin- burgh, Vol. 5. Art. 39. Rise-tail, in zoology, theEnglifn name for the female of the fubbuteo ; the male and female in this fpecies, differing fo much in colour, as to be called by two names ; the male being called the henharrier. See the article Henharrier. The ring-tail> or female fubbuteo, is a moderately large bird. It has a fort of ring, or chain of feathers, round the back part of its head, reaching to its chin on each fide, which ftand erect, and are brown in the middle, and of a reddifti white at the edges, and make a fort of crown which furrounds the head ; and from this there hang down a naked fkin, which covers the ears. It ljas a white fpot on each fide under the eyes ; its breaft and belly are of a tawny white, with long brownifl) ftreaks ; a»d the middle of its throat is brownim ; its back and wings are of a duiky ferrugi- neous colour ; its tail variegated with tranfverfe ftreaks of black and tawny. The upper part of the beak is covered with a yellow fkin. Its legs are yellow, and the infide of its mouth is black. It feeds on fmall birds, and its eggs are of a rcddiih hue, with very little clear white, appearing in them Roy's Ornitholog. p. 40. RIONDO, in zoology, a name ufed by fome for the fifth more commonly called apcr, a fmall nfh, of the fhape of the faber or doree, caught in the Mediterranean. Ray's Ichthyogr. p. 296. See the article Aper. RIPIENO, in the Italian mulic, is ufed in pieces of mufic in parts,, to diftinguifh thofe that play to fill up, from thofe that play throughout the piece. There arc, fays Mr. Brof- fard, two kind's of the ripieno : one plays the part of the little chorus exactly, and does not, therefore, increafe the harmony or number of parts. What is to be played by all the muficians is marked with the words tutti or omnts. This fort of ripieno is found in almofl all companions. The other fort is much better, a different part being played, H h h whereby