Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/750

 V U L

V U L

any the leaft appearance of any thing belonging to an animal, no egg, no worm, no fly, nor indeed any foreign body of any fort whatever.

Thefe berries, though fo large and fucculent, are but of a very fhort duration, for Mr. Marchant going three days af- ter he had feen them in the greateft perfection, to gather fomeofthem, with intent to try their juice on different li- quors, found they were all become flaccid and withered ; and returning again three days after this, they were fo entirely perifhed and gone, that there remained only a few veftiges of thin fkins on the places where they had been fixed to the tree, and fome few fallen ones among the bufhes, that grew under the tree ; and upon inquiring of the people who lived there- about, to know whether thefe berries were a regular annual production of the tree, they told him that they never remem- bered to have feen any thing of the kind before. It may not he e?Sy perhaps to account regularly for thefe for- tuitous productions; for they feem merely of the, nature of monfters among animals, and it may be allowed no improba- ble conjecture in regard to them, that the root of thefe fmall trees having taken to more nourifhment than they could cir- culate, when it came to load the tender extremities of the young branches, may have made its way through their laxer texture, and being retained yet in fome of their mem- branes, may have fwelled out more and more, by the addi- tion of frefh matter, and finally have been maturated by the fun's heat into thefe fecmingly regular productions. Mem. Acad. Par. 1692.

Uva Urjtj in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- racters of which are thefe : The flower is of the globofe bell- (haped kind, confifting only of one leaf. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail into the hinder part of the flower. This finally becomes a round foft fruit or berry, containing little ftony feeds, which are gibbofe on one iide, and flat on the other. There is only one known fpecies of the Uva Urji, which is the plant called by fome idaa radix, and by others the wbor tie- berry, with thick, flefh-y, and, as it were, punctated leaves. Tourn. Inft. p. 599.

Uva Vulpis, a name given by fome authors to the common nightfhade. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

VUBARANA, in zoology, the name of a harengiform fifth, caught in the American feas.

It refembles in figure our river trout. Its body is very nearly of the fame thicknefs all the way, but is elevated a little on the back, and fomewhat (lender juft near the tail. It grows to a foot in length, and to fix inches In thicknefs. Its head is fmall, and pointed; its mouth not large, and hav- ing no teeth ;. and its tongue long. It has but one fin on the back, and its tail is long and forked. Its fcales are very fmall, and are difpofed fo evenly, and laid fo clofely down, that it feems fmooth to the touch. Its back is of a bluifh white, and the reft of its body appears either of an olive co- lour, or of a filvery white, according to the light In which it is viewed. The belly is fomewhat flat, and perfectly white, and the coverings of the gills feem plates of filver, their whitenefs and lultrc are fo elegant. It is a very well tatted fifh, and is generally dreflcd with the fcales on, they being not offenfive in eating. Marggrave's Hiftory of Erafil.

UVEA (Cycl.) — Mr. Ferren demonftrated to the acade- my of fciences at Paris, the lymphatic veflels of the Uvea of the human eye. Hift. de l'Acad. des Sciences,

to*

VULCANALIA, among the Romans, a feftival in honour of Vulcan, which was kept from the twenty- third to the twenty-ninth of Auguft. On this occafion the people ufed

b to throw animals into the fire. Pitifc; in voc.

VULGAGO, a name given by fome botanical authors to the afarum or afarahacca, whofe leaves and root are ufed in me- dicine. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

VULNERARIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the papilionaceous kind, and from its cup, which is of a tubular i'orm and turgid, there arifes a piftil, which finally be- comes a fhort pod, containing roundifh feeds ; and being contained in a membranaceous bladder, which was before the cup of the flower.

The fpecies of Vulneraria, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe ; 1. The common yellow-flowered Vulneraria, •called kidney-vetch, and ladies finger. 2. The white- flowered Vulneraria. 3. The purple-flowered Vulneraria. 4. The five-leaved Vulneraria^ called by many the bladder lotus. Tourn, Inft. p. 391.

VULPANSER, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to the ftiell-drake, or burrow-duck, a very beautiful fpe- cies of duck, common on fome of our coafts, and called by the generality of authors tadoma. See the article Ta-

- DOMA.

VULPECULA, in ichthyology, a name given by Eellonius and Gefner to the fifh called, by the generality of authors centrine*.

It is a fpecies of the fqualus, diftinguifhed by Artedi under the name of the triangular-bodied fqualus, with no pinna ani. The Italians call this pejee pcrco. See the article Squalus.

VULPES, the Fox. This creature has been long famed for its cunning, and is plainly of the dog-kind. It differs, however, from the common dog in the length, denfe difpofition, and foftnefs of its hairs, efpecially thofe about its tail, and in its fmell, which is peculiarly rank and duagre- able. Its ufual colour is a reddifn tawney, though it is fome- times found white, and fometimes black. Its manner of dig- ging itfelf a hole in the earth, is alfo a cuftom wholly dif- ferent from all the dog kind, and it is far from the tamenefs of that animal, being with difficulty made to lole its fierce- nefs. Its internal parts, in general, are very like thofe of a dog. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 177.

Vulpes Marina, or Alopecias, in natural hiftory, the name given by authors to a large fifh, called the fca-fox by us. It is faid by many authors to have naturally the rank fmell of the fox, and to be one of the worft- tailed fifties in the world ; but this does not appear to be true, on a ftrict in- quiry ; for its fmell feems very little different from that of other fifties, and its flefh is well-tafted ; fo that thefe things feem only to have been faid, in order to ftrengthen the re- femblance with the fox; a name which feems, upon the' whole, to have been given it only from the length of its tail * and even that, though very long for a fifh of this kind, has no refemblance with the tail of a fox. The length of this filh is about nine foot, and its breadth, in the broadeft part of the belly, fourteen inches. Its tail is nearly as long as the whole body befide, and is of the fhape of a fcythe, and is, bent downwards. Near the origin of the tail, it has a fingle fin below, and the fpine is more moveable up and down in this part, than in any other ; fo that the tail is, by this means, eafily elevated or deprefled. It has two eminences on the back, one large one near the middle, and the other a fmall one near the tail : And it has three fins on each fide ; the pair that ftand near the head are large, and referable the 'wings of a bird ; the others are fmalfer. The fkin is fmooth, and without fcales ; and the fins and eminences on the back are compofed of a fort of ribs, held together by a tough and ftrong membrane. The tongue adheres infeparably to the lower jaw, and is compofed of a great number of bones, ar- ticulated together by a flefhy fubftance of a fibrofe texture, and covered with a membrane befet with feveral prominences, which make it feel very fmooth when the hand is drawn from the point towards the root ; but very rough when it is drawn the contrary way. Thefe prominences, when viewed by the microfcope, appear as pellucid as the fineft cryftal. Its throat and ftomach are remarkably large ; and authors fay, that when in a fright it will fwallow its young ones into its; ftomach, and afterwards caft them up again when the danger; is. over. Others who fpeak largely of its cunning, fay, that when it has fwallowed a bait at a hook, it will take in the whole line, till it comes to a weak place, where it can bite it afimder. This is a tale very well calculated for the carry- ing on a refemblance with the fox in cunning ; but it is very ill adapted to this fifh, which has no teeth with which it can bite any thing afunder. The heart of this fifh is re- markably final], nothing larger than a hen's egg ; it is alfo much of the fame fhape, and has no pericardium ; but the aorta for a little way is covered with a membrane analogous to a pericardium. The head feems a mere lump of flefh, being covered with mufcles, of which fome are four inches thick ; and though the head is i'o large, the fkull is not bigger than a man's fift; it is thick, and is divided within into three cavities, each of which contains a fmall quantity of a mucous matter mixed with blood ; fo that the fifh feems fcaree to have any brain at all, what little matter of it there is being quite foft, and having very few windings. The eyes are as large as thofe of an ox, and are only he- mifpheric in figure, being flat before, fo that they ap- pear of a very Angular fhape. Mem. pour Hift. Anim. p. 114.

The guts of this fifh have a very peculiar ftrucrure. In. the upper part of them, inftead of the ordinary circum- volutions of the guts of animals, the cavity is dtftinguiftied by many tranfverfe feparations compofed of the membranes, of. the inrcftine turned inwards : Thefe feparations ftand at about half an inch diftance from one another, and turn helically like a fnail-fhell. The confequence of this is, that the food is detained a long time in its paflage, though the way it has to go be very fhort. This creature feeds both on other fifh, and on fea-plants ; and it is very remarkable, that the fifti it has devoured are fometimes found in its ftomach without the head, fcales, fkin, and bowels, the mufcular flefh remaining entire, while all thefe harder and tougher parts are diftblved. Ouvrage adoptea de l'Acad. Par. vol. 1.

VULTUR1US, among the Romans, a throw of the tali, otherwife called cams. Pitifc. in voc. See the articles Ca- nis and Tax. a ruts Ludus,

VULTH"-