Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/23

Rh are a considerable number of edible wild fruits. No indigenous coco-palms exist, though, these are so plentiful on the adjoining Cocos and Nicobars. Much of the scenery of the islands is very beautiful.

{{ti|1em|{{nowrap|Animal Life.—This}} is greatly deficient throughout the whole group, especially as regards Mammalia, of which the species are very few. There is a small pig (S. andaman- ensis), important to the food of the people perhaps that found on the Nicobars; a Paradoxurus; a rat with spiny hairs (Jf. andam.); a small frugivorous bat (Cynopterus marginatus). A "wild cat" is alleged, but there seems doubt about it. No Quadrumana have been seen. Of birds several species seem peculiar to this group, or to the Nicobars, or to the two together; and some of the Anda man species are considered by Mr Blyth to accord better with corresponding species at a distance than with those on the adjoining part of the continent. Thus, Artamus and Oriolus of the Andamans seem identical with those of Java, not with those of India or Burma; and a shrike of these islands agrees better with a species of China and the Philippines than with the nearest species in Bengal, Aracan, and the Malay peninsula. Caves on the coast are fre quented by the swift, which forms the edible nest of the China market. Pigeons, kingfishers, and woodpeckers are numerous. Reptiles are pretty numerous, both as regards species (15 to 20) and individuals, including eight Opliidia and several Geckoes, of which four or five are peculiar. Among these is one (Phelsuma andam.} the immediate kindred of which is known only in Madagascar and the adjoining islands. The Indian toad is common. Turtle are abundant, and now supply Calcutta. The species of fish are very numerous, and many are peculiar. They have been especially studied by Dr F. Day. It is much to be desired that these islands should have a thorough scientific exploration whilst the type of their productions is still substantially uninfluenced by foreign agency.}}

1em 1em  ANDELYS, a town in the department of Eure, France, formed by the union of Le Grand and Le Petit Andely, which are situated, the latter on the eastern bank of the Seine, and the former nearly half a mile from the river, at a distance of about 20 miles north-east of Evreux. Grand Andely, the older of the two, dates from the 6th century, and contains a collegiate church, whose stained- glass windows are remarkably beautiful. Petit Andely sprang up around the chateau Gaillard, which was built by Richard Cceur de Lion in 1195, and was formerly one of the strongest fortresses in France. The chief manu factures at Les Andelys are cloth, thread, and leather, and there is a considerable trade in grain and wool. Population (1872), 5379.  ANDENNE, a town of Belgium, in the province of Namur, situated on- the right bank of the Meuse, 10 miles east of Namur. It contains no buildings of note, but is a place of considerable manufacturing activity. The principal productions are porcelain, tobacco-pipes, and paper, and in the neighbourhood are beds of pipe-clay and marble quar ries. Population, 6370.  ANDERNACH, a small town of Rhenish Prussia, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, 10 miles north-west of Coblenz. It is the Antunnacum of the Romans, and in the Middle Ages was a fortified town of considerable im portance, but at the present day the walls only add to its picturesque appearance. Among the objects of interest are a lofty watch tower, the Coblenz gate, and the fine parish church, built in the beginning of the 13th century. Andernach has a trade in leather, corn, and wine; but its most noted articles of commerce are millstones, made of lava and of tufa-stone, which when pounded and mixed with lime, possesses the property of hardening under water, and has been much used by the Dutch as a cement in the construction of their dykes. Population about 4000.