Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/120

100 employment to nearly 2000 workmen. In 1871 the town- | ship had a population of 5115; the borough (which returns one member to parliament), with an area of 8467 acres, had 6936. Of the early occupation of the site of Cockermouth conclusive evidence is atl orded by the relics discovered from time to time ; directly north of the town is a tumulus called Toot s Hill ; and at Pap Castle, about half a mile to the north-west, are the remains of a Roman camp. The barony or honour of Cockermouth was held shortly after the Conquest by Waltheof, lord of Allerdale, and has since passed through a long series of possessors, including the Umfravilles, Multens, Lucies, Percies, and Nevilles, down to the present Lord Leconfield. The town was captured in 1387 by the Scotch under Douglas; and in 1648 the castle, garrisoned for king Charles, was taken and dismantled by the Parliamentarians. Wordsworth the poet was born at Cocksrmouth in 1770 ; and Tickell, the friend of Addison, at the village of Bridekirk, about two miles to the north.  {{ti|1em|{{larger|COCKLE}} (Cardium}, a genus of Acephalous Mollusks belonging to the family Cardiadce, and comprising about 200 species, nearly a third of which are said to occur in the Indian Ocean, while only a few, but these exceedingly abundant in individuals, and widely distributed, are found in northern and temperate latitudes. The shells of cockles are highly convex, and almost invariably show a ridge-and- furrow sculpture, the ridges or ribs being often spiny, and the valves locking closely together. The animal inhabiting the shell is provided with a large, fleshy, and highly elastic foot, by means of which it can rapidly bury itself in the soft muddy sand which it frequents, reappear ing above the surface with equal facility. In performing those leaps, for which it is remarkable, &quot; the long taper foot,&quot; says Gosse, &quot; is thrust to its utmost, and feels about for some resisting surface, a stone for instance, which it no sooner feels than the hooked point is pressed stiffly against it, the whole foot, by muscular contraction, is made suddenly rigid, and the entire creature mantle, siphons, foot, shell, and all is jerked away in an uncouth manner.&quot; Many of the species are of considerable value as articles of food, especially the Common Cockle (Cardium edule), gregarious everywhere in the sandy bays and estuaries around the British coast, from low-water mark to a few fathoms deep, and extending from Iceland to the Canaries, and as far east as the Caspian and Aral Seas, where it occurs in one of its varieties. The shell of the cockle is liable to considerable variation, getting thinner and more elongated posteriorly in sheltered situations and in muddy ground, more convex and thicker when exposed to rougher conditions. They vary also in size from 1 inch to 2J inches in breadth. They occur in great abundance on several parts of the British coast, and in many places cockle-gathering gives employment to large numbers of people ; thus at Penclawdd in Glamorganshire, the women and children are regularly employed in gathering and preparing cockles, which they afterwards dispose of in the Swansea market. At Starcross they have &quot; cockle-gardens,&quot; where those mollusks are reared, and these are said to possess a better flavour than the ordinary cockle. Some species or other of Cardium is used for food by the maritime populations of almost every country in the world, and the dietetic value of these mollusks appears to have been equally appreciated in prehistoric times, as the shell-mounds or kjökkenmöddings of many countries abundantly testify. As cockle shells contain about 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime, they are calcined and used instead of common lime where the latter cannot readily be obtained.}}  {{ti|1em|{{larger|COCKROACH}} (Blattidce), a family of Orthopterous Insects, distinguished by their flattened bodies, long thread-like antenna), and shining leathery integuments. Cockroaches are nocturnal creatures, secreting themselves in chinks and crevices about houses, issuing from their retreats when the lights are extinguished, and moving about with extraordinary rapidity in search of food. They are voracious and omnivorous, devouring, or at least damaging, whatever comes in their way, for all tbe species emit a disagreeable odour, which they communicate to whatever article of food or clothing they may touch. The Common Cockroach (Blatta oritntalis) is not indigenous to Europe, but is believed to have been introduced from the Levant in the cargoes of trading vessels. The wings in the male are shorter than the body ; in the female they are rudimentary. The eggs, which are 16 in number, are deposited in a leathery capsule fixed by a gum-like sub stance to the abdomen of the female, and thus carried about till the young are ready to escape, when the capsule becomes softened by the emission of a fluid substance. The larvae are perfectly white at first, although in other respects not unlike their parents, but they are not mature insects until after the sixth casting of the skin. The American Cockroach (Blatta arnericana) is larger than the former, and is not uncommon in European seaports trading with America, being conve} r ed in cargoes of grain and other food produce. The largest known species is the Drummer of the West Indies (Blatta gigantea], so called from the tapping noise it makes on wood, sufficient, when joined in by several individuals, as usually happens, to break the slumbers of a household. It is about 2 inches long, with wings 3 inches in expanse, and forms one of the most noisome and injurious of insect pests. The best mode of destroying cockroaches is, when the fire and lights are extinguished at night, to lay some treacle on a piece of wood afloat on a broad basin of water. This proves a temptation to the vermin too great to be resisted. The chinks and holes from which they issue should also be filled up with unslaked lime, and some may be scattered on the ground.}}  COCLES,, a Roman hero, who, with Spurius Lartius and Titus Herminius as sole companions, defended the Sublician bridge against Lars Porsena and the whole army of the Etruscans. While the three heroes kept back the enemy the Romans cut down the bridge behind. When it was almost ready to fall his comrades retreated, but Horatius waited till the work was complete, and Rome was saved. Then, despite the arrows of the enemy, he swam in safety to the opposite shore. A statue was erected in his honour, and he received as much land as he could plough round in a single day. According to another story, Horatius w r as alone in his heroism, and gave his life for his country. The former version is adopted by Lord Macaulay in his Lays of Ancient Home.  COCOA, or more properly, is a valuable dietary substance yielded by the seeds of several small trees belonging to the genus Theobroma, of the natural order Sterculiacew. The w : hole genus, which comprises nine or ten species, belongs to the tropical parts of the American continent; and although the cocoa of commerce is probably the produce of more than one species, by far the greatest and most valuable portion is obtained from the TJnobroma Cacao of Linnaeus. The generic name is derived from $o s (god) and j3pw/j.a (food), and was bestowed by Linnaeus as an indication of the high appreciation in which he held the beverage prepared from the seeds, which he considered to be a food fit for the gods. The common cocoa tree is of low stature, seldom exceed ing 16 or 18 feet in height, but it is taller in its native forests than it is in cultivated plantations. The leaves are large, smooth, and glossy, elliptic-oblong and acuminate in form, growing principally at the ends of branches, but sometimes springing directly from the main trunk. The flowers are small, and occur in numerous clusters on the 