Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/366

 360 LEPIDOSTEUS LEPIDUS head and the lateral line are common to fishes and some batrachians ; the small, circular pupil is black, and the narrow iris golden ; the mouth is firmly closed by the overhanging upper lip, except in front, where the water is admitted to open external nostrils on the middle of the under side of the upper lip ; the lips close be- hind, so that water cannot pass into the mouth under these circumstances except through .the nostrils ; the internal openings of the nostrils are just behind the edge of the closed lips, and through them the animal breathes water in the quiescent state, passing it out at the gill aper- ture in front of the pectorals ; it also intro- duces water to the gills through the widely extended mouth. As if this were not sufficient for respiration, it occasionally rises to the sur- face and takes in air by the open mouth, and swallows it into the sacculated lungs, a few bubbles generally escaping from the gill aper- ture. These internal nostrils were noticed by Bischoff in the L. paradoxa. It thus appears that the lepidosiren, or mud fish, breathes by both gills and lungs, taking in water by the nostrils, and respiring air like batrachians and water like fishes, constituting as near an approach*to an amphibious animal as is known to exist ; it probably .can no more live on air alone than can the menobrancJius or fish lizard of the North American lakes. They are abundant in the rice fields, which are under water for more than half the year ; the natives dig them out of the mud toward the end of the dry season, and consider them a delicacy. The mud co- coons in which they were carried to England had each a small opening at the end where the nose of the animal is placed ; as developed at the crystal palace, they were very thin and 9 in. long when they left the cocoon, but began to feed at once on worms, small frogs, fish, and raw meat, attacking each other with fury, and one at last killing and half devouring an- other ; in three months they attained a length of 18 in. The movements, as in the meno- branchus, are generally sluggish, but they are capable of very rapid motion; the food seems to be detected as much by scent as by sight. While in the cocoons they are in a state of hibernation, the blood being sufficiently puri- fied by the arterial trunks distributed to the air bladders. The color of the L. annectens is a mixed tint of dark olive-green and brown, lighter below, with irregular dark spots as large as the scales chiefly confined to the tail, and the mucous pores and lateral line black. The anus does not open on the median line of the body. With such contradictory opinions as to the position of this animal, possessing characters both of the fish and the batrachian, it would seem to belong to a distinct order (dipnoi), forming one of the most interesting links between the ichthyoid batrachians and the cartilaginous fishes. LEPIDOSTEUS, a ganoid fish. See GAB FISH. LEPIDFS, the cognomen of a distinguished Roman family of the ^Emilian gens, the most illustrious of whom were the following. I. M. Jfriilins, died in 152 B. C. He was one of the three persons sent to Egypt by the Romans in 201 to act as guardians to the infant king Pto- lemy V., was elected pontiff in 199, sedile in 192, praetor in 191, and consul in 187. While consul he reduced the Ligurians, and continued the Via Flaminia from Ariminum to Aquileia. In 180 he became pontifex maximus, in 179 cen- sor, and in 175 a second time consul. He was six times chosen princeps senatus. II. M. lEniilius Porcina, consul in 137 B. p., was sent into Spain to conduct the war against the Numantines ; but instead of doing so, he attacked the Vac- csei, with whom the Romans were at peace, and laid waste their territory. For this aggression he was recalled, deprived of his command, and fined. He was, according to Cicero, the most eloquent orator of his age. III. M. .Emilius, in the civil war between Marius and Sulla, es- poused the cause of the latter, but afterward married the daughter of the tribune Saturni- nus, and deserted to Marius. In 81 B. 0. he was praetor in Sicily, and by his exactions and oppressions rendered himself odious to the in- habitants. In 79 he became a candidate for the consulship, and was elected through the instrumentality of Pompey ; but having failed in an attempt to effect the legal abrogation of Sulla's laws, he retired into Etruria, raised an army, and advanced against Rome. He was encountered by Pompey and Catulus under the walls of the city, and completely defeated (77). IV. M. Emilias, the triumvir, died in 13 B. 0. He was praetor in 49, and on the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey joined the party of the former, who intrusted him with the government of Rome during his ab- sence from Italy. In 48 he received the prov- ince of Hither Spain, where he distinguished himself by his vanity and avarice. In 47 Cassar made him his magister equitum, and the next year his colleague in the consulship. Lepidus was in the vicinity of Rome at the head of a considerable force when the dictator was as- sassinated, and by supporting Antony obtained for himself the office of pontifex maximus. He then repaired to his proconsular provinces be- yond the Alps, and remained there in a state of armed neutrality till Antony fled to him for protection after his defeat at Mutina. The two generals, now uniting their forces, once more entered Italy, and at Bononia, in 43, formed in conjunction with Octavius that celebrated co- alition termed the triumvirate. In this com- bination Lepidus was but a cipher, receiving in the division of the empire only the provinces of Spain and Narbonese Gaul, and remaining in Rome as consul while Antony and Octavius marched against Brutus and Cassius. After the battle of Philippi he was deprived of his prov- inces on an unfounded charge of treasonable conduct, but was to receive Africa on its be- ing disproved ; it was not till two years later (40), however, that he was allowed to proceed thither. In 36, being called to Sicily by Octa-