Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/47

 PANDECTS PANGOLIN 37 labrum, the chandelier tree, so named on ac- count of its manner of branching. The most useful species, P. utilis, is the vacoa of Mauri- tius, where it grows wild, and is also cultivated to a great extent; its leaves are used in manu- facturing the sacks in which sugar is exported, and in England the empty sacks are converted into fish bags. The flowers of P. odoratissimus Pandanus candelabrum. are exceedingly fragrant, and the tree is culti- vated in Japan for the sake of their perfume. A number of species and varieties are in culti- vation ; their handsome and peculiarly arranged leaves make the plants conspicuous ornaments in a stove house ; the leaves, from 3 to 6 ft. long, are generally gracefully recurved and pendu- lous, with their edges and the midrib upon the back armed with very sharp recurved prickles, which, while they render the plants trouble- some to handle, add much to their beauty, as they are white, brown, or red, and in fine con- trast with the green leaf; in some the leaf is marked with white longitudinal stripes. Small plants of screw pines are used for decorating tables and rooms. PANDECTS. See CIVIL LAW, vol. iv., p. 623. PANDORA (Gr. TTOV, all, and ti&pnv, a gift), in Grecian legends, the first created woman. Ac- cording to Plesiod, Jupiter, angry because Pro- metheus had stolen fire from heaven, ordered Vulciin to make a beautiful virgin, who was dressed by Minerva, adorned with fascinations by Venus and the Graces, and endowed with a deceitful mind by Mercury. She was brought to Epimetherts, who, disregarding the command of his brother not to accept from Jupiter any present whatever, received her while Prome- theus was absent. When admitted among men, she opened a casket enclosing all the evils of mankind, and everything escaped except delu- sive hope. Another version of the story makes Pandora open a casket containing the winged blessings of the gods. In the Orphic poems, Pandora is ranked along with Hecate and the Erinnyes as an infernal divinity. PANEL. See JURY, vol. ix., p. 724. PANGAUM. See GOA, NEW. PANGOLIN, or Scaly Ant-Eater, a burrowing edentate mammal of the old world, whose spe- cies constitute the genus manis (Linn.). These animals have the long pointed snout, toothless mouth, and extensile tongue of the ant-eaters, and the upper parts of the body and the tail armed with scales like the armadillos ; the ex- ternal ears are hardly perceptible; the scales are corneous and imbricated, permitting the body to be rolled up in a ball secure from the teeth of the largest carnivora; the limbs are short and robust, the hind ones the longest; the claws curved and formed for digging; the tail long, thick at the base. The skeleton has no clavicles, the stomach is simple, and the cae- cum is absent. They are found in the warm parts of Africa and Asia, living in holes which they dig in the ground or in the hollows of trees, and feeding upon insects, especially ants, which they capture on their long, round, and viscid tongue ; the gait on the ground is awk- ward, as they walk on the outer side of the feet, with the claws turned in ; they are harm- less, though they display great strength and activity in tearing to pieces the hills of termites and ants. The largest species is the short-tailed pangolin (M, pentadactyla, Linn.), 3 or 4 ft. long, with five toes, and the thick tail about as long as the head and trunk ; it is found in India and Ceylon; the scales are deep brown Short-tailed Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). in the adult animal, and hard enough to turn a musket ball. The long-tailed pangolin (M. tetradactyla, Linn.), from the coast of Guinea, is four-toed, with a flatter tail nearly twice as long as the rest of the body ; the scales are large, dark-colored, with yellow margin, ar- ranged in 11 rows on the body, and armed with three points at the end ; under parts cov- ered with rough brown hairs; the whole length is between 2 and 3 ft. From their external covering and shape they resemble scaly lizards more than mammals ; both surfaces of the tail