Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/829

 PRATO is extensively distributed over the old world ; it is usually seen in flocks which are very noisy ; PRAXITELES 805 Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola). the food consists chiefly of beetles and grass- hoppers. It so resembles the swallows in its forked tail and flight, that it was at first placed among them by Linnaeus ; from its appearance and habits on the ground it is called sea par- tridge by the French. PRATO, a town of Italy, in the province and 10 m. N. W". of the city of Florence, on the Bisenzio, an affluent of the Arno ; pop. about 12,000. It has many squares and churches. The cathedral was enlarged in the 13th century by Giovanni Pisano. It has a campanile, a richly ornamented chapel, and a celebrated pul- pit by Donatello. The collegio Cicognini for- merly belonged to the Jesuits. The palazzo Pretorio, formerly del Popolo, is now a prison. Prato is famous for its bakeries and its red Turkish caps ; and straw plait, silk thread, and coarse woollen cloth are manufactured. It was at one time an independent republic, but was subjected by the Florentines in 1358. PRATT. I. A S. county of Kansas, watered by affluents of the Arkansas river ; area, 900 sq. m. It is not included in the census of 1870. Capital, Prattsville. II. A S. W. county of Dakota, recently formed and not included in the census of 1870 ; area, about 3,000 sq. m. It is intersected by White river, an affluent of the Missouri. It has a rolling surface, consisting mainly of prairies well adapted to grazing. PRATT, Charles. See CAMDEN, EARL. PRAWN, a marine decapod crustacean, of the macrourous division and genus palwmon (Fabr.). About 20 species are described, most- ly small, though some from tropical regions are a foot long; they somewhat resemble the crawfishes in appearance, habits, and move- ments. The carapace is broad, prolonged an- iorly into an acute, laterally flattened ros- im, with eight or nine teeth above and three >r four below, usually extending beyond the iduncles of the antennae ; the eyes large and >rominent ; the first and second pairs of feet minate in two-fingered claws, the second nr the largest and longest ; carpus inarticu- ite ; external jaw-feet short and slender ; ex- srnal antennae very long, with a scale at the se, and sometimes with three threads ; five irs of fin-like fringed feet under the tail, the incipal swimming organs in forward loco-. motion ; tail ending in movable leaflets as in the lobster, by which the animal darts rapidly backward when alarmed. The best known, most common, and most esteemed as food is the serrated prawn (P. serratm, Leach), found on the coasts of England and France, in rocky situations, and in still, clear water, living among the floating seaweeds ; it is about 4 in. long of a bright gray, spotted and lined with darker purplish gray ; it turns red by boiling. It is taken in traps resembling lobster pots, but smaller and with closer meshes, and in bag nets. The flesh is tender, sweet, nutritious and easily digested ; it is generally cooked in vinegar and salt ; on account of the thinness of the shell the whole animal is eaten ; large numbers are consumed, and the London mar- ket is supplied principally from the isle of Wight and the Hampshire coast ; the females in spring, when with eggs, are most highly es- teemed ; they are also used as bait ; they must be cooked very soon, as the flesh decomposes quickly, and with an almost insupportable odor. Very many are devoured by fishes, but their numbers are kept undiminished by their Serrated Prawn (Palsemon serratus). remarkable fecundity. They are rapid swim- mers when alarmed. There are other species in the Mediterranean, the largest of which are salted, and are consumed by the Greeks and Armenians during Lent. The American prawn (P. vulgaris, Say) is much like the P. squilla (Fabr.) of Europe; it is a little larger than the shrimp, about H in. long, and may be known by the large, upturned, toothed rostrum ; the fingers of the second pair of feet are shorter than the hand. PRAXITELES, a Greek sculptor, flourished about the middle of the 4th century B. 0. He ranks at the head of the later Attic school, but nothing is known of his personal history, except that he was a resident of Athens. He was unsurpassed in the exhibition of the softer beauties of the human form. In the Cnidian Venus, his most celebrated work, of Parian marble, the position of the left hand was the same as in the Venus de' Medici; the right band held some drapery which fell over a