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Plate 1.

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Fi. Antelope strapsicros: striped antelope Fig.2.A Oreas: Indian Antelope Figs White Antelope.
Fig.4.A.6nu-Fig.5.Chevrotain Fig.6. Meminna.

London Published by Looman Hurst Rees & Orme April 11808.

throat to the breast, are some long hairs hanging down; the breast and belly are grey; the tail is two feet long, brown above, white beneath, and black at the end.

The Gnu, the Hottentot name for a singular animal, which, with respect to its form, is between the horse and the ox.-It is about the size of a common galloway, the length of it being somewhat above five feet, and the height rather more than four. This animal is of a dark-brown colour; the tail and mane of a light grey; the shag on the chin and breast, and the stiff hairs which stand erect on the forehead and upper part of the face, are black; the curvature of the horns is singular; and the animal is represented in the figure in the attitude of butting, to give an idea of their form and position. The legs of the gnu are small; its hair is very fine; and it has a cavity beneath each eye, like most of the antelope kind.

The Chevrotain and Meminna.-The Chevrotain, or little Guinea Deer, is the smallest of all the antelope kind, the least of all cloven-footed quadrupeds, and we may add, the most beautiful. Its legs at the smallest part are not much thicker than a tobacco-pipe; it is not more than seven inches in height, and about twelve from the point of the nose to the insertion of the tail; its ears are broad; and its horns, which are straight, and scarcely two inches long, are black and shining as jet; the colour of the hair is a reddish brown; in some a beautiful yellow, very short and glossy. These elegant little creatures are natives of Senegal and the hottest parts of Africa; they are likewise found in India, and in many of the islands belonging to that vast continent. In Ceylon, there is an animal of this kind called Meminna, which is not larger than a hare, but perfectly resembling a fallow-deer. It is of a grey colour; the sides and haunches are spotted and barred with white; its ears are long and open; and its tail short. None of these small animals can subsist but in a warm climate. They are so extremely delicate, that it is with the utmost difficulty they can be brought alive into Europe, where they soon perish. They are gentle, familiar, most beautifully formed, and their agility is such, that they will bound over a wall twelve feet high. In Gujnca, they are called Guevei. The female has no horns.

The Springer Antelope,-is an elegant species, weighs about fifty pounds, and is rather less than a roe-buck: inhabits the Cape of Good Hope; called there the Spring bock,

from the prodigious leaps it takes on the sight of anybody. When alarmed, it has the power of expanding the white space about the tail into the form of a circle, which returns to its linear form when the animal is tranquil. They migrate annually from the interior parts in small herds, and continue in the neighbourhood of the Cape for two or three months; then join companies, and go off in troops consisting of many thousands, covering the great plains for several hours in their passage: are attended in their migrations by numbers of lions, hyænas, and other wild beasts, which make great destruction among them: are excellent eating, and, with other antelopes, are the venison of the Cape. Mr. Masson informs us, that they also make periodical migrations, in seven or eight years, in herds of many hundred thousands, from the north, as he supposes, from the interior parts of Terra de Natal. They are compelled to it by the excessive drought which happens in that region, when sometimes there does not fall a drop of rain for two or three years. These animals, in their course, desolate Caffraria, spreading over the whole country, and not leaving a blade of grass. Lions attend them: where one of those beasts of prey are, the place is known by the vast void visible in the midst of the timorous herd. On its approach to the Cape, it is observed that the avant guard is very fat, the centre less so, and the rear guard almost starved, being reduced to live on the roots of the plants devoured by those which went before; but on their return they become the avant guard, and thrive in their turn on the renewed vegetation; while the former, now changed into the rear guard, are famished, by being compelled to take up with the leavings of the others. These animals are quite fearless, when assembled in such mighty armies, nor can a man pass through unless he compels them to give way with a whip or stick. When taken young, they are easily domesticated: the males are very wanton, and are apt to butt at strangers with their horns. The expan sile white part on the end of the back of this animal is a highly singular circumstance. It is formed by a duplicature of the skin in that part, the inside and edges being milkwhite; when the animal is at rest, the edges. alone appear, resembling a white stripe, but when alarmed, or in motion, the cavity, or white intermediate space, appears in form of a large oval patch of that colour.

The Scythian Antelope, or Saiga,—which is the only one of the species that is to be

found in Europe. The form of its body resembles the domestic goat, but its horns are those of an antelope, being marked by very prominent rings, with furrows between; they are a foot long, the ends smooth, of a pale-yellow colour, almost transparent. The male is covered with rough hair, like the he-goat, and has a strong scent; the female is smoother, hornless, and timid. The general colour is a dirty white. When they are attacked by wolves or dogs, the males stand round the females, forming a circle, with their heads towards the enemy, in which posture they defend their charge. Their common pace is a trot, when they go faster, it is by leaps; and are swifter than roe-bucks. When they feed, they are obliged to go backward, owing to the length of the upper lip, which they lift up. Their skin is soft, and excellent for gloves, belts, &c. They are found in flocks from six to ten thousand, on the banks of the Tanais and Boristhenes. The young are easily tamed, and will readily return to their master, when turned out on the desert.

The Nilgan, or White-footed Antelope, is a large and beautiful species, known only within the space of a few years past. Its height is four feet one inch to the top of the shoulders, and its length, from the bottom of the neck to the base of the tail, four feet. The colour of the nilgau is a fine dark-grey or slate-colour, with a large spot of white beneath the throat, and two white bands or marks above each foot: the ears are large, white within, and edged with the same colour, and marked internally by two black stripes along the top of the neck runs a slight mane of black hair, which is continued to some distance down the back, and on the breast is a much longer mane or hanging tuft of a similar colour: the tail is moderately long, and terminated by a tuft of black hair: the horns are short, pointed, smooth, triangular at their base, distant from each other, bent very slightly forwards, and of a blackish colour. The female resembles the male in general appearance, but is considerably smaller, of a pale brown colour, and is destitute of horns: the mane, pectoral tuft, and ears, resemble those of the male, and the feet are marked above the hoofs by three transverse bars of black and two of white. The nilgau is a native of the interior parts of India. According to Mr. Pennant, it abounded in the days of Aurengzebe between Delli and Lahor, on the way to Cashmire, and was called nyl

gau, or the blue or grey bull. It was one of the objects of the chace with that mighty monarch during his journey: they were inclosed by his army of hunters within nets, which being drawn closer and closer, at length formed a small precinct, into which the king and his omrahs and hunters entered, and killed the nilgaus with arrows, spears, and musquets; and that sometimes in such numbers, that Aurengzebe used to send quarters as presents to all his great people. The nilgau has of late years been often imported into Europe, and has bred in England. In confinement, it is generally pretty gentle, but is sometimes seized with fits of sudden caprice, when it will attack with great violence the objects of its displeasure. When the males fight, they drop on their knees at some distance from each other, and gradually advance in that attitude, and at length make a spring at each other with their heads bent low. This action, however, is not peculiar to the nilgau, but is observed in many others of the antelope tribe. The nilgau is said to go with young about nine months, and to produce sometimes two at a birth: the young is of the colour of a fawn.

Antelope Leucoryx, or White Antelope,is entirely milk-white, except the markings on the face and limbs. It is an inhabitant of an island in the Gulf of Bassora. See Plate Mammalia, fig. 1—6.

ANTHEM, a church-song performed in cathedral service by choristers, who sing alternately. It was formerly used to denote both psalms and hymns, when sung in this manner. But at present, anthem is used in a more confined sense, being applied to certain passages taken out of the scriptures, and adapted to a particular solemnity.

ANTHEMIS, in botany, chamomile, a genus of the Syngenesia Superflua class and order. Receptacle chaffy; seeds generally crowned with a slight border; calyx hemispherical, nearly equal; florets of the ray more than five, oblong. There are two divisions of this genus, namely A. with a differently coloured or white ray; and B. ray the colour of the disk or yellow; there are about forty species.

ANTHERÆ, among botanists, denote the little roundish or oblong bodies, on the tops of the stamina of plants.

The anthera is the principal part of the male organ of generation in plants, answering to the glans penis in animals. It is tumid and hollow, containing a fine pow der, called farina fœcundaus.

ANTHERICUM, in botany, a genus of plants of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Cor. six-petalled, spreading, permanent; filaments uniform; capsule superior; seeds angular. There are three divisions. A. leaves channelled; filaments mostly beardless: B. leaves fleshy; filaments bearded: C. stamina dilated in the middle; root bulbous. There are between 50 and 60 species.

ANTHERYLIUM, a genus of the Icosandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx inferior, four-parted; petals four; capsule one-celled, three-valved, many-seeded. There is but a single species, a tree found at St. Thomas's Island.

ANTHISTERIA, in botany, a genus of the Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Hermaphrodite; florets sessile, male florets pedicelled; calyx four-valved, three or fourflowered, coriaceous: corol, glume twovalved, awnless; filaments three; styles two; stigmata clavate; seed one. There is but a single species.

ANTHOCEROS, a genus of the Cryptogamia Hepaticæ. Male; six parted or entire; antheræ three to eight, obovate, in the bottom of the calyx. Female; calyx sessile, cylindrical and entire. There are four species.

ANTHOLOMA, in botany, a genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx two to four-leaved; cor. cup-shaped; many seeded. There is but a single species, a shrub found in Caledonia.

ANTHOLYZA, in botany, a genus of the Triandria Monogynia class and order. Corol. tubular, six-cleft, unequal, recurved; capsule inferior. There are six species, all found at the Cape.

ANTHOSPERMUM, in botany, the amber tree, a genus of plants belonging to the Tetrandia class and order. It is male and female, in different plants, and some are hermaphrodites. The androgynous flower is of one leaf, with two pistils and four stamina, with the germen below the flower. The male flowers are the same with these, wanting only the pistils and germen. The female flowers have the pistils and germen, but want the stamina. There are three species.

ANTHOXANTHUM, in botany, a genus of the Diandria Digynia class and order. Gen. char. calyx, glume two-valved, one-flowered; corol, glume two-valved, pointed, awned; seed one. There are four species.

ANTHREMIS, in natural history, a

genus of insects of the order Coleoptera. Essen. char. antennæ clavate, the club solid; feelers unequal, filiform; jaws membranaceous, linear, bifid; lip entire; head hidden under the thorax. There are 13 species.

ANTHROPOMORPHA, in the Linnæan system of zoology, a class of animals, resembling in some degree the human form ; the distinguishing characteristic of which is, that all the animals comprehended in it have four fore teeth in each jaw, and the teats are situated on the breast. Besides the human species, which stands at the head of this class, it likewise comprehends the monkey and sloath kinds.

ANTHYLLIS, the bladder lotus, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class of plants, the corolla whereof is papilionaceous; the fruit is a small roundish legume, composed of two valves, and containing one or two seeds. This genus is separated into the A. herbaceous and B. shrubby; there are of the former 12 species, of the latter nine.

ANTICHORUS, in botany, a genus of the Octandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx four-leaved; petals four; capsule superior, subulate, four-celled, four-valved; seeds numerous. There is only one species, found in Arabia.

ANTIDESMA, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Pentandria class of plants, the calyx of which is a perianthium, consisting of five oblong concave leaves; there is no corolla; the fruit is a cylindric berry, containing one cell; in which is lodged a single seed. There are three species found in the East Indies and China.

ANTIMONY, in mineralogy, one of the metals that is brittle and easily fused. No metal has attracted so much of the attention of physicians as antimony. One party has extolled it as an infallible specific for every disease: while another decried it as a most virulent poison, which ought to be expunged from the list of medicines. Antimony, as it occurs under that name in the shops, is a natural compound of the metal with 'sulphur. To obtain it in a metallic state, the native sulphuret is to be mixed with twothirds its weight of acidulous tartrite of potash, (in the state of crude tartar,) and one-third of nitrate of potash deprived of its water of crystallization. The mixture must be projected by spoonfuls, into a redhot crucible; and the detonated mass poured into an iron mould greased with a little fat. The antimony, on account of

its specific gravity, will be found at the bottom adhering to the scoriæ, from which it may be separated by the hammer. Or three parts of the sulphuret may be fused in a covered crucible, with one of iron filings. The sulphur quits the antimony, and combines with the iron. Antimony in its metallic state (sometimes called regulus of antimony) is of a silvery white colour, very brittle, and of a plated or scaley texture. It is fused by a moderate heat; and crystallizes, on cooling, in the form of pyramids. In close vessels it may be volatilized, and collected unchanged. It undergoes little change when exposed to the atmosphere at its ordinary temperature; but when fused, with the access of air, it emits white fumes, consisting of an oxide of the metal. This oxide had formerly the name of flowers of antimony. Antimony combines with phosphorus and sulphur. With the latter, an artificial sulphuret is formed, exactly resembling the native compound, which last may be employed, on account of its cheapness, for exhibiting the properties of this combination of antimony. Antimony is dissolved by most of the acids. Sulphuric acid is decomposed; sulphurous acid being disengaged, and an oxide formed, of which a small proportion only is dissolved by the remaining acid. Nitric acid dissolves this metal with great vehemence; muriatic acid acts on it by long digestion; but the most convenient solvent is the nitro-muriatic acid, which, with the aid of heat, dissolves it from the native sulphuret. With oxyge nized muriatic acid, it forms a compound of a thick consistence, formerly called butter of antimony. This may be formed, by exposing black sulphuret of antimony to the fumes of oxygenized muriatic acid, and subsequent distillation; or by distilling the powdered regulus with twice its weight of corrosive muriate of mercury. The metal becomes highly oxydized, and unites with muriatic acid in its simple state. On pour ing this compound into water, a white oxide falls down, called powder of algaroth. Antimony is susceptible of various states of oxydizement. The first oxide may be obtained by washing algaroth powder with a little caustic potash. It is composed of 18 oxygen, and 814 metal. That formed by the action of nitric acid on antimony, contains 77 metal, and 23 oxygen. See ORES, analysis of.

ANTINOMIANS, in church history, a sect of Christians, who reject the moral law as a rule of conduct to believers, disown

personal and progressive sanctification, and hold it to be inconsistent for a believer to pray for the forgiveness of sins. Although these principles will, by some, be thought to lead to mischievous consequences and practice, yet there are, unquestionably, worthy men and virtuous Christians, who avow Antinomian tenets. To the young, the giddy, and the thoughtless, such sentiments might, if acted upon, be the source of much evil; but these like the doctrine of necessity, are rarely believed but by persons who have already attained to virtuous habits.

ANTIPATHES, in natural history, a genus of worms of the order Zoophyta. Animal growing in the form of a plant: stem expanded at the base, internally horny, beset with small spines, externally covered with a gelatinous flesh, beset with numerous polype-bearing tubercles. There are 13 species. A. spiralis, inhabits the Indian, Mediterranean, and North seas; of a hard, horny, black, substance, exceedingly brittle, very long, and variously twisted, about the size of a writing pen. A. alopecuroides, with spinous setaceous closely panicled branches; inhabits South Carolina; about two feet high, and rises from a broad spread base, dividing into several large branches, flat on one side, with a groove along the middle; it then subdivides into smaller branches, forming close panicles, not unlike the fox tail grass: the outside greyish, the inside black and very brittle.

ANTIPODES, in geography, a name given to those inhabitants of the globe that live diametrically opposite to one another. They lie under opposite parallels, and opposite meridians. They have the same elevation of their different poles. It is midnight with the one, when it is noon-day with the other; the longest day with one is the shortest with the other; and the length of the day with the one is equal to the night of the other. See GLOBES, use of.

ANTIQUARY, a person who studies and searches after monuments and remains of antiquity.

There were formerly, in the chief cities of Greece and Italy, persons of distinction called antiquaries, who made it their business to explain the ancient inscriptions, and give every other assistance in their power to strangers who were lovers of that kind of learning. Foundations of this kind have existed in England. Sir H. Spelman speaks of a society of antiquaries in his time, which had been instituted in 1572, by Archbishop

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