OPH
O P H
OPHICARDKLON, in natural hiftory, the name of a gem mentioned by Pliny, which, lie fays, was a black ftone covered at top and bottom with white ; this feems, without all doubt, to have been the camea of our jewellers.
QPHIDION, in ichthyology, the name of a fifli of the eel kind, and refembling the common eel, and conger, in fhapc, but that it is fliortcr in proportion to its thicknefs, and mnrc flatted, and of a paler colour. It feldom exceeds eight inches in length, and the back is grey, and the fides of a bright filvcr colour. It is cloathed with fmall fcalcs, whsch are long and narrow, and are not placed like tile3 hanging oyer one another, as in other fifties, but only fcattered here and there, and laid in no order. The mouth is large, and the jaws arc furnifhed with very fmall teeth, and, hef.de thefe,withthree fmall eminences fet with the like teeth ; the one on the r.oof of the palate, the others lower on each fide. The eyes are large, and it has one pair of fins near the gills. It is a very delicate fifli, and h caught in great plenty in the Mediterranean, and fold at Venice, and other places. JVillughbys Hill. Pifc. p. \\2. A'.drov. 1. 3. 26. Gefner, p. 104.
The name opb'ulion is given by Artedi to a genus of fillies, the characters of which are thefe: they are of the mala- copterygious, or foft- finned kind ; the body is oblong, and of a cylindric figure, and has' three fins. The fpecies of this genus arc properly only two, diitinguiflied by the cir- ri, or beards. The firft is the ophidian with four cirri growing from the lower jaw : this is the ophidim of au- thors. The fecond is the ophidian without cirri : this is found in the Baltic. Artedi, Gen. Pifc. 20. OPHJOBORUS, in natural hiilory, a name given by the an- tients to a fpecies of carnivorous fly, which feeds on the bo- dies of beetles, or other flies, or on the flefh of dead ferpents. Its wings arc of the colour of polilhed hrafs, whence it was alfo called by the Greeks chakomaca, the brafs fly. OPHIOGLOSSUM, adder's tongue, m botany, a genus of plants, no part of the fructification of which is vifible, except the fruit. This is an oblong, double, or diftichous capfule, di- vided by a great number of tranfverfe articulations, into ma- ny cells, each of which, when mature, opens tranfverfely, and is found to contain a great number of fmall feeds of a fubovate figure.
Cafpar Bauhine defcribes what he calls three fpecies of this plant. 1. The common opbioglojfum, with a finglc leaf, of an ovated figure, having no vifible nerve3, or veins in it, very thick and flefhy, and of a beautiful bright green. This fpecies is a native of England, and common in deep paftures. 2. The angular-leaved ophioghjjimi. And, 3. The roundifli- leaved ophioglojfum. Mentzal defcribes three fpecies alfo befide the common one -, but all thefe are only varieties of the common tphkglojfum, the capfule or fpike of which is often bifid, and the leaves vary greatly in length and breadth. AH Europe, fo far as yet known, affords only one fpecies of opbiogbjjum ; but, in America, arc found two diftindt fpecies, befide the common European fort. 1. The reticulated, heart- fhaped-lcaved, aphiagl-JJ'um. And, 2. The palmated ophio- ghjjian.
Tournefort makes eight fpecies of ophkgUffiim, which are only the varieties of the common European kind, mentioned above. Vid. fill's Hut. Plant p. 134, feq; This is a fpring plant, and is only to be found in April, and May. It is not uncommon in wet meadows, and is ealily diftinguifhed among the other fpring plants by its fpike, or tongue.
It is cfteemed one of the beft vulnerary herbs this nation pro- duces ; but it is more in ufe among the common people than in the (hops. They gives its juice internally, and ufe the herb bruiled, or an ointment prepared from it, with lard, or May butter externally at the fame time. Dale's Pharmac, OPHIOMANCY, '0$t*pxi{tm, in antiquity, the art of making predictions from ferpents. Thus Calchas, on feeing a fer- pent devour eight fparrovvs with their dam, foretold the du- ration of the fiege of Troy. And the feven quoils of a fer- pent that was feen on Anchifes's tomb, were interpeted to mean the feven years that ./Eneas wandered from place to place before he arrived in Latium. Thus, Virgil. Mn. 1. 5.
v. 85.
Septem enim gyros, fePtena •volumma traxif. The word is Greek, compounded of lty%, a ferpent, and ^a&ta, divination. Hofm. Lex. in voc.
OPHIOMORPH1TES, in natural hiftory, the name given by fome authors to the fofiils called more ufually armm ammo- nis ; which are compofed of feveral wreaths, rolled in a fpiral form over one another, and refemble a fnake when rolled up. Thefe are found of prodigious fizes, fome not lefs than the fore-wheel of a chariot. They are evidently formed from fome fea-fhell, the flielly matter remaining on fome of them, and all being compofed of feveral cells, communicating with one another by means of a fi phunculus, in the manner of thofe of the nautilus. See Cornu ammonis.
OPHIOPHAGI, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome to the eagle vidture, and fome other birds of prey which are fometimes feen to feed on ferpents. Pliny gives the name ophiapbagi to a certain people of Ethi-
opia, whom he defcribes as very barbarous and favage, going, always naked, and feeding on ferpents, whence the appella tion. Solinus, who generally copies Pliny, but imperfectly, has perverted his meaning ftrangely in this paflage, having placed the cpbiopbagi In Arabia Felix, inftead of ./Ethiopia.
OPHITES, the ferpentine marble, in the natural hiftory of the antients, a name given to fuch of the marbles as had their va- riegations not in form of veins, but of fmall fpots ufually of an oblong figure, and thence imitating in fome degree, fpots on the back of a ferpent.
The antients knew three fpecies of this kind, which they called the black, the white, and the grey ophites, and this laff, alfo frequently tepbria ; and allowing thefe fpotted variega- tions to be the characters of an ophites, we have, befide thefe, two others known at this time.
As to the ophites of the antients, the uncertain accounts they have given us of them have been the occafion of many un- lucky miftakes, about what they meant by the names. Some have imagined that they meant a black, others a white mar- ble. A more accurate furvey of their works together, will fliew, however, that they, in reality, were very diftinct in their meaning, though they feem obfeure, becaufc fhort ; but they ever diitinguiflied between their three ophites ; and it is plain from them, that the black and white ophite, as they call them, were both marbles whofe ground was green, and only were diitinguiflied by their variegations, and their dif- ferent degrees of hardnefs ; and what they mean by the black and white, was only the black fpotted, and the white fpotted ophites. Hill's Hilt, of Foil. p. 483.
Black Ophites is a very beautiful, and confiderably hard marble, of a very fine green, aad elegantly variegated with fmall black fpots and irregular lines, and fometimes with an admixture alfo of white ones. Thefe are frequent- ly feen together in the fame block, and make a fort of white fpotted, and black fpotted kinds ; but the difti nations of the antients were not founded only on thefe, but on the cflential character, the hardnefs of the ltone, the white kind being greatly fofcer, as we find by all their accounts. The antients found this fpecies in ./Egypt, and knew of
- it in no other place. We have it now in many parts of
the world: the defarts of Arabia abound with it ; it is com- mon in the iflands of the Archipelago ; and has often been found in Wales. Hill's Hilt, of Foil: p. 484.
White Ophites is alfo a very beautifully variegated mafs, of a fine and even texture, moderately heavy, and, when pure, is of a very elegant pale green, not unlike that of the ma- lachites, and elegantly variegated with fpots, clouds, and lines, of a fine deep black, an extremely pale green, and often with very large variegations of pure white. It is ve- ry foft, and eafily fcratched, even with a pin, but is ca- pable of a good polifh, and looks very beautiful and bright, when wrought.
The antients had it in great repute; it cut eafily, and without much trouble, was made into elegant vellels for their tables; and in Germany, it is ftill in common ufe on the fame occafions, and is by fome recommended as a medicine againft venemous bites. The antient writers have well diitinguiflied this from the black kind, not by its whiter fpots, which were common to both, though more frequent and numerous in this, but by its foftnefs. They had it on- ly from /Egypt, hut wc find it in France, Italy, Germany, and fome other places.
Grey Ophites, called alfo tephria, was not, like the other fpecies, diftinguifhed by its fpots, but by its ground colour, which is a very lively and beautiful afh-colour, or pale grey. It is a very fine, even, and fmooth marble, and is variegated with a multitude of black fpots of irregular figures ; but, jn general, all much of the fame fize, and that not exceeding the fixth part of an inch in length : it is con- fiderably hard, and takes an elegant polifh. The antients had this with their bafaltes from ./Ethiopia. iEeypt alfo af- forded it, and does fo to this day : in Germany alio we find it in Urge quantities. It has been celebrated from the earlieit times for its virtues againit venomous bites, and is in many parts of the world worn as an amulet, to this day. The othertwo ophitcv, which feem not to have been known to the antients, are 1. A greyilh brown one, with green fpots. The ground of this is of a dufky aih-coloured brown, and the fpots are of a lively and beautiful green, ufually fmall, and of an oblong figure ; and the whole is very hard, of an event flructure, and capable of a fine polifh. It is frequent in JE- gypt, and Arabia, and is faid to have been dug in England. The 2. is a pale grey one, with green fpots and veins. This is a fmooth and fine marble ; its ground is a beautiful pale grey, in fome places fiightly tinged with red, and in others approaching to white. Its ground has all thefe varie- ties in colour, fometimes in the fame, fometimes in different blacks, and it is variegated with a very beautiful pale green, difpofed with not much lefs variety, for it is fometimes in fmall fpots, fometimes in thin uneven veins, and fometimes in thicker. It is very hard, and capable of an elegant polifh. It is frequent in Germany, and tables are made of the iarecr pieces, andvafes of the fmaller ones. It is faid alfo to"be found in England. Hill's Hi£ of Foft". p. 486, feq.
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