ICHNOLOGY 111 ICONOCLAST ears, and short legs. The species, which are pretty numerous, are natives of Africa and the warmer parts of Asia. One, the Andalusian ichneumon {Her- pestes ichneumon), occurs in the S. of Spain. They feed on small quadrupeds, reptiles, eggs, and insects. Some of them, particularly the Egyptian ichneu- mon and the mangouste, mongoose, or mungoose of India, have been greatly celebrated as destroyers of serpents. The Egyptian ichneumon, the ichneu- mon of the ancients, is larger than a cat, gray, with black paws and muzzle. It was a sacred animal among the an- cient Egyptians. The ichneumon is easily domesticated, and is useful in keeping houses free from rats and other vermin. ICHNOLOGY, the name applied to the modern science of fossil foot-prints, or other impressions on rocks. ICHTHELIDiE (ik-thel a-de) , the sun- fishes of Jordan, a family of Acanthop- teri. They are percoid fishes with a single dorsal fin, either continuous or deeply divided, with 8 to 12 spines; anal fin large with 3 to 9 spines; body oljlong, more or less elevated, sometimes much compressed. Colors usually brilliant, chiefly olive-green, with spots or shades of blue, yellow, orange, or violet. Fresh- water carnivorous fishes, many of which build nests which they defend with great courage. Genera about 15, species 40, all of the United States; most abundant in the Mississippi valley. Sub-families, Micropterinse, Centrarchinse, and Ichthe- linx. ICHTHYOL, a medicine prescribed for its effect upon the alimentary canal and the general system. Its basis is a bituminous mineral rich in fish fossils. ICHTHYOLOGY (ik-the-ol'6-je) , the science which treats of fishes. See Fish. ICHTH YOPSID A ( ik-the-op'se-da ) , one of the three great primary divisions of the V ertehrata (the others being Sa?t- ropsida and Mammalia), comprising the fishes and amphibia. ICHTHYOPHAGY, the practice or habit of eating fish; fish diet. ICHTH YORNIS (ik-the-or'nis) , a fos- sil genus of carnivorous and probably aquatic birds, one of the earliest known American forms. It is so named from the character of the vertebrae, which, even in the cervical region, have their articular faces biconcave as in fishes. It is also characterized by having teeth set in distinct sockets. ICHTHYOSAURUS ( ik-the-o-sou'ros ) , an extinct fish-lizard; the typical genus of the order Ichthyosauria. It consists of gigantic fossil marine reptiles, with jaws which show them to have been car- nivorous. Their vertebrae were fishlike, their paddles like those of a porpoise or a whale, and their long powerful tail a propeller which enable them to dart with great rapidity through the water. The genus extended from the Trias of Ger- many to the White Chalk of England. ICICA (i'se-ka), a genus of Amyrids, family Burseridse. It consists chiefly of tall trees with balsamic or resinous juice, unequally pinnate or ternate leaves, and racemes or heads of small whitish or greenish flowers. About 20 species are known, found mostly in the warmer parts of America. Idea giiianensis fur- nishes incense-wood; /. icicariba, part of the American elemi; /. carana, the American balm of Gilead; /. aracouchini, the balsam of acouchi; /, amhrosiaca, the resin of coumia; and /. altissima, the curana, samaria, acuyari, mara, or ced- arwood of Guiana. ICONIUM (e-ko'ne-um) , an ancient town of Asia Minor, on the W. edge of the plateau that skirts the N. slopes of the Taurus Mountains. The capital under the Romans of Lycaonia, it was three times visited by St. Paul, who founded there a Christian Church. In 708 it fell into the hands of the Arab conquerors. Its prosperity culminated in the end of the 11th century, when it was made the capital of the Seljuk empire. In 1190 Frederick Barbarossa defeated the Turks in the neighborhood, and captured Iconium. In 1832 Ibrahim Pasha defeated the Turks there. The modern town, called Konia, the capital of the Turkish vilayet of the same name, is a place of some 30,000 inhabitants, who live by commerce, by making stock- ings and gloves, and on the contributions of the numerous pilgrims who visit the holy places of the tovn. Here is the principal monastery of the Mevlevi or "dancing" dervishes in the Ottoman em- pire. ICONOCLAST (i-kon'o-klast), a breaker or destroyer of images; a title applied to two of the Byzantine emper- ors, Leo the Isaurian, and his son Con- stantine Capronymus. who during their reigns, which extended from 726 to 795, persevered in overthrowing the images in the Christian churches, and in extirpat- ing their worship. The 338 bishops, also, who attended a council at Constan- tinople in the reign of the latter prince, and declared themselves in favor of his
