C A P
It is the leaft beautiful of all the chalcedonies, and is found in large mattes, in the fhape of our common flints and pebbles ; the whole is very opake, and is never variegated with any veins ; it is nearly as hard as the oriental onyx, and takes a very fine polifh. It is very common in the Eaft -Indies, and is fometimes found in Germany and France, but is fe!dom worked into any thing better than knife-hafts. Hill's Hift. of FofT. p. 167. CAPNOIDES, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- racters of which are thefe : the flower wholly refembles that of the fumitory, but the piftil which arifes from the cup finally becomes a long bivalve cylindrical pod containing many round ifh feeds. Town, In ft p 423.
There is only one known fpecies of this genus, which is the plant called by m ny authors the evergreen fumitory. CAPO, in ichthyology, a name given by Paulus Jovius and fome others to the fifh called coccyx by the antient Greeks, cucu'us by the Latin writers, and by fome lyra. It is a fpecies of the trig- la, diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the red trigla, with a bifid fnout, and with the coverings of the gills ftriated. Cai*;> negro, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of duck called mergus cirratus minor, and anas follig>:la prima by Gefner, and querquedula crijiata wx&colymbus byBellonius, in Engl ifh the tufted duck.
Its beak is blucifh, and the upper part of its head of a deep pur- ple, tending to black* and from this there hangs a creft of the fame colour, of an inch and half in length. Its neck, fhoulders and back, are all of a deep dufky colour, nearly approaching to black. Its wings are fliort, and altogether black, except for a little whitenefs, on fome of the longer feathers ; its tail is very fliort, and altogether black ; its throat, and the anterior part of its breaft are fomewhat blackifh, but its belly of a filvery white ; its legs are fliort, and are placed very backward, they are of a blueiih colour. Rays Ornitholog p. 2S0. Capo rojfo, in zoology, the name of a (mail fpecies of fea duck, called by fome ana's f era fufca minor, the fmal! wild brown duck. It is fomething larger than the teal ; its beak is of a dufky blue, its head is very large, and all over of a redifh brown, but has a fmall white fpot at each angle of the mouth. The neck is fhort, as in mod: other birds of this kind, and has a ring of brown round its middle. Its back and wings are brown, but the long feathers have fome whitenefs in them which gives the appearance of a white ftreak to the fides of them when folded. The iris of the eye in this bird, is of a pure white, as milk or ivory, which is a very great Angularity. The tail is very fliort and brown, and the breaft of a redifli brown. Ray's Ornithol. - p. 281.
Thedefcription Bellonius gives of the bird he calls giaucium and moriilon, fo nearly agrees with this, that there is great reafon to fufpecr they are both the fame fpecies of fowl. See Duck. Capo rojjo maggiare, in zoology, the Italian name of a fpecies of duck, for which we have no Englifh one, nor have authors ho- noured it with a Latin one. It is fomewhat larger than the common duck; its beak is of a blood red, and appears very large. Its head is of a beautiful red at the top ; thefe feathers are large, fomewhat elevated above the furface of the reft, fo as to form a fort of very large creft, the neck, breaft, fhoulders, and belly, are all black, and the £ des and under-part of the wings white, with a faint caft of redifhnefs. The long wing feathers are white and grey with black tips. The back is of a colour which yet wants a name, and can he only very imperfectly exprefled by calling it a greyifh red, but the rump is black, the tail is of a greyifh red, and the legs and feet are red, but the membrane of the feet is black. Rays Ornithol p. 279. CAPON, a cock chicken, caftrated young, generally as foon as left by the dam:
The word is formed from the Latin capo, of the Greek Kmrm. which fignify the fame.
Capons, befides their ufe for the table, ferve to lead chickens., ducklings, turkey- pouts, pea-hens, pheafants, or partridges, in lieu of their natural dams, over which they have feveral ad vantages, by the largenefs of their body, which will brood, or cover, thirty or forty young. Trev. bier. Univ. T.i. p.1652. voc chapon. Diet. Ruft. T, 1. in voc. CAPONE, in ichthyology, a name given by the Italians to the fifli called the Urundo and corvus by authors, and by Artedi made a fpecies of the trigla. It is diftinguifhed from the reft of this genus by that author, under the name of the trigla with an aculeated head, and with three appendages on each fide to the pectoral fins. CAPONIERE (Cycl.) — The eapomere differs from the coffer in that the latter poifefles the whole breadth of the ditch, where- as the former only takes up a part of it. Ozan. Dicr.. Math. p. 6oz. DitSt. Milit. in voc. See Coffer, Cycl. Caponieres are partly underground, and partly above it. They are fo well fcreened a-top, that no bomb or carcafs can pene- trate them Wolf. Lex. Math. p. 308. CAPOT, at picquet, is when one of the gamefters wins all the cards, in which cafe he gains forty points, Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1420. CAPPANUS, in natural hiftory, the name given by fome authors to the fea-worm which bores into the bottoms of fliips. See the -TticleSoLEN. Suppl. Vol. I.
CAP
CAPPARIS, capers, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the rofaceous kind, confiftmg ufually of four petals, which are difpofed in a circular form. The piftil arifes from the cup of the flower, and is furnifhed with an embryo which afterwards becomes a pear-fafhioned fruit of a flefhy fubftance, in which are con- tained a number of feeds of a roundiih, or fomewhat kidney- lhaped form. The fpecies of capers enumerated by Mr Tour- nefort are thefe: i. The fmall fruited, round-leaved prickly cappais. 2. The capfaris, with (harp-pointed leaves. 3. The Sicilian capparis with lharp-pointed leaves and double prickles. 4. The larger fruited capparis, without prickles. 5. The bay- eaved American tree capparis, with white flowers, and very long fruit 6. The bay-leaved American capers, with white flowers and roundifh fruit. Tourn. Inft. p. 267. See Caper. CAPPEROL caronde, a name given by the Ceylonefc to a peculiar kind of cinnamon, efteemed the third in value : this has a very ftrong tafte and fmell of camphor, and its name with the na- tives fignifi.es camphorated cinnamon.The tree which produces it grows very plentifully in many parts of the ifland of Borneo, but is not met with in theeaftem parts of it. This is often fold to the Danes and Englifh who come to trade on the coafts ot Coromandel ; it is prohibited exportation from the ifland, but fo long as only one port is open there are people enough who will carry out great quantities of it. There is a fpecies of canella very much refembling this kind of cinnamon tree, which grows very frequently on the conti- nent of India toward Goa, and another canella or wild cinna- mon on the coaft of Malabar, in many things refembles this. The barks of all thefe trees are greatly inferior to the true cin- namon in fmell, tafte, and virtue, yet they are too often fold to the lefs judicious traders in thefe things, either alone or mixed with the feveral better kinds of cinnamon, to the great damage of all that afterwards buy them. Phil. Tranf. N° 409. CAPRA, the goat, in the Linnajan fyftem of zoology, makes a diftinft genus of animals of the order of the pecoraj the diftin- guifhing characters of which from the reft of the animals of that order, are : that its horns are hollow, turned upward, and not fmooth, but annulated on their furface. This genus com- prehends all the goat kind, the gazella, ibex, rupicapra, &c. Liimtri Syftem Natur. p. 42. See Goat. Capra fa/tans {Cycl.) — The copra faltantes are not fo called from their figure, which is various, fometimes round, fome- times long, but from their moving by jerks fomewhat like the leaps of thatanim 1; and from the little languets of fire which hang at, and fometimes fall from them, which antiquity has been pleafed to fancy like the beard or locks of a goat's hair. Ariftotle diftinguifhes the capra from the trabs, in that the lat- ter proceeds with an uniform motion, the former with an ir- regular one, and as it were by jumps. Arift. lileteof. 1 1 c c Mem. Acad Infer. T 6. p. 95.
The ,-apra feem to be very low, yet fometimes fly fo high, that meteorologifts have placed them in the upper region, though net fo conftantly, but they are fometimes alio found in the mid- dle region.
Of globular capra we have divers inftanees, in antient as well as modern naturalifts. Such was the flame faid by Seneca to have been feen in form of a huge ball, about the bienefs of the moon, when Paulus JJmilius waged war againft Perfeus. Such another,he tel s us, was feen at the death of Auguftus; another on the tragedy of Scjanus, another . t the death of Germanicus ". Such alfo was that feen about Michaelmas 1 676 by no lefs than twelve counties at once b ; it is defcribed by Mr. Na(h, as it appeared, near Stighford in StafFordfniie, as of a globular figure moving by jerks, and making fhort refts at every one of them' letting fall drops of fire, which were part of its body ; for it decreafed in magnitude the farther it went, and the ofiener it dropped, till at length it wholly difappeared «. — [• Senec. Nat Queit I. 1. c. 1. t Phil. Tranf. N" 1 35. p. 86?. feq. ' Plot Nat. Hift. Stafford, c. 1. §. 4 o.] Capra trituratoria, in the antient hufbandry, was a kind of iron log, made in the figure of a goat, which was laid on thetribula, to make it more effectual in feparating the corn from the ears, the antient way of threfhing. Scboetg Antiq. Tritur. ap. prcf Stat. Rep. Lett. T. i.p. ,,3. CAPRARLA, in the Linnaean fyftem of botany, a diftinct o-enus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the calyx is a hol- low, perianthium, confifting of one leaf divided into four fcg- m-.nts at the end, which are flender and rough; the flower confifts of one petal which is hollow, and divided into four ob- tufe fegments ; the ftamina are four pointed filaments fhorter than the flower ; the anthers arefimple; the germen of the piftillum is of a conic form ; the ftyle is of the length of the flower, of a pointed figure, and remains after the flower is fallen ; the ftigma is acute. The fruit is an oblonc* co- nic capfule, with a narrow end; it is compofed of only one cell, divided by two valves ; the feeds are numerous, and of an oblong figure. Linnai, Genera Plant, p. 282. CAPREOLUS, in zoology, the name of an animal called caprea by Pliny, and known among us by the name of the roe- deer. Its Latin names are extremely improper, fince it has not the leaft refemblance or analogy to the goat kind in
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