LENTHALL. 129 liENTULUS. ionner position, and. convinced of the inevi- tal)ility of the Restoration, subsequently aided in bringing it about. His career, admittedly suc- cessful as Speaker, was attacked by contempo- raries im the ground of loyalty ; on the other hand, his refusal to indicate whether or not the live accused members in the House of Commons were present when in 1642 the King attempted to arrest them, was appreciated by Parliament and made him famous, LENTICELS ( Fr, lenticelle. diminutive of leiiticidc, lens-shaped, lentil-shaped, from Lat, Ifiitlcula, lentil, diminutive of lens, lentil). Roundish or elongated corky patches of various sizes, usually projecting a little above the epider- 7nis of stems. Vhere cork-formation {'bark') is going on, at certain points corresponding usually to the stomata ("breathing-pores') of the epidermis, the cork-cells become rounded and loosened from one another. Under the strain the epidermis ruptures, and the powdery mass of cells is exposed, through a usually biconvex rift, whose shape suggested for the structure the name "lenticel.' Lenticels are present in all the great groups of vascular plants, and very few plants with a regular annual formation of cork fail to show them. They are most conspicuous on young shoots, but in some cases, as in the birch, they become more prominent as they grow older. The lenticels that are developed at a point early determined by a stoma, a root, or a bud. are called primary lenticels; while those which are formed later, and at a point not de- termined by an organ, are called secondary, Len- ticels serve to admit air to the living internal tissues, through an impervious corky layer, and they vary in porosity in ditferent plants and at different seasons, LENTIL (OF. lentille, from Lat. lenticula, diminutive of lens, lentil), Vicia hirsuta or T,ens hirs'ita. An annual leguminous plant, related to tares (see Tare), a native of the Mediterranean region. It is extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, in Egypt, in the East, and to some €xtent in other parts of the world. It has a weak, branching stem, from 6 to 18 inches high, and pinnate leaves with 6 to 8 pairs of leaflets and terminal tendrils. The flowers are small, white, lilac, or pale blue. The pods are very short and blunt, thin and smooth, and con- tain two seeds shaped like a double convex lens. There are nu- merous varieties, with white, bro^^■n, and lilack seeds, of various sizes, the largest being about one-half inch in diam- eter. The lentil grows best in a light and rather dry soil ; in a very rich - soil it pro- duces comparatively few pods. L'nlike the pea and the bean, the lentil is eaten only when fully ripe. The brown or reddish lentil is smaller than the yellow, but of more delicate flavor. It is one of the most ancient of food-plants — probably one of the first to be brought under cultivation by man. Since it has been grown from early times in Asia and in the iledi- lerranean countries, it seems probable that the reddish Egj-ptian lentil was the "red pottage' of Esau. In Europe this legume is far less grown than the pea and the bean, partly because its yield of seed and straw is less. The market is partially supplied from Egypt. The lentil, accord- ing to analysis, is one of the most nutritious of all the legumes, but its flavor is pronounced and to some persons not as agreeable as that of the pea and the bean. Its seeds have the fol- lowing percentage composition : Water, 8.4 ; pro- tein, 25,7; fat, 1.0; carbohydrates, 59.2; and ash, 5.7, the fuel value being 1620 calories a pound. Like all legumes used as food, they are especially rich in protein. It is generally used for soup or puree. In the Mediterranean c<mntries it is often eaten roasted. It has been little known in the L'nited States, but with the growth of the foreign population its use has steadily increased. The lentils found in our markets are all im- ported, but the culture of this legiune from Euro- pean seeds is being tried in the Southwestern Territories and elsewhere. A small variety of lentil is already grown in New Mexico and Ari- zona, as well as in Mexico, the seed of which was doubtless brought from Spain centuries ago by the ancestors of the present mixed race living there. LENTINT, len-te'ne (Lat. Leontini) . A city in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, 18 miles by rail south of Catania (Map: Italy, K 10). The centre of the city is three miles from the railway station. To the north lies Lake Lentini, from 9 to 12 miles in circumference, according to the height of the water. It did not exist in ancient times, and its vapors make the city unhealthful in summer. Lentini is a market for rice and other grain, oil, wine, flax, cattle, and for water- fowl and fish from the lake. The ancient Leon- tini was founded in B.C. 729 by colonists from Naxos, and was the birthplace of Gorgias, the sophist and orator, who persuaded Athens to intervene in Sicilv. Population (commune), in 1S81, 1.3,462; in 1901, 17.134. LENTINO, len-te'no. Jacopo da, usually called II Xotajo da Lentixo (the Notary of Lentino). One of the earliest of Italian poets, who lived during the first half of the thirteenth century. He is presumed to have studied at Bologna, and lived in Tuscany for at least a part of his life. He is spoken of by Dante in doubtful terms { Piirgatori/, cxxix.) for the carelessness of his langTiage, but some of his poems, translated by Rossetti in Dante and Fis Circle, have much charm. His sonnets and canzoni are in the usual manner of the Sicilian school. Consult Gaspary, Die sir-ilinnische Dichterschule des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1878). LENTO, len'to (It., slow). In music, a term indicating a tempo between grave (q.v.) and adagio (q.v.). LEN'TULTJS. A well-known cognomen of the Cornelia family in ancient Rome. The best- known members of this branch of the famous patrician gens were the following: (1) P. CoR- NELn-,s Lextti.u.s Sura, qurestor under Sulla in B.C. 81. pr.-etor in 75, and consul in 71. In B.C. 70, along with many others, he was expelled from the senatorial order by the censors, for his
