PHAROS 



PHEASANT 



107 



series of Pharmacy Acts, of which the more im- 

 portant are tliose of 1852, 1868, 1869, and 1882. 

 See ADULTERATION, CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS, 

 MEDICINE, PHARMACOPEIA, PRESCRIPTION. 



Pharos. See ALEXANDRIA, and LIGHTHOUSE. 



Pliarsa Ills, now KKKSALA, a town of Thessaly, 

 to the -'MM li of Larissa, on a branch of the Salam- 

 bria, and accordingly in the part of Thessaly re- 

 stored to Greece in 1881 ; hence the Greeks had to 

 retreat in April 1897. The district, Pharsalia, is 

 historically notable mainly for Caesar's great victory 

 over Pompey, August 9, 48 B.C. See LUCANUS. 



Pharynx (Or. ) is the name of that part of the 

 alimentary canal which lies behind the nose, mouth, 

 iind larynx. Its nature and functions are described 

 in the article DIGESTION, where an illustration will 

 also lie found. In cases of Diphtheria (q.v.) the 

 pharynx is usually the chief seat of the disease. It 

 ix liable to ordinary inflammation or pharyngitis 

 an affection characterised by pain, especially in 

 swallowing, without redness in the fauces or change 

 of voice. Sometimes it proceeds to suppuration, 

 mid abscesses are formed. See QUINSY, THROAT. 



I'liasrojial* 1 , a genus of marsupial quadrupeds 

 allied to the Dasyures (q.v.), and containing, 

 according to the most reliable estimate, thirteen 

 si>ecie8, all of which are arboreal and insectivorous ; 

 tliey are spread through the Papuan islands and 

 Australia. The liest-knowii form is perhaps the 

 ' Tapoa Taf a ' ( P. penicillata ), of the size and 

 appearance of a rat, which commits depredations 

 in the larders of Australian colonists, and is of the 

 fiercest disposition when meddled with. This mar- 

 supial has a curious resemblance to the rodent 

 genus Hapalotis, also found in Australia. It may 

 I- a case of 'mimicry' between some of the 

 species. 



I'liHM-oloinys. See WOMBATS. 



Phases ( Or. pfuuis, ' appearance ' ), the different 

 luminous appearances presented by the moon and 

 several of the planets, sometimes the whole, a part, 

 or none of the luminous surface lieing seen from 

 th<- earth. See MOON, Pl.ANETS. 



Phasianidre. See PHEASANT. 



Phasis. a river in Colchis, now called Rion or 



\':i/ ll riv-s in the Caucasus, and flows west into 

 tin' Kuxine near the ancient city of Phasis. 



Phas lllida* (Gr. /i/mmim, 'a spectre'), a family 

 of insects, including walking-stick insect** ( Bacillus 

 and Itacteria), spectre-insects (Phasma), and leaf- 

 insects ( Phylliuin ). With the exception of Bacillus, 

 which occurs in south Europe, they occur in the 

 tropics in South America, Borneo, East Indies, 

 .Vc. As tln'ir names suggest, they have a striking 

 resemblance to the twigs and leaves of the plants 

 on which they feeil and live. See LEAF-INSECT, 



MIMICRY. 



Pheasant I l'/iii.iiniiiix), a genus of gallinaceous 

 bird* of the family Pliasiamdie ; having a rather 

 short strong bill, a little curved ; the cheeks and 

 skin surrounding the eye* destitute of feathers, and 

 warty ; the wings short ; the tail long, its feathers 

 so placed as to slope down, roof-like, on either 

 -i'lc, tin; middle feathers longest ; the tarsus of the 

 male furnished with a spur. The males of all the 

 id an; birds of splendid plumage ; the females 

 have shorter tails and dull or sombre colours. 

 There are numerous species, natives of the warm 

 and temperate parts of Asia. The Common Pheas- 

 ant (P. colchinis) is aid to have lieen brought 

 from the banks of the Phasis, in Colchis, to the 

 south of Europe at a very remote period, its intro- 

 duction being ascril>ed in classic legend to the 

 Argonauts. From the Phasis it derived its Greek 

 name Plumiano*, the origin of its name in English 

 and other modern languages. It was soon natural- 



ised in Europe, and is now diffused over almost all 

 the temperate parts of it. The date of its intro- 

 duction into Britain is not known, but was certainly 

 earlier than 1 199, when King John granted William 

 Brewer a license ' to hunt the hare, fox, cat, and 

 wolf, throughout all Devonshire, and to have free 

 warren throughout all bis own lands for hares, 

 pheasants, and partridges ' ( Dugdale's Baronage, 

 vol. i. p. 701 ). Strangely, however, the pheasant 

 seems never to be mentioned as a royal dish 

 till 1689. It has long been plentiful in planta- 

 tions and game-preserves, and has been intro- 

 duced into almost every part of the country 

 suitalile to its habits. The abundance of 

 pheasants in Britain, however, is to be ascribed 

 chiefly to careful game-preservation, without which 

 the race would in all probability soon be extir- 

 pated. No kind of game falls so easy a prey to the 

 poacher, for in its present method of rearing it is 

 semi-domesticated, though we can hardly include 

 it amongst our domestic fowls. 



A minute description of the common pheasant is 

 unnecessary. The feathers on the upper part of 

 the head are brownish green, with edgings of 

 yellow ; the neck has variations of green and l>lue, 

 with reddish orange below ; the breast and sides 

 are brownish yellow, each feather tipped with 

 purplish blue ; the back and belly are variegated, 

 the rump deep red with green and grayish reflec- 

 tions ; the tail is dull greenish yellow, with yellow- 

 ish gray, and bars of black, and a band of dull red 

 on each side. The whole length of a male pheasant 

 is about 3 feet, of which the tail measures about 

 18 inches. The entire length of the female is a 

 little more than 2 feet, principally in that the 



Common Pheasant (Phasianut coltkicus), 

 male and female. 



tail is much shorter than in the male. The general 

 colour of the female is pale grayish brown and 

 yellow, varied with darker brown, the sides of the 

 neck tinged with red and green. The ordinary 

 weight of a pheasant is about two pounds and a 

 half ; but when pheasants are abundantly supplied 

 with food, and kept undisturbed, they are some- 

 times four pounds or four pounds and a half in 

 weight. The pheasant, unlike the partridge, is 

 polygamous. 



The nest of the pheasant is on the ground, and is 

 a rude heap of leaves and grasses, in which eleven 

 or twelve olive-brown eggs are laid. But in the 

 half domesticated state in which it exists in many 

 English preserves the pheasant does not pay that 

 attention to its eggs and young which it does when 

 more wild, and not unfrequently continues to lay 

 eggs for a considerable time, like the domestic fowl ; 

 the eggs being removed by the gamekeeper, and 

 hatched by hens, along with eggs from nests found 



