Ml 



CAPITt T LUM. 



CAPREvE. 



76G 



has wide meshes and comparatively few vesaela in the ligaments, 

 tendons, and other allied textures. (Sharpey.) 



All the great organic functions of the liying body are performed 

 mainly by the capillary vessels. Their action is essential to secre- 

 tion, nutrition, calorification, and every other process which is 

 indispensable to the support of life. From experiment, it has been 

 inferred that these vessels possess an active contractile power 

 altogether independent of the impulse derived from the heart. Under 

 the ordinary condition of the circulation, the blood indeed flows 

 through these capillary vessels by the force communicated to the 

 circulating fluid by the contraction of the heart ; but the evidence 

 brought forward seems to indicate that stimulants of various kinds 

 applied directly to the capillary arteries, without in the least affecting 

 the heart's action, are capable of modifying to a considerable extent 

 the action of the capillaries ; sometimes causing them to contract and 

 at other times to dilate ; sometimes quickening the flow of the blood 

 through them; at other times retarding it, and not unfrequently 

 altogether arresting its progress. 



For an account of the development of the capillaries, see BLOOD- 

 VESSELS. 



CAPI'TULUM, a head of flowers, a particular form of inflores- 

 cence. Theoretically botanists consider it an undeveloped spike, 

 the axis of which becomes a receptacle, and the external empty 

 bracts an involucre. It really consists of a number of small flowers, 

 which in the majority of plants are arranged upon an elongated 

 stalk, or arranged npon a flattened or horizontal stalk. The 

 Dandelion, the Daisy, the Groundsel, and all Composite, have 

 an inflorescence of this nature ; it is vulgarly looked upon as a 

 flower. 



CAPNEA. [ACTINIAD.E.] 



CAPPARIDA'CE.E, Capparidt, the Caper Tribe, a natural order of 

 Dicotyledonous Polypetalous Plants, having a superior fruit, parietal 

 placentae, an embryo curved upon itself, without albumen, four petals 

 and sepals, a great number of stamens, and an ovary elevated upon a 

 long stalk. They are known from Cruet/tree by their indefinite sta- 

 mens and reniform seeds. All of them appear to be more or legs 

 acrid. They are bushes or herbs found all over the tropics, and not 

 extending in many places beyond them. Egypt and the south of 

 Europe, which are inhabited by Capparis spirwsa and similar species, 

 offer the greatest exceptions to the rule. 



Some of the American species of Capparidaceas are very poisonous ; 

 others act as vesicatories ; and a few are merely stimulant. To the 

 latterclass belongs the Capparii tpinota of the south of Europe. This 



Caper-Tree (Capparii tpintaa], 



\, An expanded flower ; 2, a petal ; 3, a calyx with the stalked ovary j 4, a 

 horizontal section of the fruit ; 5, a longitudinal lection of the seed 6 on 

 embryo extracted from the seed-coat. 



plant grows naturally upon rocks and ruins all over the south of 

 France and Italy, rendering them inconceivably gay with its large 

 white blossoms, from the centre of each of which there springs a long 

 tassel of deep lilac stamens. The flower-buds constitute the Capers of 

 the shops, the quality of which depends exclusively upon the age at 



which they are gathered, the smallest and youngest being the dearest 

 and most delicate, and the largest and oldest the coarsest and cheapest. 

 On an average each plant of the caper-bush gives a pound of buds. 

 The consumption of capers in this country is inconsiderable, not 

 amounting to more than about 60,000 Ibs. a year. 



Several other species of Capparis possess stimulating properties. 

 There is a plant found in the neighbourhood of Carthagena called 

 Fruta de Buno, supposed to be a Capparis, the fruit of which is 

 extremely poisonous. The fruits of a species of Cratceva are eaten. 

 Polanisia icosandra acts as a vesicatory. The root of Cleome dodecan- 

 dra is used as a vermifuge in the United States. The order has 28 

 genera and about 340 species. 



CAPRE^E, a sub-tribe of the family Bmidce amongst the Ruminant 

 Mammalia, and equivalent to the sub-tribes Borea; [BoviD^], Anti- 

 lopece, Strepsicerce [ANTILOPEJ;], and Orete [OVE.E], according to Dr. 

 Gray's arrangement of the Mammalia in the British Museum. The 

 Caprece include what are commonly known by the name of Goats. 

 The classification of these animals has been the cause of much differ- 

 ence of opinion. 



Ray established three genera of Ruminants with bisulcated hoofs. 

 1. Bovinum gtma the Oxen. 2. Ovinum genus the Sheep. 3. Ca- 

 prinum genus the Goats ; comprising the Common Goat, the Ibex, 

 the Chamois, the Gazelles, &c. 



Klein's second family of quadrupeds consisted of those which have 

 a divided horny hoof. The type of the first genus was the Ox ; of the 

 second, the Sheep ; of the third, the Goat ; of the fourth, the Stag 

 and of the fifth, the Hog. 



Brisson's .fifth order consisted of those quadrupeds which have no 

 incisor teeth in the upper jaw, but have eight in the lower jaw, 

 and the hoof cloven. The first section consists of those which have 

 simple horns; and comprises, as genera, the Giraffe, the Goat, 

 the Sheep, and the Ox. The quadrupeds with branched horns the 

 Stags, follow. 



, Liunrcus in his last edition (the 12th) makes Capra the fourth 

 genus of his fifth order (Pecora), placing it between Cerrus and <:< ,'.< 

 the genus contained the species Hircus, Ibex, Mambrica (Syrian Goat), 

 Rupicapra (Chamois), 4c., including some of the Antelopes and Capra 

 Amman (Tragelaphiu and Mutimon of Gesner). 



Gmelin, in the 13th edition of the ' Systema Naturce," arranges the 

 genus Capra under the same order, between Antilope and Otis, t.i 

 which latter genus he transfers the Musmon, Capra Amman (Gmel.) of 

 Linnaeus, Ovii A mmon of Gmelin. 



Pennant, in the first and third edition of his ' Synopsis,' placed the 

 Goats between the Sheep and the Giraffe, the latter being followed by 

 the Antelopes : in his ' British Zoology ' the Goats are arranged between 

 the Sheep and the Deer. 



M. Lesson, in his 'Manuel' (1827), arranges the Capridce (Les 

 Capre'es) between the Bovidas (Les Bovine'es) and the Ovidce (Leg 

 Ovine~esi. 



In both his editions of the ' Regne Animal,' Cuvier gives the Goats 

 (Capra) the same position under his Ruminants a Cornes Cretises 

 (Cavicornia Hollow-Horned Ruminants, or those whose horns have a 

 bony core), namely, between Antilope and Ovii. 



Fischer (1829) arranges the genus Capra (which he divides into two 

 sections 1, Barbata, Capra of authors ; 2, Itnbcrbes, Ores of authors) 

 between Antilope and Bos. 



Dr. J. E. Gray, as we have seen, places Cnpra among the ovulte. 

 In his interesting ' Spicilegia Zoologica" (1830), where he figures the 

 female of the Nubian Goat, the genus appears under that family. He 

 had previously so arranged it in the 'Annals of Philosophy' (1825) ; 

 and Mr. W. S. M'Leay, in his paper ' On the Comparative Anatomy of 

 certain Birds of Cuba' (' Liuncean Transactions'), speaking of the 

 Mammalia, observes that the normal and aberrant groups were dis- 

 tinguished and named by Aristotle in his ' Historia Animaliurn,' but 

 had not, to his knowledge, appeared again in any work until Dr. Gray 

 had the honour of reviving them in the * Annals of Philosophy.' 



Referring our readers to the works of Messrs. F. Cuvier, De Blainville, 

 Desmarest, Desmoulins, Erxleben, Geoffroy, Hasselquist, Illiger, Lich- 

 tenstein, Meyer, Schreber, Shaw, Zimmermauu, and others, for their 

 views on this subject, which, however interesting and desirable for 

 the student, our limits will not permit us to dwell on here, we proceed 

 to notice the observations of Mr. Hodgson in the ' Zoological Proceed- 

 ings' for 1834. 



Mr. Hodgson, after remarking on the difficulty experienced by 

 zoologists in the determination of distinctive marks adequate for the 

 separation of the genera Antilope, Capra, and Oris, insists that, as he 

 has shown, the character founded on the presumed absence of cavities 

 in the cores of the horns connected with the frontal sinus is incorrect, 

 and he conceives that the value of the characters which are generally 

 admitted by authors as distinguishing between the genera Capra and 

 Ovu may be tested by a comparison of the wild race of either genus 

 which belongs to the Himalaya. He then describes Capra Jhdral, 

 which is " clad in close short hair, and without the least, vestige of a 

 beard," as related to the Alpine jKyagri and to Capra Jemlaica and 

 Ovit Nahoor (Hodgson), placing them both under the tribe Capridcc 

 (H. Smith) ; and having completed the description of this wild goat and 

 wild sheep, he proceeds to exhibit the points of difference and of 

 resemblance between the two in the following table : 



