PEBRINE 



PebrineoKMuscARDiNE. Disease 

 affecting silkworms. It was for- 

 merly ascribed to the attack of a 

 fungus, but is now known to be 

 caused by a microscopic single- 

 celled protozoan (Nosema bomby- 

 cis). The disease manifests itself 

 by the appearance of dark spots 

 on the skin, the larva becomes 

 languid and stunted, with defective 

 appetite. Most die in the larval 

 stage, but a few contrive to spin a 

 loose cocoon and pupate. If moths 

 emerge from the pupae they are 

 feeble, and their eggs transmit 

 the disease to the next generation. 

 The disease, which is both con- 

 tagious and infectious, and has at 

 times been epidemic in the silk- 

 producing districts of France and 

 Italy, can only be combated by 

 killing the sick insects. It is pre- 

 vented by cultivating the larvae 

 out of doors on netted trees. It is 

 estimated that before Pasteur 

 established its true nature, the 

 disease involved the French silk 

 industry in a loss of 40,000,000. 



Pecan (Carya. illoensis). Alter- 

 native name for the American 

 hickory nut (q.v.). 



Peccary (Dicotyles). Genus of 

 ungulate mammals with only 

 three toes on the hind foot. They 



Peccary. The collared peccary, a 

 tailless mammal of America 



are natives of America from Para- 

 guay to Arkansas and Texas. Al- 

 though much resembling small 

 pigs in appearance and gregarious 

 habits, they have no tails. The 

 bones above the foot unite to 

 ^form a cannon-bone. The most 

 'familiar species is the collared 

 peccary (D. torquatus). 



Pe-chih-li. Variant names of 

 the Chinese gulf and province of 

 Chih-li (q.v.). 



Peckforton Castle. Seat of 

 Baron Tollemache, at Tarporley, 

 Cheshire, England. It was bui'lt 



6022 



1844-50. Near | 

 by is Beeston I 

 Castle, built by ! 

 the earl of Ches- 

 ter in 1220, and 

 dismantled 1646. 



Peckham. 

 Dist. of London. 

 Part of the met. 

 bor. of Camber- 

 well, S.E., it lies 

 N. of Peckham 

 Rye and Nun- 

 head and W. of 

 New Cross and 

 Hatcham. Peckham Road, Peck- 

 ham High Street, and Queen's 

 Road (once Deptford Lane) con- 

 nect Church Street, Camberwell, 

 with New Cross. In Peckham Road 

 are Camberwell town hall, central 

 library, the S. London Art Gallery 

 and Technical Institute, and Cam- 

 den Chapel. The Licensed Victual- 

 lers' Asylum and the works of the 

 S. Metropolitan Gas Co. are in the 

 vicinity. Peckham, which cherishes 

 legends of King John and Nell 

 Gwynn, and memories of Oliver 

 Goldsmith and Robert Browning, 

 is mentioned in Domesday under 

 the name of Pecheham, but has 

 altered considerably in . modern 

 times. Peckham Rye, 64 acres, a 

 public recreation ground from time 

 immemorial, has been definitely 

 public property since 1882. Peck- 

 ham Rye Park, over 42 acres, 

 opened in 1894 and since added 

 to, has an old farmhouse and is 

 beautifully wooded. 



Pecksniff, SETH. Character in 

 Dickens's novel Martin Chuzzle- 

 wit. An architect and land sur- 

 veyor who made his apprentices 

 do all his work, he exudes good- 

 ness, piety, and benevolence. He 

 is the recognized personification of 

 unctuous hypocrisy. 



Pecock, REGINALD (c. 1395- 

 1460). Bishop of Chichester. He 

 was educated at Oxford, where he 

 became fellow of Oriel College, and 

 in 1431 he was appointed master of 

 Whittington College, London. He 

 became bishop of St. Asaph in 

 1444, and was translated to Chi- 

 chester six years later. He engaged 

 in bitter controversy against the 

 Lollards, preaching against church 

 reform at Paul's Cross, and his 

 utterances brought him into such 

 disrepute that his books were 

 publicly burnt, his name was 



PECTEN 



Peckham, London. The Rye, looking south-east 



removed from the privy council, 

 and he was compelled to recant 

 publicly and resign his bishopric 

 in 1458. His later days were 

 spent in retirement at Thorney 

 Abbey. See Life, J. Lewis, new 

 ed. 1820. 



Pecos. River of U.S.A. Rising 

 in the N.E. part of New Mexico, 

 it flows first S.E. and then S. into 

 Texas along the W. scarp of the 

 Llano. There it again assumes a 

 S.E. course, finally entering the 



Pecklorton Castle, Cheshire ; seat of Baron Tollemache. On the bill to the 

 right stands Beeston Castle 



Seth Pecksniff, the hypocritical 



architect and impostor of Dickens's 



novel Martin Chuzzlewit 



From a drawing by Fred Barnard. 



Rio Grande, about 37 m. N.W. of 

 Del Rio. It is 800 m. long, but is 

 of little commercial value apart 

 from irrigation. At Hondo and 

 Carlsbad are two of the irrigation 

 projects of the U.S. National Re- 

 clamation Service. 



Pecs. Town of S. Hungary known 

 as Fiinfkirchen (q.v.). SeeN.V. 



Pecten. Genus of marine bivalve 

 molluscs (Lamellibranchiata). It 

 includes about a dozen British 

 species, the best known being the 

 clam or great pecten (P. maxirnus), 

 which is used as food. The species 

 are exceedingly numerous, of world- 

 wide distribution, and found at 

 all depths down to about 3,000 



