AMP 



AMP 



thermometers, hygrometers, friction, ma- 

 chines, heat, cold, rarefactions, pumps, 

 &c. They may be seen in the volumes 

 for the years 1696, 1699, 17J2, 1703, 

 1704, and 1705. The character of Amon- 

 tons for integrity, modesty, and candour, 

 was no less distinguished than his talents 

 and genius in philosophical pursuits. 

 Upon his death in 1705, M. Fontenelle 

 delivered an elegant and impressive eulo- 

 gium on his merits. See MEMOIRS of the 

 Academy for that year. 



AMORPHA, in 'botany, bastard indigo, 

 a genus of plants belonging to the Dia- 

 delphia Decandria class of Linnaeus ; the 

 flower of which consists of one petal, 

 vertically ovated, hollow, and erect ; and 

 the fruit is a lunulated pod, of a com- 

 pressed form, and covered with tuber- 

 cles, in which are contained two seeds, of 

 an oblong kidney -like shape. There are 

 two species. 



This shrub grows naturally in Carolina, 

 where formerly the inhabitants made a 

 coarse sort of indigo, which occasioned 

 its name of the bastard indigo. It rises 

 with many irregular stems to the height 

 of twelve or fourteen feet, with very long 

 winged leaves. It was observed by Thun- 

 berg in the island of Niphon, belonging 

 to japan, but is now become very com- 

 mon in the gardens and nurseries near 

 London, where it is propagated as a 

 flowering shrub. It is propagated by 

 seeds sent from America. , 



AMPELIS, in natural history, the chat- 

 terer, a genus of birds of the order 

 Passeres, bill straight, convex, subincur- 

 ved, each mandible notched : nostrils 

 covered with bristles : tongue sharp, car- 

 tilaginous, bifid : middle toe connected at 

 the base to the outside. There are, ac- 

 cording to Gmelin, fourteen species : we 

 shall notice the following : A. garrulus, 

 or waxen chatterer ; a beautiful bird 

 about eight inches long. Its bill is black, 

 and has a small notch at the end; its 

 eyes are placed in a band of black, which 

 passes from the base of the bill to the 

 hinder part of the head. Its throat is 

 black ; its feathers on the head are long, 

 forming a crest ; all the upper parts of 

 the body are of a reddish ash colour; 

 the breast and belly inclining to purple ; 

 the tail feathers are black, tipped with 

 pale yellow ; the quills are black, the 

 third and/ourth tipped on their outer 

 edges with white : the five following with 

 straw colour, but in some bright yellow ; 

 the secondaries are tipped with white, 

 each being pointed with a flat horny sub- 

 Stance of a bright vermilion colour. 



VOL. I. 



These appendages vary in different sub- 

 jects. This rare bird visits our island 

 only at uncertain intervals. Their sum- 

 mer residence is supposed to be in the 

 northern parts of Europe, within the arc- 

 tic circle, whence they spread themselves 

 into other countries, where they remain 

 during the winter, and return in the 

 spring to their usual haunts. The food 

 of this bird is berries of various kinds; 

 in some countries it is said to be extreme- 

 ly fond of grapes. Only this species of the 

 chatterer is found in Europe, the others 

 are natives of America. See plate 1. 

 Aves, fig. 5. A. carunculata, has a black 

 bill, with a pendulous, expansile, movea- 

 ble caruncle at the base, inhabits Cayenne 

 and Brazil, and is about twelve inches 

 long. The bill is an inch and a half long, 

 and black ; at the base is a fleshy carbun- 

 cle hanging over it, like that of a turkey 

 cock. The female is furnished with one 

 as well as the male. These .birds are 

 said to have a very loud voice, to be heard 

 half a league off, which is composed of 

 merely two syllables, in, an, uttered in a 

 drawling tone ; but some have compared 

 it to the sound of a bell. A. Americana, 

 cedar bird : this has been considered by 

 the European naturalists as a mere varie- 

 ty of their chatterer; but Mr. Wilson has 

 shewn it to be a distinct species. 



AMP ELITES, cannel-coal, a hard, 

 opaque, fossil, inflammable substance, of 

 a black colour. The ampelites, examined 

 by a microscope, appears composed of in- 

 numerable very small thin plates, laid 

 closely and firmly upon one another, and 

 full of very small specks, of a blacker and 

 more shining matter than the rest. There 

 is a large quarry of it in Alencon, in 

 France. It is dug also in many parts of 

 England ; but the most beautiful is found 

 in Lancashire and Cheshire : it lies usu- 

 ally at considerable depth. It is capable 

 of a very fine polish, and is made into 

 trinkets, and will pass for jet. Husband- 

 men dress their vines with it, as it kills 

 the vermin which infest them : it is like- 

 wise used for dying the hair black. 



AMPHIBIA, in natural history, a class 

 of animals that live either on land or in 

 water. The title Amphibia, applied to 

 this class of animals by Linnaeus, may 

 perhaps be considered as not absolutely 

 unexceptionable, the power of living with 

 equal facility both in land and water be- 

 ing not granted to all the animals which 

 compose it ; yet, since it is certain that 

 the major part are found to possess that 

 faculty in a considerable degree, the title 

 may be allowed to continue, The Am- 



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