EPM 



Example for the year 1808, 



Golden Number 4. 

 4 Ixll 30 = 3 = Epact. 



EPAULE, in fortification, denotes the 

 shoulder of a bastion, or the place where 

 its face and flank meet, and form the an- 

 gle called the angle of the shoulder. See 

 BASTION. 



EPAULEMENT, in fortification, a 

 work raised to cover sideways, is either 

 of earth, gabions, or fascines, loaded with 

 earth. The epaulements of the places of 

 arms for the cavalry, at the entrance of 

 the trenches, are generally of fascines 

 mixed with earth. 



EPAULETTES, in military dress, are 

 a sort of shoulder-knot They are badges 

 of distinction worn on one or both shoul- 

 ders, according to the rank of the wearer, 

 and for the same reason they are made 

 either of worsted, or of silver or gold 

 lace. In France, all degrees of rank in 

 the army may be instantly known from 

 the epaulette ; but this is" not the rase 

 here. Lately epaulettes have been intro- 

 duced into the navy, and in that service 

 the following are the gradations of rank 

 as distinguished by them. Masters and 

 commanders have one epaulette on the 

 left shoulder : post captains under three 

 years, one epaulette on the right shoul- 

 der, afterwards two epaulettes : rear ad- 

 mirals have one star on the strap of the 

 epaulette, vice-admirals two stars, and 

 admirals three stars 



EPHA, or EPHAH, in Jewish antiquity, 

 a measure for tilings dry, containing 

 1.0961 of a bushel. See MEASURE. 



EPHEDRA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Dioecia Monodelphia class and order. 

 Natural order of Coniferx. Essential 

 character : male, calyx of the ament two- 

 cleft ; corolla none;' stamens seven; an- 

 thers four inferior, three superior : fe- 

 male, calyx two-parted, five-fold: corol- 

 la none ; pistils two ; seeds covered with 

 a berried calyx. There are two species ; 

 viz. E. distachya, great shrubby horse 

 tail, or sea-grape, and E monostachya, 

 small shrubby horse tail. These plants 

 vary extremely. Some in the south of 

 Europe, are only a hand in height, 

 whilst others are three feet : they are 

 found in most of the southern parts of 

 the Russian dominions, from the Volga 

 to the Lena, and southwards to Persia 

 and India. The berries are sweetish, mu- 

 cose, and leave a little heat in the throat : 

 they are eaten by the Russian peasants, 

 and the wandering hordes of all Great 

 Tartary. 



EPHEMERA, day-fly, in natural his- 

 tory, a genus of insects of the order Neu- 

 roptera. Mouth without mandibles ; 

 feelers four, very short, filiform; anten- 

 nae short, filiform ; above the eyes are 

 two or three large stemmata ; wing^s 

 erect, the lower ones much shorter ; tail 

 terminating in long bristles or hairs. 

 These short-lived animals, of which there 

 are about twenty species, in two divi- 

 sions, according as they have two or 

 three hairs in the tail, are found every 

 where about waters in the summer, and 

 in their perfect state seldom live more 

 than a day or two, some of them not an 

 hour, during which time they perform all 

 the functions of life, and answer all the 

 ends of nature. The larva lives under 

 water, and is eagerly sought after by 

 trout and other fish: it is six-footed, ac- 

 tive, and furnished with a tail and six la- 

 teral fins or gills ; the pupa resembles 

 the larva, except in having rudiments of 

 future wings. The larva is altogether 

 aquatic, the complete insect aerial. In 

 the former state it livestwo or three years ; 

 but as a perfect animal it survives but a 

 very fuw hours, perishing in the course of 

 the same evening that gives it birth. 

 The most common species in Europe is 

 the E. vulgata, or common May-fly, so 

 plentiful in 'he early part of summer 

 about the brinks of rivulets and stagnant 

 waters. It is of a greenish colour, with 

 transparent wings elegantly mottled with 

 brown, and is furnished with three very 

 long black bristles It flutters in the 

 evening about the surface of the water; 

 but during the day is generally seen in a 

 quiescent posture, with the wings closed, 

 and applied to each other in an upright 

 position, 



EPHEMERIDES, in literary history, 

 an appellation given to those books or 

 journals, which shew the motions and 

 places of the planets for every day in the 

 year. It is from the tables contained in 

 these ephemerides, that eclipses, and all 

 the variety of aspects of the planets, are 

 found. 



EPHIELIS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Octandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Esential character: calyx five-parted; 

 petals five, with claws ; nectary ten 

 scales, two to each petal ; capsule ob- 

 long, one celled, two-valved, two-seeded. 

 There is but one species; viz. E. guia- 

 nensis : this is a lofty tree growing in the 

 forests of Guiana, where it flowers in the 

 month of October. 



EPIBATERIUM, in botany, a genus of 

 the Monoecia Hexandria class and or- 



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