PIR 



PIS 



, in botany, from the word 

 piper, pepper, the name of the second or- 

 der in Linnaeus's " Fragments of a Natu- 

 ral Method ;" consisting as the name im- 

 ports, of pepper, and a few genera which 

 agree with it in habit, structure, and sen- 

 sible qualities. These plants are mostly 

 herbaceous and perennial. The stalks of 

 some of them creep along rocks and trees, 

 into which they strike root at certain dis- 

 tances. None of them rise above fifteen 

 feet high, and but few exceed three or 

 four feet The, flesh roots of many of these 

 plants, particularly those of several spe- 

 cies of arum, are extremely acrid when 

 fresh. They lose this pungent quality, 

 however, by being dried, and become of 

 a soapy nature The pepper plant of Se- 

 negal bears a round berry, about the size 

 of hemp seed, which, when ripe, is of a 

 beautiful red colour, and of a sweetish 

 taste. It contains a seed of the shape and 

 bigness of a grain of cabbage, but very 

 hard, and possessing an agreeable poig- 

 nancy. The berries grow in small bunches 

 on a shrub that is about four feet high, and 

 has thin supple branches, furnished with 

 oval leaves, that are pointed at the ends, 

 Hot very unlike those of the privet. 



PJPRA, ihe inanakin,'in natural history, 

 a genus of birds of the order Passere;*. 

 Generic character : bill short, strong, 

 hard, nearly triangular at the base, and 

 slightly incurvated at the tip ; nostrils 

 naked ; tail short These birds are very 

 similar to the genus of Titmice, and are 

 almost all peculiar to South America 

 There are thirty-one species noticed by 

 Gmelin. Latham enumerates only twenty- 

 five. The following are most deserving 

 of attention. P. rupicola, or the rock ma- 

 nakin, is as large as a pigeon, and is a 

 very beautiful species, inhabiting Cayenne 

 and Guiana, and building in the holes and 

 clefts of the rocks, in the most obscure 

 recesses. They are very timid ; but are 

 frequently tamed, so as to accompany the 

 domestic poultry. The female, after lay- 

 ing her eggs for a few years, assumes, in 

 some instances, the distinctive plumage 

 of the male, and may be mistaken for him ; 

 a circumstance, however, not peculiar to 

 this genus of birds. The black-crowned 

 manakin is frequent in Guiana, avoiding 

 the open plains, and haunting the skirts 

 of woods in small flocks. These birds 

 are found in the neighbourhood of ants* 

 nests, from which they are seen to spring 

 up frequently as if stung by these insects, 

 uttering at the moment a cry somewhat 

 similar to the cracking of a nut. 



PIRATE, one who maintains himself by 



pillage and robbing at sea. By statute 

 28 Henry VIII. c. 15, all felonies commit- 

 ted upon the sea, or any place where the 

 admiral has jurisdiction, shall be tried 

 wherever the king shall appoint by his 

 special commission, as if the offence had 

 been at common law. And by statute 6 

 George I- if any subject or denizens of this 

 kingdom, commit any hostility against 

 others of the king's subjects upon the sea, 

 under colour of any commission from any 

 prince or other authority, he shall be 

 deemed a pirate, and suffer accordingly. 



By statute 18 George II. c. 30, persons 

 committing hostilities, or aiding enemies 

 at sea, may be tried as pirates. Piracies 

 at sea are excepted out of the general 

 pardon, by 20 George II. c. 52. 



PISCES, in natural history, is the fourth 

 class in the Linnsean system, consisting of 

 five orders, viz. 



Abdominales 



Apodes 



Cartilaginii 



Jugulares 

 Thoracici 



The class is described as having incum- 

 bent jaws ; eggs without white ; organs 

 of sense ; for covering, imbricate scales ; 

 fins for supporters; they swim in water, 

 and smack. The severaforders and other 

 matters relative to fishes, have been treat- 

 ed of in the article ICHTHYOLOGY, and 

 in the several parts ol the Dictionary, in 

 the alphabetical order of the genera, &c. 

 To this article we have referred, intending 

 to give under it a brief account of the 

 functions of the several fishes. Of these 

 the most important is respiration, which 

 is performed by means of gills, which 

 supply the place of lungs. Air is equally 

 necessary to the existence offish, as it is 

 to other animals. In general, a fish first re- 

 ceives a quantity of water by the mouth, 

 from which it is driven to the gills ; these 

 close, and prevent the water from return- 

 ing by the mouth, at the same time that 

 their bony covering prevents it from pass- 

 ing through them, until the proper quan- 

 tity of air has been extracted from it. 

 The covers then open, and give it a free 

 passage ; by which means the gills are 

 again opened, and admit a fresh body of 

 water. This process, in fishes, as breath- 

 ing in the human subject, is carried on 

 during sleep, and is repeated about twenty- 

 five times in a minute ; and the necessity 

 of it is evinced from the circumstance of 

 fish being certainly killed in water, from 

 which air is taken away by means of the 

 air-pump, or excluded by very severe 

 frost. Should the free play of the gills 



