OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 6ll 



isinglass, employed from early times for cooking purposes, making moulds, and "as a substitute for 

 all kinds of gelatines." — Imported into Europe, it is sold under the name of agar-agar (Jap. centen. 

 comm. 1 08). 



673 A. D. (= "2d year of Tenmu," art de verif.), in Japan, building of the celebrated temple of 

 Midera. 



674 A. D. (= "3d year of Tenmu,'' art de verif.), silver mines opened by the Coreans on the 

 island of Tsussima, and the metal brought to Japan. 



675 A. D. (="4th year of Tenmu," art de verif.), celebration of the first Matsuri ; a noted 

 religious festival of the Japanese. 



"676 A. D." (Alst., and Nicol.), at Rome, Adeodatus succeeded by Donus or Domnus, thirteenth 

 archbishop. 



"678 A. D." (Pauth. 302), near Lake Kokonoor, a Chinese army of "one hundred and eighty 

 thousand" men defeated by the Thibetians. 



"The same year" (Alst.). at Rome, Domnus succeeded by Agatho, fourteenth archbishop. 



"679 A. D." (Beda, and Cockayne p. xxvi.), in Britain, a surgical operation performed by the 

 leech Cynifrid or Cyneferth ; who opened a tumour for Aetheldryth queen and abbess, without saving 

 her life. 



" In this year" (Sm. b. d.), after the destruction of many ships by Greek fire, the fleet of the 

 Muslims compelled to retire from Constantinople, and wrecked in a storm : their retreating land army 

 also overtaken and defeated by the Greeks, and a treaty of peace signed by khalif Mu'awiyah. The 

 Bulgarians however obtained from the Greek emperor a cession of that country South of the Danube 

 which is still called Bulgaria. 



The treatise De aliment, is dedicated to Constantinus IV. Pogonatus. 



Portulaca oleracea of Tropical or Subtropical America. Called in Britain purslane, by Turner 

 " purcellaine," by Treveris "porcelayne," in Germany " portzel kraut" from "porcellus" according 

 to Fuchsius p. in, in France " porcellaine " (Prior), in Italy "porcellana" (Lenz), in Greece "glu- 

 stritha" (Sibth.), in Egypt " baqlaa " or " ridjle " (Forsk.), and the XOipOBOTaNON of the trea- 

 tise De aliment., — and Psellus 296, is referred here by E. A. Sophocles : P. oleracea is termed "p. 

 angustifolia sive sylvestris " by Tournefort inst. 236 ; was observed by Munby in Algeria ; is known 

 to occur in Italy and throughout middle Europe, cultivated and growing as a weed (A. Dec, and 

 Lenz) ; was observed by Forskal, Sibthorp, and Fraas, frequent in waste and cultivated ground from 

 the Peloponnesus to the Greek islands and Asia Minor, and eaten crude ; is known to occur also in 

 the Tauro- Caspian countries (Ledeb.). Farther South, the " baklat elhamaka" of Ebn Masawia, 

 Maserjawia, Hobaisch, Rhazes, Mosih, and Avicenna, is identified by Ebn Baitar with the " ridjl.it ; " 

 the " ridjlet " is mentioned also by Rabbinical writers (Schvvarz) ; mingling its seeds in medicines, 

 by Mesue trocisc, and Abd-allatif i. 6; seeds of P. oleracea were found by Forskal mat. med. sold 

 for this purpose in Egypt, and the living plant was observed by him, and Delile, in gardens as well as 

 growing spontaneously: is called " segettemam" in Nubia (Del.) ; is known to occur also in Abys- 

 sinia (A. Rich.) ; was observed by Forskal under cultivation on the plains and mountains of Yemen, 

 and called " ridjlet el farras " or " da^nneb el farras " or " brabra " or '■ chamile ; " by myself, soid in 

 bundles at Mocha, and growing in the streets of Muscat. Eastward from Arabia, was observed by 

 Rheede a. pi. 36, Roxburgh, and Wight, in Hindustan, according to Graham " common in moist 

 places ; " by Mason v. p. 473, a common weed in Burmah, " used by the natives for a pot-herb " and 

 called " mya?-byet ; " by Zoll., and Blume, on Java; by Blanco, on the Philippines and called in 

 Tagalo "colasiman" or "olasiman," in Camarines " ausiman ; " by Bunge, in Northern China; by 

 Kaempfer, and Thunberg, in waste and cultivated ground everywhere in Japan, and called "bakin," 

 or usually "uma biju " or "siberi fiju ; " by myself, among the islands of the Pacific only on Tonga- 

 taboo, Taheiti, and the Hawaiian Islands, clearly introduced (though perhaps not aboriginally by- 

 Polynesians). Farther East, was observed by E. James at the sources of the Arkansas and Platte 

 along the Rocky mountains, by Nuttall on the Upper Missouri, and may have thence accompanied 

 aboriginal agriculture to the Atlantic, for "purselin " was found by Strachey along James river in 

 1610, "purselane" by W. Wood in New England in 1629, and "wild purcelane " by Josselyn before 

 1670: P. oleracea having no flowering-season seems essentially a Tropical plant, and "verdolagas o 

 portulaca" is enumerated by Oviedo nat. hyst. 80 and gen. xi. 2 as one of three plants common 

 to Spain and the West Indies, the "portulaca" by Lerius in 1556 among the three plants common to 

 Europe and Brazil, and "purslane" was observed by Richard Hawkins in 1593 on the St. Anne's 

 Islands in S. Lat. 22 30' off the Brazilian coast. By European colonists, P. oleracea may have been 

 carried to the Azores (Wats.) ; to Austral Africa (fhunb.) ; to the Mauritius Islands (Boj., and A. 

 Dec ) ; and as intimated above, to the Polynesian islands. 



Ribes uva-crispa of Northern Europe and mountains farther South. Called in Britain gooseberry, 

 in the Eastern counties thape or fape or feabe or fea-berry, in Germany " kriiusel-beere " or by 



