ACT 



ACT 



tention tlian the (lirubs thcmfclvcs. This fpccics is a na- 

 live of North America ; and the root is much ufcd in that 

 countr)', and laid to be an antidote to poilon, or tlu- bite 

 of the rattle-fnake. 3. A. j(i['oii'icci, or Japancfe herb 

 chriftophcr, differs from tlie fecond in having fmiple, not 

 pinnate leaves ; it has heart-lhaped leaflets, petioles loiigar 

 than the leaflets, and felillc flowers. 4. A. ,;J\Tt!, or rongh- 

 leaved chrillophcr, has a Ih.iibby climbing llcm, fubierrate 

 leaves, white flowers, and linear fpilics, quadrilid corolla and 

 calyx, more than fifty Uamina, and a gibbous bcriy, with- 

 out juice. This fpecies is a native of China near Canton, 

 and the Chinefe ufe the rough leaves in polilhing, particu- 

 larly their tin ware. Thefe plants may be propagated by 

 feeds, fown on a ihady border fuon after they are ripe, and 

 tranfplanted in the foilowiug autumn into a lli?.dy border, 

 where ihey are to be left to flower. Martyn's Miller's Did. 

 In the Linnxan fyllcm, by Gmelin, there are fix fpecies. 



Act.?;a, ii Entomology, is a fpecies of Papilio, with 

 expanded wings, brown above, the anterior marked with 

 two ocelli and two white points, and the hinder mai'bled 

 beneath. It is found in the iouthern part of Rulha. 



AcTiCA Cimkifiiga. See Cimicifuga. 



Acta;a, in Ancient GeograJ'hy, a name formerly given to 

 Attica. Pliny (1. 4. c. 7.) fays it was alfo called Ade. 

 Paufan. Attic, cap. xi. 



ACTION, in Fabulous Hiflory, the fovi of AnftEus and 

 Autonce, and gi-andfoR of Cadmus. Whilll he was purfu- 

 ing his favourite exercife of hunting, he is faid to have 

 looked on Diana, when (lie was bathing, to have been tranf- 

 formcd by her into a ilag, and devoured by his own dogs. 

 The moral of the fable is applied to thofe who ruin them- 

 fclves by keeping packs of dogs, or by too curious refcaiches 

 info nature- 



AcTJEON is alfo the name of one of the horfes that drew 

 the chariot of the fun, in the fall of Phaeton. Adlseon 

 formed of axriv, a ray of the fun, fignifies luminous, and 

 takes its name from the (plcndour of the fun. 



AcT^EON, in Natural Hiflory, a fpecies of Scarab.'eus, 

 or BEETLE, called by Svvamincrdam rhinoceros ; the enema 

 of Marcgrave ; with a fmooth body, bicorn thorax, the horn 

 of the head unidentated, with a bifid apex, and fmooth 

 elytra ; the horns of the thorax are turned forward, and 

 are conic. It is found in America, and is the largeft. of all 

 known infefts, except the cancer and monoculus. 



Act;eon is alfo a fpecies of papilio, with tricaudated 

 bluiih wings, black at the apex, and gold-coloured beneath, 

 with very Imall black fpots. 



ACTANIA,iny^ni:;£V!/(?f/55'r(7/^^j;, an ifland mentioned by 

 Pliny (H. N. torn. i. p. 221.) in the North Sea. Itisfituatcd 

 to the weft of Holftein and Ditmarfch, not far from the 

 mouth of the Eyder and Elbe ; and is now called HeyTig- 

 fand. 



ACTE, a<7n, denoted a peninfula. It was alfo a name 

 given to the fea-coalls about Mount Athos, in which were fix 

 towns mentioned by Thucydides, lib. iv. p. 302. Ed. Dukeri. 



AcTE, in Botany, the ELDi:R-/r«. 



ACTIAN Games, Ludi Acllac'i, in Antiquity, folemn 

 games inftituted, or, according to fome, only reilored by 

 Auguftus in memory of his vidoiy over Mark Anthony at 

 AcTiuM. Stephanus (tom. i. p. 56.) and fome others 

 maintain, that they were held evei-y third year : but the 

 more common opinion is that of Strabo, who fays (Geog. 

 tom. i. p. 501.) that they only returned every fifth year, 

 and were celebrated in honour of Apollo, fince furnaraed 

 AS'ius, By the way it is a great miftake in fome authors 

 to imagine, that Virgil infinuates their having been inSi- 

 tuted by vEneas, from that paffage, jEn. iii. 280. 

 " Adliaque Iliacis cclcbraraus Lltora ludis." 



It is true the poet alludes to the Aftian games; but he 

 only docs it by way of compliment to Auguftus, to attri- 

 bute that to tlie hero from whom he defceiidcd, which was 

 d.;ne by the emperor himfelf, as Servius has obfei-vcd 

 in loc. 



Hence AB'tan years were a feries of years, commenc- 

 ing from the sera of the battle of Aftium; called the acra 

 ofAuffuftus. See Epocha. 



ACTIAR, in Geography, a town near Bacfizaria, lying 

 on the weftern fide of the peninfula of Cherfouefus Taurica, 

 which, in confequence of the convention of 1783 between 

 the late Emprefs Catharine of Rufiia, and the Grand Sig- 

 nior, and the cefiion of terrilories by the Turks, was de- 

 clared a free port, and denominated Sebastopolis. 



ACTINE, in Bo!r.r,y, a name of the herb Bunias, or 

 Napus. 



Actine, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Thracian 

 Bofphorns. 



ACTINIA, in Zoology, a genus of the rr.ollufca order 

 of worms, the charafters of which are, that the body is 

 rough or wrinkled, furnifticd with eccentric cirri, and with 

 a fingle terminal aperture, and that it attaciies itfcif by its 

 bafe to rocks and other fubll;',nces among which it is found. 

 Of this genus Gmelin, in his edition of tlie Linnrean fyf- 

 tem, enumerates twenty-three fpecies, which are as follow, 

 viz. I. A. rufa, of a reddifti colour, with a rofaceous for- 

 amen and whitifti cim. This is the urlica marina libera of 

 Ariftotle, the urtiea parva of other authors, the iirlt fpe-i 

 cies of Hill's Medufa, and of Dicqueman-c's anemone. 

 It is found in various parts of the ocean and of the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, adhering to rocks ; of a variable form, iome- 

 times cylindric; or globular, or conical, and in fome rare 

 inftaiiccs of a changeable colour : its cirri are whitilh, ^ 

 fltnder, flexible and veiy moveable, fliorter than the diame- ■ 

 ter of the body and truncated at the apex. 2. A. crajft- "^ 

 cornis, of a red colour, with conically extended cin-i, found 

 in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Northern, and Icy Seas. 

 This is the fecond fpecies of Dicquemarre's anemone, the 

 priapus ruber, and the urtiea rubra of other authors. 



3. A. plumoft, with fmall tentacula and a cirrated m.argin. 

 This is Dicquemaire's fourth fpecies of anemone,, and 

 called ietti/perai by the Greenlanders. It is found in the 

 European Ocean, and exhibits a variety of beautiful colours. 



4. A.judaica, cylindric, fmooth and truncated; found in 

 the Mediterranean Sea, and called by the inhabitants o£ 

 Languedoc po/lerol. 5. A. effocta, fub-cylindric and angu- 

 larly ftriated ; found in the ocean. 6. A. coccinea, varied 

 with white and red, with cylindric annulated cirri ; found 

 rarely in the bays of Norway. 7. A. undala, conic and ' 

 whitifli, with duplicate wrinkled yellow ftrix ; found ad- 

 hering to fuci and milleporx, in the bay of Chriftianfand in 

 Norway. 8. A. luduala, of a grey colour, with longitudinal 

 ridges, and white cirri ; the urtiea cincrea of Rondeletius, 

 fometimes found in the fucus faccharinus in the Norwegian 



Sea. 9. A. truncata of a reddifh yellow colour, conical, 

 fmooth, and pellucid ; the third fpecies of Dicquemarre's 

 anemone. 10. A. nodofa, wrinkled and furrowed, enlarged 

 at tlie ends, -with fhort comprefTed crlmfon-colom-ed cirri ; 

 found on the rocks of the Greenland Sea. 1 1 . A. fpella- 

 bilis, fmooth and fliy-coloured, with thick cirri fpotted with 

 white and a radiated foramen ; frequent in the caverns of 

 rocks on the fliores of Greenland. 12. A. digitata, yellow, 

 with white points and reddifti cirri, lodged in the fiflTures 

 of rocks on the ftiores of the Northern Ocean. 13. A. 

 gigantca, cinereous and greenifli, with a folded fringe much 

 wider than the body, and grecnifti papilliform tentacula ; 

 found on the ftiores of the Red Sea, hiding itfelf in the 

 fandy clay. 14. A. allfa, gelatinous, white and greeniftt, 



with 



