A S T 



AST 



ihe voots, fo ns to be troubltfome, and the feeds of fome are 

 blown about and come up like weeds. The Italian ftar- 

 tvort (9) has not been fo much cultivated in England fince 

 the great variety of American fpccies has been introduced, 

 tliouvjh it is by no means inferior to the belt of tlieni. It 

 is propagated by parting the roots foon after the plant is 

 out of flower. The roots (liould not be removed oftener 

 than every third year. Cate(by's flar-wort (22) not multi- 

 plying fall by its roots, may be propagated in plenty by 

 cuttings from the young flioots in May, which, if planted 

 in light earth and Ihaded from the fun, will flower the fame 

 Tear. When the annual ftar-wort (25) is once introduced, 

 the feeds will fcatter, and tlie plants come up without care. 

 The China allcr (35) being an annual plant, is prop.igated 

 by feeds, which mull be lown in the fpring on a warm 

 border, or rather upon a gentle hot -bed, juH: to bring up the 

 plants; for they (liould be enured to the open air as foon as 

 polhijle; when the plants are three inches high, they Ihould 

 betaken up and planted in a bed of rich earth, at fix inches 

 dillance every way, obfer\ing to (hade them from the fun 

 till they have taken new root ; and if the ft-afon is diy, 

 they mull be often rcfrelhed with water. In this bed they 

 may remain a month or live weeks, by which time they will 

 be ftrong enough to tranfplant into the borders of the 

 flower garden, where they are dcfigned to remain; or into 

 pots to adorn court-yards, &c. The plants (hiuld be taken 

 up carefully with large balls of earth at their roots; after 

 they are planted, and the earth clofed about their roots, 

 there fliould be fome water given them to fettle the earth. 

 If the ground be rich, thefe plants will flower in Auguft, 

 and form the grcatcft ornament in the flower garden in 

 autumn. They ripen in the beginning of Otlober, and 

 fhould be gathered when they are perfectly diT. Procum- 

 bent flar-wort (4*^) being a native of a warm climate, will 

 not live in the open air in England. The feeds mu(l be 

 fown in a hot-bed ; and the plants will require a ftove to 

 prefervc them during the winter. See Martyn's Miller's 

 Diet. 



Aster. See Arctotis, Arnica, Buphthalmom, 

 Car?esium, Chrysanthemum, Chrysocoma, Cine- 

 raria, CoNYZA, Erigeron, Gorteria, Inula, Sene- 



CIO, SOLIDAGO, TUSSILAGO. 



Aster, in Mineralogy, a denomination given to a fpecics 

 of Samian earth. 



Aster, in Na'ural Hyiory, a fpecics of Hydra in Gme- 

 Hn's Sylt. Nat. This is the a,'t'iri':a njlir of Ellis, and in- 

 habits the American feas. The Item is thick, flefiiy, 

 fubcvlindrical, fmooth, truncated, and radiated with ten- 

 tacula. 



Aster is alfo a denomination, in the jtncirnt Pharmacy, 

 given to a kind of medicine, invented by Andromachus, 

 againft deflu>;ions, and divers odier pains. 



ASTERIA is the name of a gem, ufually called the 

 cat's eye, or ncuhs crli. It has only two colours, a pale 

 brown and a white, the brown fecming the ground, and the 

 white plaving about it, as the fire colour in the opal. It is 

 coufideralily hard, and will take a fine poliih, but is ufually 

 worn with its native (hape and fmoothnels. 



It is found in the Eall and Well Indies, and in Europe. 

 The ifland of Borneo affoixis fome very fine ones, but they 

 are ufually fmall ; they are ven- common in the fands of 

 rivers of New Spain: and in Bohemia they are not unfre- 

 quently found immei-fed in the fume maffes of jalper with 

 the Opal. 



Asteria is alfo the name of a figured llone. Sre Star- 

 Jlone. 



Astfria, in Ancient Geography, a fmall ifland between 

 Vol, III. 



thofe of Ithaca and Cephalenia, Strabo. This is called 

 u'ljlfr'n by Homer in the OdyfTey. 



ASTERIAS, in Botany. See Gentian- A. 

 Asterias, in Entomology, a fpecics of Papiuo {Ef. 

 Tro.), the wings of which are black, with two bands of 

 yellow fpotj; anal angle falvous, with a biack dot. Fabri- 

 cius mantiffa. Inhabits America. 



Aster IAS, in Kaluiul Hiflory, a genus of Verms in the 

 molUiIca tribe, the body ot which ii depreifctl, grooTcd 

 beneath; covered with a coriaceous emit, and muricated 

 with tentacula ; mouth central, of live valves. Thefe arc 

 the Itella; marinx, ttar-fifli, or fea-llars of moll authors; arc 

 all inhabitains of the fea; reproduce paits which have been 

 loil by \-ioleiice ; and move either by fv i mining or crawling. 

 In fliape they vaiy exceedingly, and hence Gmelin has 

 arranged them under ditlcrcnt far.iilies, as lunate, /i.''.!ali, and 

 raiiuit,!. The fpscies he enumerates are thefe: ncbilis, 

 pulvillus, militaris, luna, pappofa, fpo-ngiofa, rubens, fepofita, 

 endeca, miniita, glacialis, reticulata, phrygiana, nodofa, vio- 

 lacea, fanguinolenta, perforata, aranciaca, cqucflris, laevi- 

 gata, menibranncea, granulari-i, rofea, pcrtufa, ophiura, acn- 

 leata, ciharis, filiformis, tenclla, peftinata, multiradiata, caput 

 meduf^, euryale, oligxtcs, nigra, tncolor, and fragilin; 

 which fee refpectivcly A., arnhala; five rayed: di(k orbi- 

 cular; covered with glabrous prickle?, A. amriciaca; didt 

 broad ; rays fiimewhat deprcfled, and prickly along the 

 margins. Inhabits the North arid Mediterranean fea. 

 MiiU. Gmel. kc. 



Asterias, in Ornithology, a term fynonymous with al\Br, 

 &c. ; a name by which fome old writers have called the 

 common gof-hawk, falco palun barius. Linn. The name 

 ajluris has been applied by Ray to the fame bird. 



ASTERIE, in Entomology, a fpecies of Papilio. {l\'\;rf>h. 

 Gt'm.) Wings dcntated, varied with pale yellow, a large 

 bipupillatcd fpot on the pollerior pair, ;ibove; beneath paie, 

 with three octllar fpots. Eab. &:c. Linnaus defcribes this 

 infect as papilio alia dcntatis lutea variis, fiuguhs utnnqni 

 occUls fefquialteris ; antcriore pnpilla gcmina. Syft. Nat. 

 It is figured by Cramer and Kleeman. 



ASTERION, in AJlronomy, one of the Canes Ve.na- 



TICI. 



AsTERioN, in Ancient Geography, a river of Pcloponnef««. 



Paufanias Alff), a town of Greece, in Pionia. Livv, 



1. 24. c. 24. — Alfo, a town of Thcflaly, feated on a moun- 

 tain, called alfo Per -fa. Steph. Byz. 



ASTERISCOIUE^^, in Botany. See OfMiTrs. 



ASTERISCUS. See Anthemis, Bcphthalmum, 

 and S11.PHIUM. 



ASTERI-SIMILIS. See Ericeron-. 



ASTERISK, a charadtcr in form of a fmall ftar, fct 

 over any word or fcntence, to make it the more confpicuous, 

 or to refer to the margin, or elfewherc, for a quotation, 

 exjjlanation, or the like. 



'llie word is a diminulivcof er>:p, ^Jlar. 



ASTERISM, from o^r,^,Jlar, in AJlronomy, the fame 

 with C0NSTF1.1.AT10N. 



ASTERIl'S, in An.hnl Geography, an ifland on the 

 coall of Ionia, at a dillance fiv)in the mouth of the Meander ; 

 fouth-eail of the promontory of Trogilium, north of that 

 of Pofideiun, and W. N. W. froni the town of Miletus, 

 it was famous for the \ictory obtained near it by the 

 Greeks, ^'ained on the fame day when they triumphed m-er 

 the fame cnemie* at PlalKa, 



Aster I us Urianiis, in Biography, a writer againft the 

 Montanilts, was cither a bifliop cr preftiytcr, and lived 

 about the beginning of the thiid centuiT. Copious txti-acls 

 of a trcatife, which was the fnbit;nice of kis difputalio:i 



U holi 



