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ATT 



The lad fpecies we have to notice is the A. a comprejpone 

 diidus thurdcici. This takes place when the thoracic duft 

 is fo comprLfTcd by a tumor or other mechanical caiife, that 

 the tranrmifTion of the chyle through it is either partially or 

 wholly intercepted. In the latter cafe it is irremediable. 

 Fortunately this fpccies of atrophy is of very rare occur- 

 rence. See Morton's Phthfiologia ; and HolFman de Atro- 

 phia, Snppl.II. I. Cullen's Prattice of Phyhc, vol. iv. 



ATROPICA, in Entomology, a fpecies of Mantis de- 

 fcribcd by Pallas. It is a native of the iflaiid of Java ; on 

 the thorax are four fpines ; wing-cafts Ihort and mucronate 

 at the bafe. 



ATROPOS, a fpecies of Sphinx, with yellow pofte 

 rior wings fafciated with brown, and yellow abdomen 

 with black rings. Varieties of this fpecies diflering in 

 fize, colour, and fome peculiarities of the marks on the 

 anterior wings, are found in Egypt, India, the cape of Good 

 Hope, America, and Europe. It is the largell of the Eu- 

 ropean inltfts of the Icpidopterous tribe, and is certainly a 

 beautiful creature. In England this kind is rare, and is 

 called the death's head hawk-moth, from certain charatter- 

 iltic and very fingular marks on the thorax, by which the 

 figure of a human Ikull is Itrongly depifted. 'I'hefe infefts 

 for this reafon iiave generally been regarded as an ominous 

 prefage of fome approaching calamity by the pcafantry in 

 mod countries where they have appeared by chance ; and 

 Linnxus has himfelf named it after one of the three fates of 

 the heathen mythology. The larva feeds on the jafmine, 

 potatoc, and elder ; is folitary, yellow, with oblique, blue, 

 green, and black lateral ftripes, and a reflctled tail ; pupa 

 reddilh. Vide Donov. Brit. Inf. 9. t. 289. Linnxus in 

 Amocnit. Acad, names this infcft ciipiit morluum ; and Geof- 

 froy in Hill, des Infeftes, k fplitnx a letc de mort. 



Atropos, is alfo a fpecies of Musca, about half an 

 inch in length, that inhabits Aullria. It is rather downy ; 

 thorax whitlfh with three black fpots ; abdomen black, with 

 interrupted yellow bands, and margin of the fegraents of 

 the fame colour. Schrank Beylr. 



Atropos, in Mythology, one of the ParcK or Fatef, 

 -whofe office it was to cut the thread of life. 



Atropos, in Zoology, a fpecies of Coluber, defcribed 

 by Linnxus in Muf. Ad. Fr. &: Gmcl. Syft. Nat. as having 

 131 abdominal plates, and 22 fubcaudal fcalcs. It is a na- 

 tive of America, and deemed an extremely poifonous fer- 

 pent ; the colour hoary grey, with a quadruple feries of 

 brown ocellated fpots, each with a white iris or margin. 

 The head is heart-fhapcd, gibbous, with four and fometimes 

 more black fpots ; and the fcales are lanceolate. Gmcl. It 

 is cobra atropos of Laur. Amph. 



Dr. Shaw obferves that this fpecies is of a thick and 

 fliort form, fcarccly exceeding fifteen or fixteen inches in 

 length ; the head is large and viperine, marked with four 

 or five large dulky fpots, and covered with fmall fcales ; the 

 remainder of the animal of a pale br^wn, marked all along 

 the upper part by four rows of very large, alternate, round, 

 black fpots bordered with white ; the abdomen afli-colour, 

 and tail very ftiort, mealuring about a ninth part of its whole 

 length ; the fcales on all the upper parts are of a flightly 

 (harpened form, and carinated. Gen. Zool. v. 3. p. 2. 

 404. 



ATRO-VIOLESCENS, in Entomology, a fpecies of 

 Chrysomela, once taken in the month of September, in 

 the county of Norfolk. It is ovate, violaceous-black ; 

 wing-cafes (Iriated ; legs pitchy-black. Marfh. Ent. Brit, 



ATROVIRENS, in Zoology, a fpecies of Coluber, 

 defcribed by the count de Cepede under the title of " la 

 Goleiivre vcrte et jaune ;" and by T)v. Shaw, under that of 



coluber alrovirens, C, atrovirens, flavo maculatus, abdomine 

 flavo, lateribus nigro punctate. Black-green fnakc, Ipcck- 

 led with yellow ; the abdomen yellow, with a row of black 

 fpecks down each fide. French fnake. 



" This fecms," fays Dr. Shaw, " to be the fpecies figured 

 by Aldrovandus, under the name of anguis jE/ciiLipii tiiger, and 

 which appeals to have been fo little attended to by modern 

 naturaliils, as to have been generally confounded with the 

 ringed fnake (C. natrix), till it was again brought to notice 

 by Monf. Daubenton, and afterwards by the count de Ce- 

 pede, who has accurately defcribed it, and who informs us 

 that it is very frequent in fome of the provinces of France, 

 being found in woods and moill fhady places ; in its general 

 fize and appearance it reftinbles the ringed fnake or natrix, 

 but differs in colour, being of an extremely dark or black- 

 ifli green, fo as to appear black on a curlory view, the fides 

 being marked by numerous ravs of yellow Ipecks ot differ- 

 ent forms, fome oblong and fome fquare, and which form 

 fomewhat more decided or diftinftly marked ftripes towards 

 the head ; the eyes and edges of the mouth are bordered 

 with yellow fcales ; the abdomen is alfo yellow, each feu- 

 tum being marked on each fide by a black Ipeck. This 

 fnake is an animal of a perfectly harmlefs nature, and like 

 the ringed fnake, is capable of being tamed to a confider- 

 able degree." — " On the approach of winter, it retires, 

 like the latter, into fubterraneous retreats, and palFes that 

 feafon in a ftate of torpidity, from which it recovers in the 

 fpring, when it calls its llcin, and appears in its higheii 

 beauty." 



ATROX, in Zoology, a kind of Coluuer, which ac- 

 cording to Linnaeus is fpecifically charafterifed by having 

 169 abdominal plates, and 69 fubcaudal fcales. Amoen. 

 Acad. This creature is a native of Afia, and is about a 

 foot and a half in length ; the colour hoary ; fcalcs cari- 

 nated ; beneath marked with dark brown, tranfverfe, al- 

 ternate fpots ; head depreffcd, comprelfed, angnlated, and 

 covered with minute fcales. Gmelin makes " dipfas indica" 

 of Laur. Amph. a variety of this fpecies. Dr. Shaw de- 

 fcribes it in his Gen. Zool. as being the " grey brown fnakci 

 with tranfverfe linear whitifh ftripes, and duflcy abdomen, 

 with white tranfverfe variegations ; and names it the jiercc 

 fnake. This author alfo notices one error of Linnxus re- 

 fpefting this fpecies that deferves particular remark. " In 

 the Mufeum Adolphi Friderici, p. 33." fays he, " this fpe- 

 cies is, by a miftake, infcribed angulatus, while the figure on 

 plate 22 of that work, reprefents the body marked by feve- 

 ral diftant, narrow, tranfverfe whitilli bands reaching to the 

 abdomen, which is fpotted with fmall, round, white fpecks ; 

 the dulky tranfverfe fpots appearing only beneath the tail ; 

 the general colour of the abdomen, however, in this fnake 

 is rather deep brown or blackifh, beautifully variegated 

 or marbled by numerous narrow tranfverfe bands, accom- 

 panied here and there with fmall fpots ; the tall is remark- 

 ably (hort and llender. In the Syllcma Natnrx a miftaken 

 reference appears to be made to a figure in Seba reprefcnt- 

 ing a very different fpecies. The C. atrox is a poifonous 

 fnake, and is a native of the ifiand of Ceylon." 



ATSCHARES, in Geography, a tribe of the Mand- 

 SHURis, who inhabited the banks of the middle Amoor, in 

 Siberia, before it was taken poffeffion of by the Ruffians. 

 They then fubfifted in a ftate of independence ; but they 

 were afterwards removed, by order of the Chincfe govern-, 

 ment, from the Amoor farther towards China. 



ATTACAMA, in Geography, one of the fourteen jurif- 

 ditlions belonging to the archbiftiopric of Plata, in the 

 audience of Charcas, in South America. It is the weftern 

 boundary of the audience, extending to the South fea ; 



and 



