A U R 



■by Miill ; verm. fluv. et terr. Chemnitz figures it, and 

 two varieties of the fame fpecies, tab. 121. Conch. 



AuRis MiD.T, a fpecies of Voluta, found in India, 

 where it inhabits marfhy Woods and fu-amps, and in its 

 manners rcfembles an helix. The (hell is contrafled, oval- 

 oblong, fpire rugofe, pillar-lip bidentated. This is Helix 

 U'fta fufiformi granulata, apertura lanceolata, labro ad axin 

 bidentato of Miil. verm. fluv. et terr. — Aur'is m'ults ai Rump- 

 Sus ; and auricula miclx of Argenville. Lifter figures one 

 variety of this fpecies in pi. 577. Conch, and Chemnitz 

 another, tab. 149. f. 1395, 1396. 



Tlie length of this kind is four inches ; it is brown, 

 folid, rugoTe, or ftriated ; fpire large ; whorls from fix to 

 nine, each terminating in a granulated band ; the outer 

 ones cancellated; aperture long, and widell beneath. 



AuRis PoRCi, a name fynonymons witii Crilla galli. 

 See. and given by Argenville to the fpecies ot Mytilus called 

 by Gmelii, M. crijla gaUi. 



AuRis SiLENi, a fpecies of Voluta, about two inches 

 in length ; of a vtntricofe form, and (hort ; colour brown, 

 with longitudinal undulated ilrix ot a chefnut colour ; aper- 

 ture ovate, and fpire obtufe. It is fpccifically defcribed 

 as being an oval, gibbous, umbilicated fliell, with a fingle 

 thick and flexuous plait on the pillar-lip. Born. Muf. 

 Tliis is c.-.Ued in England Silenus's ear-fbell. Its country 

 is unknown. 



AuRis Marina, or fea ear-lhcU, a vague term for feve- 

 ral rticlls of the Haliotis genus, but chiefly for the fpe- 

 cies tuberculata, which is common in the Mediterranean, 

 and is found, tlio\igh rarely, on the welleru coutls of Eng- 

 liuid. Donov. Brit. Shells, &c. 



AURISCALPIIIM, a fpecies of Turbo, that inhabits 

 the Mediterranean fea. Tiiis iliell is white, and very fmooth ; 

 aperture with an advanced flattilh, concave, obtufe lip. 

 Gmel. &c. This kind is miliiy-white and fubulate; whorls 

 of the fpire fevcn or ciglit ; aperture dilated, and referabling 

 an ear-picker ; with a margin. 



AuRiscALPiuM, an inllrunient wherewith to pick and 

 cleanfc'tlic ear from wax ; and alfo ferving for feme other 

 operations relating to that part. 



The word is compounded of aurh, ear, and fcalpo, I 

 fcratch, or pick. 



AURISPA, John, in Biography, was born in 1^69, at 

 Noto, in Sicily. He ftudied.the Greek language at Con- 

 ftantiiiople ; and on his return to Italy, brought with him 

 more than 100 Greek MSS. chiefly of pagan writers, which 

 were more eafily obtained than the writings of Chriftians ; 

 after a fecond vifit to Conftantinople in the train of the 

 emperor John PaljEologus, he taught the Greek and Latin 

 languages at Bologna, Florence, and Ferrara. He was 

 fecretary to pope Eugcnius IV. aod Nicholas V. and en- 

 joyed benefices in Sicily. After the death of the latter, 

 who was his patron, he returned to Ferrara, and continued 

 to teach and write till the time of his death in 1460. He 

 tranflated fome of the writings of Archimedes, and the com- 

 mentaries of Hierocles on the golden verfes of Pythagoras ; 

 and pBblifhed poems and letters. His verfion of Hierocles was 

 printed at Rslle in 1543. Nouv. Dicl. Hid. Gen. Biog. 



AURIST, in AltJicine and Surgery, one whofe profcfiion 

 it is to cure difeafes of tlie ear. 



AURITA, in Conchology, a fpecies of Balanus, that 

 inhabits the North Seas, and is defcribed by Ellis. This (hell 

 is membranaceous, ventricofe, feated on a tube, and eared ; 

 rnonth with eight valves, and dentated. Gnielin, &c. — 

 Ellis calls this lepas nuda comofa aurita. 



Aurita, a fpecies of Anomia, with a fliell of a fome- 

 ivhat ovate form, (Iriatcd, and (lightly eared ; beak per- 

 forated. Gualt. Inhabits the fcas about Norway, and 



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bears fome afTinity to another fpecies of the fame genus, 

 called by Linn, and Gmel. caput fcrpeutinis. 



Aurita, a fpecies of Mya, that inhabits New Zealand. 

 The fliell is ovate, compreffed, and clofed ; hinge with two 

 lateral teeth. Chemnitz. Colour fordid ochraceous. 



Aurita, in Etilomolo^y, a fpecies of Pimelia, with 

 the thorax margined, dilated in front ; each fide on the 

 wing-cafes bicannated. Inhabits Siberia, and is entirely 

 of a black colour. Pall?R, &c. 



Aurita, a fpecies of Phal«na i^NoSlua) that inhabits 

 Spain. The wings are (hining-brovvn, with a cinereous 

 band in the middle ; two denticles of lliff hairs on the 

 head, and four others on the thorax. Fabricius, &c. 



Aurita, a fpecies of Cicada that inhabits Europe. 

 The thorax is dilated into the form of two cars ; (hield 

 of the head fpreading, and rounded. Geoffroy calls this 

 cicada thorace obtule bicorni. It feeds on the oak and 

 nut trees, and is entirely of a cinereous colour. Gmel. &c. 



Aurita, in Knlural Hijlory, a fpecies of Medusa, 

 having four cavities beneath. Linn. Fn. Suec. This kind 

 inhabits the Baltic and other fcas ; is of an hemifpherical 

 form ; hyahnc ; from two to four inches in diameter ; and 

 when floating on the fea in fnnfliine, reflefls a beautiful 

 fplendor. The margins are fringed and yellow. Aldro- 

 vandus calls this vriica fcxta. 



Aurita, in Zoology, a fpecies of Lagerta that in- 

 habits the fandy parts of Siberia about Naryn, and the dc- 

 fert of Comani. It is defcribed by Pallas as having a 

 tail of a moderate fize, round, with callous dots on each 

 fide, dilated into a femiorbicular, foft, fcabrous, dentated 

 creft. This animal is rather larger than laccrta gccho ; the 

 colour above is cinereous and ycllowifh, clouded, and thickly 

 fpecklcd with brown ; beneath whitifli ; fpot on the chelt, 

 and tip of the tail beneath, black. The head is retufe ; 

 creft of the animal, when alive, turgid with blood ; body 

 ventricofe and deprefled, and with tlie legs and tail rough, 

 with acute prominent dots ; toes five, each furniflied with 

 a claw, and the three middle-moft ones fenated, the inner 

 one having a fingle notch, and the others two notches each. 

 Gmelin, &c. 



AURITjE, called alfo Hyksos, and Shepherds, in 

 Anclait Hi/lory, the denomination of a large body of adven- 

 turers who migrated into Egypt at a very early period. 

 Ancient and modern writers have not agreed in their con- 

 jedtures concerning thefe entcrprifing and fortunate peo- 

 ple. Manetho fuppofes the Auritx to have been Arabians; 

 but the learned Bryant maintains that they were Arkites, 

 who had been expelled from Babylon by the fons of Shem, 

 at the fecond difperfion. Unwilling to remain at home in- 

 digent' and inaftive, or unable to refill the fliock of fome 

 powerful foe, they abandoned a region which they could 

 no longer poflefs in tranquillity, precipitated themfelves into 

 Egypt, drove the difunited tribes of Ham from the moll 

 fertile pait of their territories at the upper end of the Delta, 

 and fettled there. This invafion happened foon after the 

 Syrians had become formidable by the conquells of Ninus ; 

 for we are told that the Aurita; fortified the eallern bor- 

 ders of their new fettlements towards Arabia and Chaldaea. 

 About this time, as all the ancient liiilorians alTcrt, the Delta 

 had acquired the confiilence of a morafs. Drained by the 

 (hepherds, it foon became a temperate and beautiful, as it 

 was naturally a fertile, region. For the fpace of two centuries 

 and a half, this bold and enterprifing race kept pofleffion 

 of Middle and Lower Egypt. In the courfe of thio period 

 they difcoveied, we are told, many ufeful arts and inven- 

 tions, and from time to time fent out colonies in queft of 

 new fettlements. Two hundred and fixty years after their 

 arrival in Egypt, the pollerity of the original nations, not 



finding 



