RAP 



dry, then be cut off, with the heads, and fpread upon paper, 

 in a dry room, expofcd to the fun, and when quite dry, be 

 put into a bag, and luing in a dry place till it is wanted. 



All thefe plants arc hijrhly ornamental ; the iirll i'ort in 

 beds and pots, and the other i}i the borders, clumps, and 

 cither parts of pleafure-grounds. 



Ranunculus, Globe, in Botany. See Hei.luboue. 

 Ranunculus l^iiidis, in Zoology, the name of an ani- 

 mal common in many parts of the world, and uiually known 

 by the name of the tree-frog, or rana arborea. 



The creature is eaiily diftingnithed from the common 

 frog, by its being much fmaller, and of a green colour. It 

 ufually fits upon the leaves of trees and (hrnbs, and makes a 

 great noife in an evening ; but that is rather like the finging 

 of a fmall bird than the croaking of a frog. 



Thefe creatures have been kept alive many years together 

 in glafs veliels, gi-ving them flies and other fmall infefts : and 

 in winter, when thefe arc fcarce, they ufually become very 

 lean and feeble ; but in fummer, when they are plentiful, 

 ^ they will grow fat again, as if at their liberty. This is 

 elleemed a poifonous creature. Ray. See Rana. 



RANZ des Viiches, a celebrated air among the Swifs, 

 played upon the bagpipe by the young cow-keepers on 

 the mountains. The air will be found on our mnfic-plates. 

 In the article Music, the powerful effects of this tune are 

 mentioned, from Roufleau's Diet, de Muilque. 



RAOLCONDA, in Geography, the fcite of a diamond- 

 ■ mine in Hindooftan, placed in Mr. Montrefor's map about 

 15 geographical miles to the weft of Ralicotte, and 12 

 from the north bank of the Kiftnah, but Mr. Rennell 

 does not know what authority he has for this pofition. 

 Tavernier, who vifited Raolconda, gives its diftance from 

 Golconda at i 7 gos, of 4 French leagues each. He eroded 

 a river that formed the common boundary of Golconda and 

 Vifiapour, about four gos, or more, before he came to 

 Raolconda"; and this river can be no other than the Bee- 

 mah, which to this day forms the eattern boundary of Vi- 

 fiapour, and pafl'es-about 80 or 82 miles to the weft of Gol- 

 conda, croffing the road from it to Ralicotte. If we reckon 

 the 82 miles at 13 gos, that is, forming a fcale from the dif- 

 tance between Golconda and the river Beemah, each gos will 

 be 6.3 geographical mdes in horizontal diftance (or nearer 

 three than four French leagues) ; and Raolconda will be 

 placed about 25 geographical mile; on the W. of the 

 Beemah, or 1 1 E. of Rahcotte. 



RAON l'Etape, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Vofges, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 diftrift of St.'Die, on the Meurte ; 7 miles N. of St. Die. 

 The place contains 2528, and the canton 5300 inhabitants, 

 on a territory of 70 kihometres, in 5 communes. 



RAOUDA, or RouDDA, denoting ^^rfA-j.'j,, an ifland of 

 Egypt, in the Nile, in front of Old Cairo, about 500 yards 

 in breadth, where is built the Mehkias, fignifyuig meaiure, 

 or Nilometer, a pillar, by the gradations on which the rife of 

 the Nile is meafured. v 



This ifland is called Roudd, or gardens, becaufe it is laid 

 out in gardens, and inhabited only by gardeners. 



RAOUTTY, a town of Hindooftan, in Malwa ; 20 miles 

 N.N.E. of Tandla. 



RAPA, in Botany, (an ancient name, of whofe etymo- 

 logy no plaufiblc account has come to our knowledge.) the 

 Turnip. See Brassica, fpecies 7. 



PvAPAAPO, in Geography, a town of America, in New 

 Jerley ; 30 mil"s S. of Woodbury. 



RAPACIOUS Animals, in the general, are fuch as live 

 upon prey. 



Vol. XXIX. 



RAP 



Naturalifts divide birds into rapacioiu, carnivorous, and 

 frugivorous. 



Thecharaacriftic notes of rapacious birds, whicfi arc the 

 Accipitres of Linna:us, are, that they have a great liead, 

 and a fhort neck ; hooked, ftrong, and fliarp-pointed beak 

 and talons, fitted for tearing of (leni ; lliong and brawny 

 thighs, for itnking down their prey ; a broad thick flefhy 

 tongue, like that of man ; twelve feathers in their train ; 

 and twenty-four flag-feathers in each wing, and the two 

 appendices, or blind guts, are always very fliort. 



Rapacious birds have a membranous ftomach ; and not 

 a mulcnlous one, or a gizzard, fuch as birds have which live 

 on grain. 



They are verj' lliarp-fighted, and gather not in flocks ; 

 but, gL-nerally fpeaking, are folitary ; though vultures will 

 fly fifty or fixty in a company. 



RAPAKIVI, in Mineralogy, a name given to the ag- 

 gregate of felfpar and mica : its colour is brown, or 

 brownifh-red ; it moulders by expofure to the air, but that is 

 only when the mica is in excefs. When the felfpar exceeds, 

 it forms a durable ftone, called in Italy " Granitone.'*- 

 Kirwan. 



RAPALLO, in Geography, a town of the I>igurian re- 

 public, Ikuated on a bay to which it gives name ; 12 miles 

 E.S.E. of Genoa. 



R A PANE A, in Botany, according to De Theis, its 

 vernacular name in Guiana ; though Aublet fays nothing to 

 that efPea — Aubl. Guian. v. i. 121. JufT. 288. La- 

 marck Illuilr. t. 122. — Clafs and order, Pentandria Mono- 

 gynia. Nat. Ord. Berberidcs, or rather perhaps Rhamni, 

 or Sapotie ; Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, minute, of one leaf, 

 with five or fix teeth, permanent. Cor. of one petal ; tube 

 very fhort ; hmb in five or fix deep roundifh fegm.ents. Slam. 

 Filaments five or fix, inferted into the tube at the bafc of 

 each lobe of the limb ; anthers oblong, quadrangular, of 

 two cells. Pifl. Germcn fuperior, roundifh, of five or fix 

 cells ; ftyle very fhort ; ftigma obtufe. Peric. Drupa glo- 

 bular, of one cell. Seed folitai-)-, globofe. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla in five or fix deep fcgments, oppofjte 

 to the ftameiis. Anthers quadrangular. Drupa fuperior. 

 Seed folitary, globofe. 



I. R. guianetifis. Aubl. Guian. t. 46. '(Samara flori- 

 bunda; Willd. Sp. PI. v.' I. 665.) — Native of thickets, in 

 the fkirts of meadows, in Cayenne and Guiana, bearing 

 flowers and fruit in December. A fmall tree, whofe trunk 

 is five or fix feet high, and four or five inches thick, crowned 

 with branches ; the wood white, not very compaft. Leav:: 

 alternate, on fhort ftalks, obovate, bluntifh, entire, fmooth, 

 two or three inches long, with one rib, and many tranfverfe 

 veins fcarcely vifible when frefh. Flowers copious, fmall, 

 white, in denfe lateral tufts. Fndt violet-coloured.— Mr. 

 Brown, in his Prodromus Nov. HoU. v. i. 53 3, fpeaks of 

 this fhrub as belonging to the genus Myr'^ine, fee that arti- 

 cle ; confequently Juflieu was moll correct in hinting its 

 affinity to his Sapots, an order from which Ventenat and 

 Brown have feparated their more recent one of MvRSiNEiE, 

 to which we refer the reader. 



RAPATEA. apparently a vernacular name of the plant 

 in Guiana, Aubl. Guian. v. i. 305. t. 118. Juff. 44. 

 Lamarck Illuftr. t. 226. SccMnasium. 



RAPAX, in Ichthyology, a name given by Schoneveldt 

 to the corvus pi/cis ot fome writers, a fpecies of chub or 

 cyprinus, called rappc by the Germans, and by Gefner and 

 otfiers captto fhiviatilis rapax. 



RAPE, Raptus, in Latv, a ra-vijhing; or the having 



carnal knowledge of a woman by force, and againft her 



3 I will. 



