S 1 B 



ferroces to Diofcorides, and, with Mr. Hawkins's help, cor- 

 refted the modern Greek names, which laft were necetTarily 

 taken down but incompletely, from many illiterate and im- 

 perfcft authorities, on the fpot. When thefe publications 

 are nnifhed, the annual fum of 208)/. is to be paid to a pro- 

 fefTor of rural economy, who is, under certain limitations, 

 to be the Sherardian profeffor of botany, and who is, very 

 properly, obliged to read leAures, that the appointment 

 may not become a reproach, inltead of an advantage, to the 

 univerfity. The remamder of the rents of the ellate above 

 mentioned is dedined to purchafe books for the profeiibr ; 

 and the whole of the teftator's collections, with his drawings, 

 and books of" Natural Hiftory, Botany, and Agriculture," 

 are given to the univerfity. This bequeil rivals the munifi- 

 cence of Sherard and of Sloane, in the fervice of natural 

 ibience, and has only been exceeded by that of the late 

 Mr. Robertfon of Stockwell, whofe ill-made will was fet 

 aCde by the common law of the land. 



The only work which profeffor John Sibthorp publifhed 

 in his life-time is a Flora Oxnnunfis, in one volume 8vo. 

 printed in 1794. It has the merit of being entirely founded 

 on his own perfonal obfervation. The fpecies enumerated 

 amount to 1200, all gathered by himlclf, and difpofed ac- 

 cording to the Linnaan fyflem, with the alterations of 

 Thunberg, which were then new, but which are now not 

 admitted as improvements. The adoption, though imper- 

 feft, of Hedwig's genera of Moffes in this Flora, mull be 

 efteenicd a more fortunate meafure. S. 



SIBTHORPIA, in Botany, was fo called by Linnaeus, 

 in compliment to Dr. Humphrey Sibthorp, for about forty 

 years profeffor of botany at Oxford, and the immediate 

 fuccetlor of Dillenius. He is faid to have delivered but a 

 fingle lefture in all that time, which was not a fuccefsful 

 one, nor do we know of his having enriched the fcience with 

 any pubhcation. A ffiort letter from this gentleman, an- 

 nouncing the death of his predeceflor, is extant among the 

 Epyiolit ad Hallerum. In this he modeitly expreffes a with 

 that he were equal to the tafe before him. However im- 

 perfeft his claims to botanical celebrity, his fon has conferred 

 more honour on the above name than either of them could 

 derive from it ; fee the preceding article. — Linn. Gen. 320. 

 Schreb. 418. Willd. Sp. PL v. 3. 340. Mart. Mill. 

 Dift. v. 4. Sm. Fl. Brit. 667. Prodr. Fl. GroEc. Sibth. 

 V. I. 439. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 51. Juff. 99. La- 

 marck lUuitr. t. 535. Gxrtn. t. 55 Clafs and order, 



Didynamia Ang'tofpermia. Nat. Ord. Perfonatx, Linn. Pedi- 

 culares, Juff. 



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

 in five deep, ovate, fpreading, flightly unequal, permanent 

 fegments. Cor. of one petal, bell-diaped, m five deep 

 rounded fegments ; the three uppermoft largeft, equal to 

 the calyx ; two lower ones (horter, and lefs coloured. 

 Stam. Filaments four, awl-(haped, not half the length of 

 the corolla, fcarce vifibly unequal, fpreading, two at each 

 fide, oppofite to its lateral fiffures ; anthers roundilh, two- 

 lobed. Fiji. Germen fuperior, roundifh, compreffed ; ftyle 

 cylindrical, very fhort, thicker than the filaments ; iligma 

 peltate. Perk. Capfule compreffed, orbicular, notched, 

 fwelling at each fide, acute at the margin, of two valves and 

 two cells, the partitions from the centre of each valve. 

 Seeds few, roundifli-oblong, convex on one fide, flat on the 

 other, inferted into a globofe central receptacle. 



Ed. Ch. Calyx in five deep fegments. Corolla five- 

 ckft, irregular. Stamens fpreading laterally in pairs. Cap- 

 sule compreffed, inverfely heart-lhaped, of two cells, with 

 tranfverfe partitions. 



1. S. niropea. Sibthorpia, or Corniff» Money-wort. 



SIB 



Linn. Sp. PI. 880. Willd. n. i. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl, 

 Bot. t. 649. (S. proftrata ; Salilb. Ic. 11. t. 6. Alfine 

 fpuria pufiUa repens, foliis Saxifrage aurea; ; Raii Syn. 352. 

 Pluk. Phyt. t. 7. f. 6. Cornwall Penny-wort ;' Petiv. 

 Herb. Brit. t. 6. f. II.) — Ray obferved this curious little 

 plant to be plentiful in Cornwall and Devonfhire, on moill 

 banks, and about the margins of rivulets, flowering from 

 June to Augull, being accompanied by the elegant Cam- 

 panula hederacea. There feverai fucceeding botanifts have 

 gathered both. Loefling found the Sibthorpia in Portugal, 

 and Mr. Hawkins on the mountains of Crete ; but we 

 know not of its having been noticed in any other country. 

 We have feen it completely naturalized on the lawn of 

 James Vere, efq. in his curious garden at Knight (bridge. 

 The root is fibrous, perennial. Stems proltrate, creepmg 

 extenfively, branched, (lender and delicate, leafy, hairy. 

 Leaves alternate, (laTked, horizontal, kidney-lliaped, with 

 (hallow diftant notches, hairy, rather fle(hy, about half an 

 inch broad ; paler and veiny beneath. Flonxiers axillary, 

 folitary, on fhort hairy (talks. Corolla- of a pale greenilh- 

 yellow, with a purplifli tinge in the three upper fegments. 



The S. evolvulacea of Liiinaeus's Supplementum being a 

 very diilincl genu!, now known by the name of Dichosdr.*, 

 fee that article, the above becomes the only fpecies of 

 Sibthorpia. 



SIBU, in Geography, one of the Philippine iflands, about 

 240 miles in circumference. The principal produftions 

 are a fpecies of grain called borona, which ferves inilead of 

 rice ; cotton, tobacco, wax, and civet. This ifland was 

 difcovered by Magellan in Ij2i. N. lat. 10° 41'. E. 

 long. 123^ 30'. 



SiBU, Zibu, or Sogtu, a town in the above-mentioned 

 ifland, containing 5000 houfes, the fee of a bilhop, and 

 refidence of a governor. In this town, as fome fay, Ma- 

 gellan, the celebrated circumnavigator, died. N. lat. 10° 

 35'. E. long. 123° 44'. 



SIBUCO, a town on the weft coaft of Mindanao. N. 

 lat. 7° 3'. E. long. 122° 10'. 



SIBULTIQUI, a river of Mexico, which runs into the 

 Pacific ocean, N. lat. 13° 35'. W. long. 89° 16'. 



SIBUYAN, one of the Philippine iflands, about 36miles 

 in circumference. N. lat. 12° 36'. E. long. 122° 22'. 



SIBYLS, SiBYLL-E, fuppofed by Laftantius, whofe opi- 

 nion is generally followed, to be formed of the two 

 Greek words, a-is, for ©.s, Dei, and paXr, counfel, in yfnti- 

 quity, virgin-propheteffes, or maids fnppofed to be divinely 

 infpired ; and who, in the height of their enthufiafm, gave 

 oracles, and foretold things to come. 



Authors do not agree about the number of the Sibyls, 

 though their exiftence is allowed, as fufficiently eftablifhed 

 by antiquity. Capella reckons but two, -viz. Erophyle of 

 Troy, called Sibylla Phrygia ; and Sinuachia of Erythrae, 

 called Sibylla Erythraa. Sohnus mentions three ; viz.. 

 Cumsa, Delphica, or the Sibyl of Sardis, and Erythrxa ; 

 and of this opinion is Aufonius, who thus defcribes them ; 



" Et tres fatidics nomen commune Sibyllas, 

 Quarum tergemini fatalia carmine libri." 



./Elian makes their number four, viz.. the Erythr^an, the 

 Egyptian, the Sibyl born at Samos, and another of Sardis 

 in Lydia ; and Varro increafes it te ten, denominating them 

 from the places of their birth ; the Perfian, called Sabetha 

 by the PerCans ; Libyan, according to Euripides, the 

 daughter of Jupiter and Latona ; Delphic, named Daphne 

 by Diodorus Siculus, who fays that (he was born at Thebes 

 in Boeotia ; Cimmerian ; Erythraean, who prophefied to the 

 Gre«ks, that were going to befiege Troy, the happy fuccefs 



of 



