S 1 R 



S I 11 



the end of each cli\fter. Fruit the fize of a chefnut in its 

 (hell, green, fmooth, of three large ovate lobes, the valves 

 burlting elailically, like thofe of a Jatropha. Aublet fays 

 the nuts are very good and wholefome. The trunk of the 

 tree, when vsrounded, difcharges a milky fluid, which being 

 collefted, either in a mafs, or by fmearing it over lumps of 

 clay, flicks, &c. dries into any (hape that is wanted, and be- 

 comes the elailic gum, or Indian rubber, fo ufeful to artilts 

 for effacing at pleafure the marks of. a black-lead pencil. 

 (See Caoutchouc.) We beg leave to correft a (light bota- 

 nical inaccuracy in that article ; for the Hevea and the 

 Jatropha elajlica are precilely the fame plants. There is in- 

 deed, in the Linuxaii herbarium, befides the original fpeci- 

 meti, marked with this lall name, another from Mutis, 

 which tl'.at learned botanill judged to be a diflinft fpecies, 

 though affording, as fome other trees do, a fimilar gum. 

 The leaflets in this fpecimen are larger, more acute at each 

 end, and dellitute of partial llalks. The calyx is nearly 

 half an inch long. The younger Linnseus, in his Supple- 

 meritum, 422, promifed to pubh(h fomething at a future 

 lime refptdling the various trees that yield an elailic gum, 

 of the fame utility as the Caoutchouc ; but he did not live 

 to execute his defign. His reference to the Mem. de 1' Aca- 

 demic for 1751, with a cenfure of the figure, appears to be 

 copied from Aublet. 



SIPIAS, in Geography, a town of Mingrelia, fituated 

 on a river which runs into the Black fea ; 100 miles W.N. W. 

 of Tcflis. 



SI-PING, a town of China, of the third rank, in the 

 province of Ho-nan ; 30 miles N.N.W. of Yun-hing. 



SIPONIMA, in Botany. See Ciposi.ma, and Sy.m- 



PLOCOS. 



SIPSEY, in Geography, a river of the Hate of Georgia, 

 which runs into the Tombigh, N. lat. 32° 22'. W. long. 

 «7°5i'. 



SIPTACE, in Natural H'ljlory, the name given by the 

 ancients to a beautiful bird, of which they were very fond, 

 and which was often kept in their houfes. Some have con- 

 jeftured this to be the goldfinch, from the fine yellow they 

 delcribe about it ; but Pliny plainly makes it the parrot : 

 he tells us, among other things, that it imitated the human 

 voice the belt of all birds. 



SIPUCA, in Geography, a town of Peru, in the diocefe 

 of La Plata ; 60 miles E. of Plata. 



SIPUNCULUS, or Tube-worm, in Vermlology, a 

 renus of the Vermes Inteftina clafs and order, of which 

 the generic charafter is as follows : Body round, elongated ; 

 mouth cyhndrical at the end, and narrower than the body ; 

 tlie aperture at the fide of the body, and veruciform. 

 There are only two 



Species. 



* Nidus. The body of this fpecies is covered with a clofe 

 Ikni, and globular at the lower end. It is defcribed and 

 figured by Pennant, Barbut, and Martin. It inhabits Euro- 

 pean feas, under It ones ; and is about eight inches long. 

 The body is conic, and broader on the fore-part ; the mouth 

 is much (lenderer than the body, and armed with flefhy, 

 three-pointed papills; ; the aperture is near the upper 

 extremity. 



Saccatus. Body covered with a loofe (liin, and rounded 

 at the lower end. It inhabits the American and Indian 

 feas. It is (haped like the nidus, except in being enclofed 

 as it were in a loofe bag, and in not having the lower end 

 globular. 



SIR, or SlRR, in Geography, a river v/hich rifos in the 



mountains of Tartary, about 160 miles W. of Ca(hgar, 

 and runs into the lake of Aral, in N. lat. 45^ :o'. 



Sir Biby'i IJland, a fmall ifland in Hudfon's bay. N 

 lat. 61° 55'. W. long. 93° 40'. 



Sir Charles Hardy's IJland, an ifland in the Southern 

 Pacific ocean, difcovered by captain Carteret in 1767. Its 

 extent is confiderable, and it appears to be flat, green, and 

 pleifant. S. lat. 4° 38'. E. long. 134° 6'. 



Sir Charles Hardy's IJlands, a clufter of fmall iflands 

 in the South Pacific ocean, difcevered by captain Cook in 

 1770. S. lat. 11° 55'. W. long. 217*. 



Sir Thomas Hay's Point, 3 cape on the N.W. coaft of 

 Portland, one of Queen Charlotte's iflands, in the South 

 Pacific ocean. S. lat. 10° 42'. E. long. 165° 14'. 



Sir William James's IJland. See St. Sujanna. 



Sir Henry Martin's IJland, an ifland in the Pacific 

 ocean, about 16 leagues in circumference; difcovered by 

 lieutenant Hergeft, commander of the Dxdalut ftore-fhip, 

 in the year 1792. The country feemed to be highly cul- 

 tivated, and was fully inhabited by a civil and friendly race 

 of people, readily inclined to fupply whatever refrefhments 

 their country afforded. Mr. Hergeft's company were in- 

 duced to entertain this opinion from the hofpitable recep- 

 tion they experienced, on landing, from the chiefs, and up- 

 wards of 1500 of the natives, who were allembled on the 

 (hores of the harbour. On their return to the (hip, they 

 found the fame harmony fubfilling there with the Indians, 

 who had carried off and fold a fupply of vegetables and 

 fome figs. It is called by the natives Nooaheva. S. lat. 

 8^51'. E. long. 220°. 



Sir Charles Saunders's IJland, or Tapooamanoo, an ifland 

 in the Southern Pacific ocean, difcovered by captain Wallis 

 in the year 1767. The ifland is about fix miles in length, 

 and has a mountain of confiderable height in the centre, 

 which appeared to be fertile. The inhabitants did not 

 appear to be numerous. S. lat. 17° 28'. W. long. 

 1 50° 40'. 



Sir Thomas Roc's Welcome, a large bay in the north part 

 of Hudfon's bay. 



SIRA, a name by which fome of the chemical writers 

 have called orpiment. 



SIRACAUSTUM, a name given by Mefue to a medi- 

 cine he recommends in acute dileafes. 



SIRACUSA, in Geography. See Syracusa. 



SIRADIA, a town of the duchy of Warfaw, late capi- 

 tal of a palatinate of Poland, of the fame name, fituated 

 on the Warta ; 100 miles N.N.W. of Cracow. N. lat. 

 51° 31'. E. long. 18^45'. 



SIRiEUM, a word ufed by fome to exprefs a fweet de- 

 coftion, whether given in that form, or firlt infpifiated into 

 a fort of rob by evaporation. 



SIRAF, in Geography, a town of Perfia, in the pro- 

 vince of Lariltan, on the N. coaft of the Perfian gulf, in- 

 habited bv Arabians from the oppofite (hores ; 30 miles 

 S.W. of Lar. N. lat. 26= 44'. E. long. 53= 50'. 



SIRAGUAY, a town on the W. coaft of the ifland 

 of Mindanao. N. lat. 7° 15'. E. long. 11 2*^ 9'. 



SIRAJEPOUR, a town of Hindooftan, m Allahabad ; 

 10 miles E. of Corah. N. lat. 26'' 9'. E. long. 80° 58'. 

 SIRAITINA, a town of RulTia, in the country of the 

 Cofl'acks ; 56 miles S. of Arkadinft:aia. 



SI RAN, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Herault ; 15 miles S.W. of St. Pons. 



SIRAN(SAPE, a river of Africa, which runs into the 

 Indian fea, S. lat. 13° 4'. — Alfo, a town of Africa, in 

 the country of Mozambique, at the mouth of the river of 

 the lame name, S. lat. 13'^ 4'. 



SIRANI, 



