S P I 



S P I 



SPINTHERf among the Romans, a kind of bi-acelet 

 which the women, in the firft ages of Rome, ufed to wear 

 on tlie upper part of their left arm. 



SPINTHERA, in Mineralogy, a mineral of greenilh 

 colour, which occurs crvltallizcd m irregular dodecahedrons, 

 compofed of a double four-fided pyramid, obliquely trun- 

 cated at the apexes. The cryftab are fmall, and brightly 

 Ihining ; the frafture is lamellar. Its hardncfs is inferior 

 to that of glafs ; it is tranflucent on the edges. It melts 

 before the blowpipe without much difficulty. It has not 

 been aualyfcd. It was difcovered by Haiiy implanted in 

 calcareous fpar from Dauphine. Aikin's Dift. 



SPINUS, in the Natural Hi/lory of the Ancients, the 

 name of a foffile body of a very remarkable quality ; for, 

 according to the accounts of Theophraftus, and other 

 authors of the greateft credit, it broke to pieces, and thrown 

 in a heap expofed to the fun, it took fire and burnt, and 

 that the more if moiilened or fprinkled with water. 



It feems to have been a fubllance nearly allied to what 

 they call the lapis thracius, but with this remarkable quality, 

 both of them feem to have been of the clafs of the harder bi- 

 tumens, and are wholly unknown to us. Some late writers 

 have imagined, that the common black flate-ftone, fo frequent 

 ■with us in the coal-pits, was the fubftance called by Theo- 

 phraftus, and the ancients, by this name ; but it had none 

 of the qualities attributed to the fpinus. Hill's Theo- 

 phraftus, p. 35. 



Spinus, in Ichthyology, a fpecies of the fparus, with a 

 bifid tail, and the dorfal fpine recumbent. It is found in 

 the Indian feas. 



Spinus, the Fr'tngilla fpinus of Linnasus, in Ornithology, 

 the name of a fmall bird, called by fome ligurinus, and in 

 Enghfh the Jijtin. Its head is black, and its neck and 

 back green ; the neck, however, has fome flight admixture 

 of a blackifti tinge, and the roots of the back feathers have 

 alfo fome blackifhnefs ; its rump is of a greenifh-yellow, 

 as are alfo its breaft and throat ; its belly is white, and its 

 tail is yellow underneath, with fome brownifh fpots ; the 

 female is paler coloured than the male ; and its throat, and 

 its fides, under the wings, are whitifh, with ftreaks of 

 brown ; the head and back are of a greenifli afli-colour, 

 marked with brown. It is common in Germany and 

 England, which it vifits at uncertain times, and is kept in 

 cages for finging. In winter thefe birds fly in large flocks. 

 In Sud'ex it is called the barley-bird, becaufe it comes to 

 them in the barley-feed time. 



SPIO, in Natural Hiftory, a genus of the clafs Vermes, 

 and order MoUufca. The generic charafter is as follows : 

 Body projedling from a tube, jointed, and furnifhed with 

 dorfal fibres ; peduncles or feet rough with brilUes, and 

 placed towards the back ; two feelers, which are long and 

 fimplc ; it has two oblong eyes. There are only two 



Species. 



* Seticornis. Feelers thin and ftriatc. This fpecies 

 inhabits the ocean, principally where there is a clayey 

 bottom ; it is about three inches long ; the tube is com- 

 pofed of agglutinated particles of earth, thin, ereft, and 

 thrice as long as the body. From this the animal projefts 

 its capillary white feelers in fearch of food, which confifts 

 of fmall marine worms ; the body is whitifh, with a tinge 

 of green, with a red line down the middle of the back ; ine 

 hind-part is of a fea-green ; the fore-part is blackifh-grey, 

 with tranfverfe white ftrix ; the head is pale. 



FiLicoRNis. Feelers thick and annulate. It inhabits 

 tlie fea-lhores about Greenland, and is an inch long. Body 

 yblong, yellowifli or reddilh, with a cinereous line in the 



Vol. XXXIII. 



middle, and at tach end; the tube 19 fragile, creft, and 

 greenifh, from which it projefts its feelers in fearch of 

 planarite, and other fmall marine worms. 



SPIPOLA, in Ornithology, the name of a fmall bird of 

 the lark kind, of which there are, according to Aldrovand, 

 three fpecies, fufpefted by Mr. Ray to be only varieties 

 of ihe fpinoletta, or tordino of the Venetians. 



Linnseus makes two of thefe diftinft fpecies, under the 

 titles of alauda trivialis, and alauda pratenjts ; the laft of 

 which is our tit-lark. 



SPIRACLE. See Vent. 



SPIRACULA, in the Hijlory of Infeds, are httle holes 

 or pores placed fingly on each fide of every fegment of the 

 abdomen, through which the infedl breathes ; and if oil be 

 applied fo as to ftop them up, it proves fatal to moft of 

 them. 



SPIR.£A, in Botany, a name borrowed from Theo- 

 phraftus, whofe o-TEijaix is fuppofed to be one of the fpecies 

 of this pretty genus. — Linn. Gen. 253. Schreb. 341. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. 2. 1 055. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Sm. 

 Fl. Brit. 535. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 3. 254. Purfti 341. 

 Juff. 339. Lamarck Illuftr. t. 439. Gzrtn. t. 69. — 

 Clafs and order, Icofendrim Pcntagynia, Nat. Ord. Po- 

 maces, Linn. Rofacex, Jufl. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, flat at the 

 bafe, in five acute fegments, permanent. Car. Petals five, 

 roundifh-oblong, inferted into the calyx. Slam. Filaments 

 more than twenty, thread-fhaped, inferted into the calyx, 

 fhorter than the corolla ; anthers roundifli. Fiji. Germens 

 five or more ; ftyles as many, thread-fliaped, the length of 

 the ftamens ; ftigmas capitate. Peric. Capfules oblong, 

 comprefl"ed, pointed, each of one cell and two valves. Seeds 

 li^-^, pointed, fmall, inferted into the inner margins of the 

 valves. 



Obf. S. Filipendula and Ulmaria have numerous ger- 

 mens and capfules ; S. ^runcus is dioecious ; S. opulifolia 

 has only three germens and ftyles. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Petals five. Capfules fu- 

 perior, of two valves, with feveral feeds. 

 Seft. I. Stem Jhrubby. 



1. S. Itevigata. Smooth-leaved Spirsea. Linn. Mant. 

 244. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. I. (S. altaica ; Pall. Rolf, 

 v. I. p. 1. 37. t. 23.) — Leaves obovato-lanceolate, entire, 

 feflilc, fmooth. Clufters ftalked, corymbofe. — Native of 

 Siberia. The Engliih gardens are obliged to Dr. Solander 

 for this fhrub, which is quite hardy, flowering copioufly in 

 fummer, and diftinguiflied by its very fmooth, wnllow-like, 

 rather glaucous leaves. Flowers pure white, in clufters, 

 coUeaed into corymbofe tufts at the ends of the branches. 

 The leaves are deciduous in all tlie fpecies. 



2. S. falicifolia. Willow-leaved Spina. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 700. Fl. Brit. n. I. Engl. Bot. t. 1468. Ait. n. 2. 

 Purfti n. I. Pall. Rofl". v. i. p. i. 36. t. 21, 22. (S. 

 Theophrafti forte; Ger. Em. 1601.)— Leaves ovato-lancc- 

 olate, bluntifli, ferrated, fmooth. Clufters terminal, com- 

 pound. — Native of mountain thickets, near water, in Si- 

 beria, Tartary, and North America, as well as in Scotland 

 and the north of England. It is common in fhrubberies. 

 flowering in July. The flem is four or five feet high, cred, 

 bufliy. Leaves ftalked, from one to two inches long, va- 

 rious in breadth, deeply ferrated. Flowers pink, with a 

 dark red caly.v. In America there is a white variety. 



3. S. callofa. Callous Spina. Thunb. J-ip- 209. 

 WTlld. n. 3. (S. japonica; Linn. Suppl. 262.)— Le.ivca 

 lanceolate, acute, ferrated, rather villous. Stem downy. 

 Panicle doubly compound, fomewhat level-topped.— Native 

 of Japan, flowering in June, Leaves longer and more acute 

 4B 



