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foUouing confiderations : i. That Pliny makes mentis of 

 fix tetrarchies within the cities of Decapohs. 2. ihat 

 Herod's kinedom was only dividc-d into three parts, which 

 yet wore called tetrarchies, and the fovereigns of them 

 ( Luke, iii. I . ) tctrarchs. 3. Jofephus Antiq. Jud. lib. xiv. 

 c. 2 J. tells us, that, after the battle of Phihppi, Antony, 

 going into Syria, conftituted Herod tetrarch ; and on me- 

 dals the fame Herod is called ethnarch. 



TETRARRHENA, in Botany, fo named by Mr. K. 

 Brown, from tst,:<, and ^■.(y.., male, on account of the very 

 remarkable charader in this tribe, the grafles, of the four 

 ftamens, which Mr. Brown fays he has afcertained by re- 

 peated examination Brown Prodr. Nov. HoU. v. i. 209. 



—Clafs and order, Tetrandria D'igynia. Nat. Ord. Gra- 

 minii. 



E(r. Ch. Calyx of two-valves, fingle-fiowered. Corolla 

 double ; each of two valves, naked at the bafe. Neftary 

 of two fcales, oppolite, alternate with the valves of the 

 corolla. Stigmas feathery. 



The inflorefcence is a fimple, equal, fomevvhat racemofe 

 fpike. Flowers awnlefs. 



1. T. dyiichophylla. Two-ranked Tetrandrous Grafs. 

 Br. n. 1. ( Ehrharta diftichophylla ; Labill. Nov. Holl. 

 v. I. 90. t. 117.) — Flowers downy. Corolla ribbed, ob- 

 tufe ; tlie outermoft. valve half the length of the reil. Leaves 

 ftraight, hairy as well as their (heaths. Stem branched at 



the bafe Native of Cape Van Diemen. Thejlem is hardly 



a foot high, with many ereft leafy branches. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, acute, about an inch long, moderately fpreading in 

 two ranks. Spiies folitary, ftalked, terminal, ereA, about 

 an inch in length, fimple, the fio'vuers almoft all feffile, 

 fpreading in two rows. 



2. T. acuminata. Pointed Tetrandrous Grafs. Br. n. 2. 

 — " Flowers fmooth. Corolla ribbed ; the outer glumes 

 acute ; one valve rather (horter than the inner glumes ; the 

 other longer, with a taper point. Leaves and their items 

 fmooth. Stem branched." — Found by Mr. Brown in the 

 fame country. 



3. T. j«««a. Rufliy Tetrandrous Grafs. Br. n. 3. — 

 " Flowers fmooth, imbricated. Calyx without ribs. Co- 

 rolla ribbed, obtufe. Stem branched ; ftraight and fmooth 

 like the leaves." — From the fouthern coaft of New Hol- 

 and. Broiun. 



4. T. Ixvis. Smooth Tetrandrous Grafs. Br. n. 4 — 

 " Flowers fmooth, diftinft. Calyx ribbed, rather acute. 

 Corolla obtufe, fmooth, without ribs. Stems fimple. 

 Leaves fmooth, flat, rather lax." — Gathered by Mr. Brown 

 in the fame country with the laft fpecies. 



TETRASARIUS, a word ufed by fome of the medi- 

 cal writers, to exprefs half an ounce. 



TETRASPASTON, i{,(=L<7^y.roy, in Mechanics, a ma- 

 chine in which are four pullies. See Pulley. 



TETRASTATER, TU^oLr-^^^, in Mcient Coinage, a 

 Grecian gold coin of Lyfimachus, Antiochus HL, and of 

 fome of the Egyptian monarchs. It was the quadruple 

 chrufos (x;tJ!7o--), weighing about 530 grains, and current for 

 80 drachmas of filver, valued at about 3/., now worth 4/. 

 fterling. Some v/eigh 540 grains, which may be owing to 

 the gold of fuch being of more alloy ; though it may well 

 be queftioned, fays Pinkerton (Medals, vol. i.), if they were 

 ever meant to relate to the Attic ftandard. 



TETRASTICH, -rsxp-s-ixo', a ftanza, epigram, or 

 poem, confifting of four verfes. 



TETRASTCECHON, in Botany, a term often ufed by 

 the Greek writers, and generally mifunderftood by thofe 

 who copy their accounts. Phny has made an error in 

 the defcription of the euonymus, which has confounded 



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two dilTercnt llirubs together ever fince, by miftaking the- 

 fenfe of this word, ufed by Theophraftus, in his account of 

 it. He fays, that the fruit is divided within into four 

 orders or feries of feeds ; tliis he exprefTes by the word 

 tetrajlachon, which Pliny, fuppofing to be the fame with 

 the word tetragonon, has trandated into granum quadranguh 

 jigura. 



But this is by no means the fenfe of the word w^hich was 

 ufed by the Greeks, to exprefs that a thing had Tsrafac 

 TafEi?, four rows, orders, or feries of feeds in it : nor doe» 

 it at all exprefs the feeds being fquare, much lefs its being 

 fingle, for the original derivation of the word was from the 

 term xxxa roi^ov, ufed in dances. Thefe were compofed of 

 feveral feries of perfons, called f oi^o', Jlschi ; and every 

 ftojchon confifted of feveral perfons, who all moved toge- 

 ther. See Euonymus. 



TETRASTYLE, formed from rslpa, four, and ^r^^\'>^, 

 column, in the Ancient Archite^ure, a building, and particularly 

 a temple, with four columns in its front. 



TETRASYLLABICAL, a word confifting of four 

 fyllables. 



TETRATHECA, in Botany, received that name from 

 the writer of the prefent article, in allufion to the four cells 

 of its anthers, the word being compounded of rsTpa, and 

 ^mr,, a cafe, or cell. Mr. Brown indeed, in his General 

 Remarks on the Botany of Terra AuftraHs, p. 12, offers 

 fome obfervations tending to invalidate tliis name and cha- 

 rafter. But it appears to us, that they both derive con- 

 firmation from the confideration, of which we are well aware, 

 that moft anthers have four cells when young, though, as 

 they burft lengthwife, the partition of each cell is obliterated. 

 Whereas the peculiarity of our Tetratheca, admitted by our 

 intelligent friend, confirts in the four cells remaining un- 

 altered, becaufe the pollen is difcharged by a terminal tube 

 or orifice ; nor is it of any great confequence that he has 

 found, in fome fpecies, the partition to be obliterated, in an 

 advanced ftate of the anthers. Ceratopetalum, for example, 

 is a good nsrae and a well-marked genus, though there is a 

 fpecies deftitute of petals. With refpeft to the natural 

 order, and the fituation of the fingular appendage to the 

 feed, in the genus before us, we gladly profit by Mr. Brown's 

 correftion, hoping to be pardoned, though we may have 

 made feveral falfe fteps, in the totally ftrange wildemefs of 

 New Holland plants, W'hich we were among the firft, with- 

 out any guide, to attempt to lav open to botanifts — Sm. 

 Bot. of New Holl. 5. Exot. Bot. V. I. 37. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. V. 2. 321. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 347. — Clafs and 

 order, 08andria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. akin to Polygalea, a 

 new order to which Polygala is referred ; but in Mr. Brown's 

 opinion conftituting, along with another genus, a ftill differ- 

 ent order, which, from the name deftined for that genus, he 

 choofes to denominate Tremaxdre.e, of which we pro- 

 pofe to treat in its proper place. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, in four deep equal 

 fegments, deciduous. Cor. Petals four, obovate, equal, many 

 times longer than the calyx. Stam. Filaments eight, inferted 

 into the receptacle, very fhort, equal, erect, fimple ; anthers 

 terminal ; oblong, fomevvhat curved, much fhorter than the 

 corolla, with four longitudinal furrows, and as many cells, 

 and terminating in a fimple tubular beak, through which the 

 pollen is difcharged. Pifl. Germen fuperior, very fmall, 

 obovate, compreffed ; ftyle vertical, cylindrical, fimple, 

 liardly fo long as the anthers ; ftigma fimple. Peric. 

 Capfule obovate, compreffed, of two cells and two valves, 

 the partitions from the middle of each valve. Seeds one or 

 two in each cell, oval, pendulous, with a naked fear, but 

 crowned, at the oppofite end, with a twifted creft. 



Efl. 



