T R I 



to recall the waters of the deluge, commanded Triton to 

 found his trumpet, at the noife of which the waters all 

 retired. 



Thus Ovid : 



" Caeruleum Tritona vocat, conchaque fonanti 

 Infpirarejubet, fluftufqueet flumina figno 

 Jam revocare dato, &c." 



And Virgil : 



*' Hue venit immanis Triton, et czrulea concha 

 Exterrens freta : cui laterum tenus hifpida nanti 

 Frons hominem praefert, in Priftin definit alvus." 



Of Triton, as connefted with the Argonautic expedition, 

 Herodotus gives the following account. Speaking of the 

 river Triton, which difcharged itfelf into the Like Tritonis, 

 where was an ifland called Phla, he fays it was believed that 

 the ifland muft have been inhabited by the Lacedsmonians ; 

 and he adds, it was reported by tradition, that when Jafon 

 had built at the foot of mount Pelion the Ihip which was 

 called Argo (fee Argonautic), and had flowed in it a he- 

 catomb, and a tripod of brafs, he undertook the voyage to 

 Delphi by the tour of Peloponnefus ; and that, taking his 

 route by the promontory of Malea, the north wind drove 

 him upon Libya, where he found his (hip run aground in 

 the lake Tritonis ; and while he was endeavouring to extri- 

 cate himfelf, a Triton appeared to him, and told him, that 

 if he would give him the tripod he had in his {hip, he would 

 ihew him how to get clear of this danger ; upon which Jafon, 

 agreeing to the propofal, gave him the tripod, which the 

 Triton laid up in his temple, and foretold Jafon and his 

 crew, that when one of their defcendants (hould carry off 

 that tripod, it was fixed by fate that there fhould be one 

 hundred Greek towns built upon the lake Tritonis ; in fine, 

 that the Libyans being informed of this oracle, kept the 

 tripod carefully concealed. The explication given of this 

 fable is, that the Triton who appeared to the voyagers 

 under a human form was a prince who reigned in that place, 

 whom Pindar and his fcholiaft name Eurypilus. He gave 

 good inftruftions to the heroes to avoid the fand-banks 

 which lie in and about the Syrtes. This, fays Banier, is the 

 whole myfl;ery ; the prediftion which they put in his mouth 

 having only been invented after the event ; that is, after the 

 Greeks were fettled in that part of Africa, and had built 

 cities there. Our heroes, in gratitude for the fignal fervice 

 done them by Eurypilus, made him a prefent of the above- 

 mentioned tripod. Diodorus, who alfo fpeaks of it, fays 

 there was upon the tripod an infcription in very ancient cha- 

 rafters, and adds, that it was preferved to the lateft times, 

 among the people called Hefperitans, in Cyrenaicum. 



Triton, in the Linnnan S^em of Natural Hiflory, a 

 genus of the MoUufca order of worms ; the charafters of 

 which are, that the body is oblong, the tongue fpiral, the 

 tentacula twelve in number, and bipartite, fix on each fide, 

 and the three hinder ones cheliferous. There is one fpecies, 

 ■viz. T. littoreus, which is found in the clefts of fubmarine 

 rocks. 



Triton Avis, in Ornithology, a name under which Nie- 

 remberg has defcribed a bird of the Weft Indies, famous for 

 its fine finging, and found in Hifpaniola : it is faid to have 

 three different notes, and to be able to give breath to founds 

 of all three kinds at the fame time : it is alfo faid to be a 

 very beautiful bird. Ray. 



TRITONEA, or TritoGENIA, in Mythology, a name 

 given to Minerva, derived from the river Triton, near which 

 ihe was born, and where {he had been feen for the firft 

 time. 



T R I 



TRITONIA, in Botany, was fo named by Mr. Ker, 

 late Gawler, from tritoH, a weather-cock, in allufion to the 



variable diredion of the ftamens of the different fpecies. 



Ker in Sims and Konig's Ann. of Bot. v. i. 227. Dryand. 

 in Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i . 90 — Clafs and order, Trianclria 

 Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Enfattt, Linn. Indcs, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Spatha inferior, (horter than the corolla, 

 of two oblong, membranous, pointed or toothed valves. 

 Cor. of one petal, fuperior ; tubular at the bafe ; fwelling 

 in the throat ; hmb divided to its very bottom into fix, 

 nearly regular and equal, fegments, each of which, in the 

 lower part, is more or lefs contracted into a claw. Slam. 

 Filaments three, inferted into the tube, unconnefted with 

 the throat, varioufly direfted, curved, {horter than the 

 limb ; anthers oblong, curved. Pijl. Germen roundilh ; 

 ftyle thread-fhaped, ereft ; ftigmas three, linear, recurved, 

 fpreading. Peric. Capfule roundifh-ovate, membranous, 

 tumid, of three cells and three valves. Seeds numerous, 

 globofe, fimple, neither winged nor pulpy, rather fmalU 



Eff. Ch. Spatha of two membranous valves. Corolla 

 tubular ; its limb in fix deep fegments, contrafted at the 

 bafe, nearly regular. Stigmas three, narrow, fpreading. 

 Capfule roundifh-ovate. Seeds fimple, globofe. 



The charafters of this genus are confeifedly very difficult 

 to define ; yet its intelHgent author confiders the fpecies to 

 be eafily difcernible by their common habit. The corolla in 

 fome is quite regular, in others more or lefs irregular, yet 

 never in a very flrong or evident degree. " The bulb is 

 folid, ovate and depreffed, or roundifh with a point ; its 

 coats reticulated ; the outermoft fpotted. Leaves gmffy, 

 broadifh ; very rarely crifped at the edges. Flotvers feveral, 

 various in the different fpecies ; in fome their limb is large, 

 bell-fhaped, regular, reverfed, the fegments broad, the tube 

 fhort, with an inflated fpreading throat ; in others the co- 

 rolla is of a fmaller fize, with a longer tube, a turbinate 

 throat, the fegments oblong, little dilated, difpofcd to as 

 nightly to imitate a two-lipped flower, one of them broader 

 than the reft ; in others again the fegments are linear- 

 oblong, fpreading in a wheel-fhaped manner, equal, the 

 throat but {lightly dilated, and the tube very long. The 

 Jlamens of the two-lipped fpecies are afcending, of the re- 

 gular reverfed ones ereft ; anthers in the wheel-fhaped flowers 

 contiguous, incumbent." 



1. T. eri//>a. Curled-leaved Tritonia. Ait. n. I. Curt. 

 Mag. t. 678. ( Gladiolus crifpus; Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 210. 

 Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 267. Tliunb. Diff. n. 7. t. 1. f. 2. 

 Andr. Repof. t. 142.) — Leaves wavy and crifped at the 

 margin. Segments of the corolla flat, fhortcr than the 

 tube, not quite uniform. — Native of the hills of Rode Sand 

 and Piketberg at the Cape of Good Hope, flowering from 

 Oftober to December. Thunberg. Sent by Mr. MafTon in 

 1787 to Kew garden. In England it flowers in the fpring, 

 or fummer. The fliortifli, many-ribbed, wavy, but not 

 fringed, leaves mark this fpecies. The foivers are fpikcd, 

 not numerous, of a tawny flefli-colour ; the tube often red, 

 two inches long, curved ; three lower fegments of the hmb 

 furnifhed with a deep-red central ftripe. 



2. T. viridis. Green-flowered Tritonia. Ait. n. 2. 

 Curt. Mag. t. 1275. (Gladiolus viridis ; Ait. ed. 1. v. 3. 

 481. Vahl Enum. v. 2. 96. Ker Ann. of Bot. v. I. 231.) 

 — Stalk triangular, with membranous angles. Segments 

 of the corolla lanceolate, fhortcr than the tube ; five of them 

 afcending ; one deflexed. — Found at the Cape by Mr. 

 Mafl'on, who fent it to Kew garden, in 1788, where it 

 blooms in July. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, with a 

 ftrong mid-rib. Spile zigzag. Flowers not numerous, 

 pale ereen, with a purphfh tinge, efpecially m the tube, and 



at 



