V E R 



V E R 



knots, ill Mofaic pavements, winding, and reprefenting, in 

 fome fort, the tracks made by worms : 



" Quam lepide lexeis compofitse, ut tefferiilae omnes 

 Arte pavimento, atque emblemate vermiculato." 



Cic. de Orat.- lib. iii. 



VERMICULARIA, in Botany, from ■vermkulus, a 

 little worm, fo named by Tode, on account of the arrange- 

 ment of the feeds. — Tode Fung. Mecklenb. v. i. 31. Perf. 

 Syn. Fung. iio. — Clafs and order, Cryptogamia Fungi. 

 Nat. Ord. Fungi. 



Eff. Ch. Capfule globofe, feffile, filled with vermicular 

 bodies, covered with feeds. 



This genus appears to have been feen only by the lynK- 

 eyed author of the Fungi Mecklenbergenfes. Perfoon has 

 adopted it from him. Three fpecies are all that we find 

 defcribed. 



1. V. pjeudcfph.tria. Black Granulated Vermicularia. 

 Tode n. I. t. 6. f. 46. Perf. n. i. — Globofe, aggregate. 

 Capfule granulated, black. Seed-bearing filaments loofe, 

 naked, white. — On rotten oak-bark in March, found but 

 once. The capfule is not larger than a grain ot fand, 

 ffightly comprelfed, tender, not brittle as in Sphxria ; full 

 of fhort, flexible, crowded fibres, covered all over with ex- 

 tremely minute white feeds. Afterwards the fibres turn 

 orange-coloured. 



2. V. pubrfcem. Downy Vermicularia. Tode n. 2. 



t. 6. f. 47. Perf. n. 2 Globofe, fcattered. Capfule 



downy, two-coloured. Seed-bearing filaments loofe, naked, 

 hoary. — Found in rainy weather, in July, on dry ftalks, or 

 dead branches. The fize of cabbage-feed, of a deep orange- 

 colour, covered with white cottony down. Fibres very 

 flender, crowded together. 



3. V. hifpida. Hifpid Vermicularia. Tode n. 3. t. 6. 



f. 48. Perf. n. 3 Cufhion-likc, fcattered. Capfule 



black, befet with bridles, which difappear from its fummit. 

 Seed-bearing filaments whitifh, loofely immerfcd in meally 

 pulp. — Found but once, on rotten elder-wood, iu April. 

 This is no larger than the firft fpecies. The capfule is orbi- 

 cular, depreffed ; when young briftly all over ; but at 



length the centre fliovvs itfelf quite bare, very fmooth, never 

 burfting, flightly wrinkled as it advances in age. The 

 fibres, though unconnefted with any other part, are im- 

 bedded in rather foft pulp, which is pecuhar to the prefent 

 fpecies. 



VERMICULARIS. See Ascaris. 



Vermicularis Crujla, a term ufed by fome anatomical 

 writers to exprefs the internal hairy and corrugated coat of 

 the inteftines. 



V£RMICULI Spermatic:. See Generation-. 



VERMICULUM, a word ufed by fome cheraifts to 

 exprefs a tinfture or elixir. 



VERMICULUS Marixus, the Sea-tvorm, in Natural 

 Hijlory, the name of a genus of (hell-fifh. 



Thefe fhells are called vermiculi, fea-worms, from the fifh 

 contained in them, which is always a fort of worm. Tl'.ey 

 ufually are found in great clufters together, interwoven 

 oddly with one another. 



Bonani calls them fea-ferpents, inclofed in (hells, from 

 the various twifted forms in which they adhere to (hips and 

 rocks. The author eftablifhes them among the multivalves, 

 becaufe they are never found fingle, but always in thefe 

 clufters. In this fenfe he looks upon the whole clufter as 

 the fhcU-firti under confideration, not any one of the fingle 

 tubes ; though he acknowledges that each of thefe tubes is 

 a perfeft (hell, independent of the reft, and has its proper 



inhabitant. Striftnefs in natural hiftory, therefore, tvould 

 not bear him out, in arranging them among multivalves ; for 

 they are certainly an univalve ftiell, though many of them 

 happen always to be found together. 



Care muft be had not to confound thefe with the dentalia 

 and entalia ; for thefe laft are always found fingle ; and the 

 vermiculi, of the kind here treated of, are always found to- 

 gether in great numbers, forming clufters of ten inches, and 

 often much more iu diameter. 



Of the vermiculi, which are ftraight, we have eight 

 fpecies ; of the crooked kind, we have four fpecies ; and 

 of thofe which are difpofed in a fort of circles, we have nine 

 fpecies. Hift. Nat. Eclair, p. 354. 



According to Da Cofta's arrangement, the vermiculi or 

 worm-fhells conftitute the third family of univalve ftiells : 

 and he defines them to be tubular cylindric fhells, fingle, in 

 mafies together, or adherent to other (hells or bodies ; va- 

 rioully finuous, by winding or twifting to and fro in a very 

 irregular manner. Of thefe vermiculi he reckons two genera, 

 lis. thofe which have no fixed or regular form, as the 

 common vermiculi, of which, though they are found in 

 great abundance, there are not many different fpecies ; and 

 the penecilli or worm-fhells, which, in the whole, or any 

 particular part, have a determinate regular fhape or ftruc- 

 ture. There are few fpecies of this genus ; the watering- 

 pot from the Eaft Indies is the chief kind, and, when perfeft, 

 IS much valued. There are alfo vermicuh which have con- 

 camerations, or are divided into chambers by a few or many 

 tranfverfe plates ; but they are feldom regular, or fet at 

 equidiftant intervals, and not pierced by a pipe or fiphun- 

 culus, communicating from chamber to chamber, fo as to 

 permit the fifh to penetrate more than one chamber or in- 

 clofure at a time ; in which refpedt they differ from the con- 

 camerated fhclls, as the nautili, &c. The vermiculi are 

 frequently found in the folTile ftate ; but there is no fpecies, 

 that is not known recent, or from the fea. Da Cofta's 

 Conchol. p. 148. See CoxcHOLOGY. 



VERMIFORM IS appendix Cteci, in Anatomy, a fmall 

 blind procefs connefted with the cKcum. See Intestine. 



Vermiformis Procerus, of the cerebellum. See Brain. 



VERMIFUGE Substances, in the difeafes of animals, 

 are all fuch as are found capable of deftroying or expelling 

 infefts or worms from their bodies. They are of many dif- 

 ferent forts, as thofe of favin chopped fine, antimony, 

 calomel, and manv others. See Worms. 



VERMIFUGUS, the fame with anthelmintic. See 

 WoKM-Seed, and /^orm-PoWDERS. 



VERMILION, a bright, beautiful red colour; in 

 great efteem among the ancients, under the denomination of 

 minium- 

 There are two kinds of vermilion ; the one natural, the 

 other faBitious. 



The natural is found in fome filver mines in form of a 

 ruddy fand ; which they prepare and purify by feveral 

 lotions and coftions. When this is ufed as a colour, no 

 other preparation is necefTary than a careful levigation with 

 water on a ftone. 



The factitious or common is ijiade of artificial cinnabar, 

 ground up, as fome fay, with white wine, and afterwards 

 with the white of eggs : in thk ftate it is made into cakes, 

 and left to dry. And to fit it for ufe, they grind it up a 

 fecond time with water, and whites of eggs. To purify 

 and heighten its colour, fome grind it up with urine, or 

 fpirits of wine, to which a little faffron is added. 



Some alfo pretend to make vermihon of lead, burnt 

 and wafhed ; or of cerufs,- rubified by fire. But thefe are 



not 



