U R T 



U R U 



natural aperture, and where its paffage muft; be attended 

 with a terrible wound. The manner in which the larger 

 fhells are thrown out by the mouth, is by opening it ex- 

 tremely wide and turning it back, lo that the infide appears 

 outward for a little way down ; and this motion is alfo ufed 

 on another very neceflary occafion, the excluding of the 

 young ones, for thefe animals are viviparous. Mem. Acad. 

 Par. 1 710. 



It has been found that this creature has the remarkable 

 property of the polype, in reproducing fuch parts as it had 

 loft. M. Reaumur tried many experiments on the various 

 fpecies of this, and of the ftar-fifh kind, and found that 

 whatever parts were cut off, the wound foon healed ; and 

 M. de Villars had opportunities of watching the whole pro- 

 greis of the growth of the anin-ials afterwards, and found 

 that they not only feemed alive and well after cutting, their 

 wounds foon cicatrizing, but that they, in a very little time, 

 regained what had been cut off, and became «s perfeft as 

 before. See ^m-Anemonies. 



Dr. Gajrtner refers the urticas mai-inx, or fea-nettles, to 

 the hydra of Linna;us, commonly called the polype ; for 

 he fays, that they agree with that genus in the following 

 general charafters, belides many of its lefs eflential or acci- 

 dental qualities : they are of a gelatinous fubftance ; they 

 have only one opening in their bodies which gives a pafTage 

 to the food, as well as to the excrements of tlie animal ; and 

 they have alfo a fet of feelers, which furround this opening, 

 and ferve thefe creatures for claws, to catch their prey with, 

 and convey it to their mouths. Phil. Tranf. vol. lii. art. 13. 

 p. 73, &c. 



Thefe animals were known to the Greeks and Romans by 

 the names of ir»!upa S».Aa<7-a-<o-, and pulmo marinus, or fea- 

 lungs. They attributed medicinal virtues to them. Ac- 

 cordingly Diofcorides informs us, that if rubbed frefh on 

 the difeafed part, they cured the gout in the feet, and kibed 

 heels. .£han fays that they were depilatory, and if mace- 

 rated in vinegar, would take away the beard. Their phof- 

 phoric quality was noticed by Pliny, who fays that a ftick 

 rubbed with tliem will appear to burn, and the wood to 

 fliine all over : he alfo adds, that when they fink to the 

 bottom of the fea, they portend a continuance of bad wea- 

 ther. Pennant's Brit. Zool. vol. iv. p. 59. 



URTICjE, ill Botany, fo named from the great genus 

 Urtica, fee that article, is the 98th natural order in Juf- 

 fieu's fyftem, the third of his 13th, or laft, clafs. The 

 charatters of this clafs are given under Euphorbi.t., where 

 we have ventured to obferve tliat the clafs is by no means a 

 really natural one. To the order before us, though clogged 

 with doubtful genera at the end, there is httle or no excep- 

 tion. It is analogous to the Scabrida of Linnseus, and may 

 ferve to give an idea of that tribe, which we have omitted in 

 its proper place. 



Juffieu's charafters of his Urtica are thefe. 

 Flowers monoecious or dioecious, rarely united. Calyx 

 univerfally of one leaf, divided. Corolla none. The male 

 jluiiiers with a definite number oi Jlamens, inferted into the 

 calyx, oppofite to its fegments. Female ones with a foli- 

 tary fuperior germen ; Jlyle either wanting, or one, or two, 

 often lateral ; Jligmas often two. Seed one, enclofed in a 

 brittle cruft, or tunic, either naked, or enclofed in the calyx, 

 which fometimes turns pulpy. Corculum ftraight or in- 

 curved, without albumen. The plants are either trees, (hrubs 

 or herbs ; in fome cafes milky. Lea-ves generally accom- 

 panied by ftipulas, and either alternate or oppofite. Flowers 

 lometimes folitary, fometimes racemofe ; in fome genera 

 feated on a many-flowered catkin-like receptacle ; in others 



concealed within a fimple-leaved common involucrum. 

 Fruit therefore fometimes many-feeded, in confequence of 

 the affemblage of the feeds of numerous aggregate flowers 

 in one involucrum or i-eceptacle. 



Seft. I . Fln-jjers concealed in a common fimple-leceocd in- 

 ivilucrum. This contains five genera. 



Ficus ; Ambora of Juflieu, which is Mitmridatea of 

 Commerfon and Schreber, fee that article ; Dorjlenia ; 

 Hedycaria of Forller, doubtfully placed here by Juflieu, as 

 he fufpefts it may be more akin to his Anont, or to his 

 Ranunculaceit ; and, laftly Perebea of Aublet, of which we 

 have fpoken in its proper place, as a genus undoubtedly of 

 this order, notwithitanding our prefent incomplete acquaint- 

 ance with its fruftification. 



vSeft. 2. Flowers either fituated on a common many -flonvered 

 receptacle ; or colleded into heads, with involucral fcales ; or 

 feparate and fcattered. 



Cecropia ; Artncarpus ; Morus ; Elatojlema of Forfter, to 

 which belongs Procris of Commerfon and Juflieu, as already 

 mentioned, fee Elatostema ; Eoehmeria of Jacquin. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 340 ; Urtica; Forjhalea ; Parietaria; 

 PterantJyiis of Forflcall, the Louichea of L'Heritier, Schreb. 

 Gen. 840 ; Humulus ; Cannabis; ^nd Theligoniim. 



Seft. 3. Genera related to Urtiae. 



Gunnera, to which we have united Mifandra of Commer- 

 fon, fee GuNNETiA, and to which alfo the Panke of Feuillee 

 undoubtedly belongs ; Piper ; Gnetum of Linnjeus, from 

 which Thoa of Aublet and Juflieu cannot be feparated, fee 

 Gnetum ; Bagnjfa, Aublet Guian. t. 376 ; Coujfapoa^ 

 Aubl. Guian. t. 362, 363 ; and Pourouma of the fame 

 author, t. 341 ; the three laft but imperfeftly known. 



Ulmus and Celtis are reckoned by Linnaeus amongft his 

 Scabridie, but Juflieu refers them to the Amentacet ; Bofea 

 and Acnida, as well as Trophis, are Scabridit of Linnaeus ; 

 Juflieu confiders the two firft as Atriptices, and the laft 

 ftands amongft his Pianta: incertit fedis, Jufl". Gen. 442. 



Ll^RVASI, in Hindoo Mythology, is the name of one of 

 the numerous race of choriiters, dancers, minftrels, &c. at- 

 tending on the gods of that polytheiitic and poetical people. 

 The name of Urvafi does not often occur. 



Urvafi is to be clafled among the Upfaras, anfwering to 

 the Nereids of weftern fable ; as flie arofe from the ocean, 

 with Rhemba, queen of the Upfaras, and a glorious train, 

 when churned by the gods and demons, as defcribed in the 

 article Kijrmavatara. 



URUBU, in Ornithology. See VuLTUR. 



URUBUARA, or Uruba-cuara, in Geography, a town 

 of the Brafils, on a river of the fame name, at its union with 

 the Amazons ; 90 miles \V. of Para. 



URL^BUI, a river of Brafil, which runs into the Ama- 

 zons river ; 100 miles above Pauxis. 



URUCUYA, a river of Brafil, which runs into the 

 St. Francis, S. lat. 15° 20'. 



URUGNAY, a river of South America, which rifes 

 about S. lat. 26^ 30', and runs into the river Plate, S. lat. 34°. 



URUGUNDI, in Ancient Geography, a people of Scythia, 

 on the bank of the Danube. Zofimus. 



URUMEA, in Geography. See Urmiah. 



URUNC^, or Uruncis, in Ancient Geography, a place 

 of Germany, between Arialbinum and Moiis Brifacus. 

 Anton. Itin. 



VRUNDI, in Mythology, one of the wives of the Hindoo 

 deity Krijbna ; which fee. 



URUP, in Geography. See Urjup. 



URUS, a lake of Rufiia, in the government of Arch- 

 angel ; 48 miles N. of Schenkurlk. 



Urus, 



