X I M 



inch long, fmooth. Thorns lateral, treft, longer than the 

 footftalks, awl-fiiaped, ilout, but fparingly produced. 

 Fhvjer-Jlalhs axillary, or rather from the fame bud as the 

 leaves, not half their length, deflexed, round, divided into 

 from three to five fmooth, fingle-flowered partial ftalks. 

 Calyx fpreading quadrangular. Petals four, whitifh, fhaggy 

 from the bafe almoft to the apex, on the infide; fmooth ex- 

 ternally. Fruit the fize of a fmall apple, yellow when ripe. 

 Jacquin fays the pulp is fweetifli, eaten by children and 

 negroes, and that the fmell of \}ca jlo<wers is extremely fweet, 

 as well as powerful, fomething hlce burnt frankincenfe. 

 Aublet compares them to cloves. His figure, if it belongs 

 to the fame plant as our's, is very faulty ; but we rather 

 prefume it muR be a fpecies nearly akin, whofe Jlowers are 

 really axillary, and, like the/ruit, only one-third the fize of 

 the Linnaeau plant ; their petals finely downy, not Ihaggy, 

 all over their inner furface. Still, without feeing a fpeci- 

 men, we dare not defcribe it as diftinft. 



2. X. elliptica. Elliptical Ximenia. Forft. Prodr. 27. 

 Willd. n. 2. — " Thorns none. Leaves elHptic -lanceolate. 

 Stalks many-flowered." — Found by Forfter in New Cale- 

 donia. This is known only by the above charafters, which 

 are not fo difcriminative as could be wifhed, the thorns 

 being variable in the original fpecies, and in the plant of 

 Aublet. 



3. X. inermis. Jamaica Ximenia. Linn, Sp. PI. 497. 

 Willd. n. 3. (Amyris? arborefcens, foliis ovatis glabris, 

 vetuftioribus confeftis ; pctiohs fubmarginatis ; floribus 

 folitariis ; Browne Jam. 209. ) — " Thorns none. Leaves 

 ovate. Stalks fingle-flowered." — Native of Jamaica. 

 Browne defcribes it as a bufliy tree, not above eight or nine 

 feet high ; its trunk about four and a half inches in diameter. 

 Leaves oval, not above an inch long. Handing very thick 

 upon the fmaller branches. Petals hairy on the infide 

 towards the bafe. Drupa ovate-oblong. 



M. Poiret defcribes, in Lamarck's Diftionary, a plant by 

 the name of X. ferox, n. 3, which we can fcarcely refer to 

 this genus ; ihsjlotvers being five-cleft; petalsUnear, fmooth 

 on both fides ; and Jlamens prominent. This is a fpinous 

 Jhrub, found in Hifpaniola, with nearly orbicular, coriaceous 

 leaves, above an inch long, and either folitary or umbellate 

 axillary _y?oTO^r/. The thorns are three or four inches long, 

 very (harp, fometimes leafy. 



Juffieu fpeaks of a X. tegyptiaca, as defcribed in the 

 Species Plantarum of Linnseus, though omitted fubfequently 

 in his Syjlema. We are unable to difcover this, and Juffieu, 

 like Cafpar Bauhin, unhappily omits to cite pages. We 

 do, however, find in Linnaeus's copy of Plumier's Genera 

 Plantarum, which once belonged to the French botanift 

 Ifnard, a note of the latter under Ximenia, that " the 

 Agihalid of Alpinus, PL JE'^ypt, 38, appears to belong to 

 this genus." The rude wooden cut does indeed counte- 

 nance fuch an opinion, efpecially the Jloivers ; but the 

 author compares the fruit to that of Sambucus Ebulus, de- 

 fcribing it moreover as bitterifli and aftringent. Now 

 Sambucus has nothing in common with Ximenia. The plant 

 of Alpinus, which was brought from Ethiopia, may be a 

 thorny Lycium, but we cannot refer it to any known 

 fpecies. 



XIMO, or Kiusiu, in Geography, an ifland of Japan, and 

 fecond in fize and eminence, fituated to the S.W. of 

 Niphon, from which it is divided by a narrow channel. Its 

 circumference is fuppofed to be upwards of 300 miles, ex- 

 clufive of the bays and creeks. It has confiderable numbers 

 of cities and towns, with fame good harbours. N. lat. 

 32° 40' to 34°. E. long. 130° 50' to 133° 30'. 



XIMONOSEQUI, a fea-port town of Japan, on the 



X I P 



S.W. coaft of Niphon, with a good haibour, capable of 

 containing 300 veflels. It is a place of trade, and fur- 

 rounded with walls. N. lat. 33° 56'. E. long. 132° zd. 



XINGU, a river of South America, which riies fome- 

 where near S. lat. 17°, and is fiifl; called " Paranatinga ;" 

 it afterwards takes a northerly courfe of about 900 miles 

 and runs into the Amazons river, 20 miles E. of Paru, iu 

 the government of Para. 



XIPHIAS, HiSiaif, the name of \.\it f-word-Ji/h ; which 

 fee. This fifli is cut in pieces by the Sicilians, and falted. 

 The procefs was anciently performed particularly at the 

 town of Thurii, in the bay of Tarentum, and hence the fifh 

 was called " TomusThtirianus." Plin. 1. 32. c. ii.) Be- 

 fides the Xiphias Gladius, defcribed under the article 

 SwoRD-/V/Zi, Dr. Shaw has enumerated fome other fpecies, 

 fuch as the following : — 



Platypterus, or fword-filh with extremely broad back- 

 fin, and very long fliarp-pointed thoracic appendages ; the 

 Guelecu of Marcgrave, and Scomber gladius of Black. This 

 fpecies, in the appearance of the long and fharp-pointed 

 procefs of the upper jaw, is nearly allied to the common 

 fword-fifh, but in other refpefts materially differs from it. 

 It is found twenty feet in length, and fometimes much 

 longer. Its general colour is a filvery blueifh-white, ex- 

 cept on the back, head, tail, and fir.s, which in the living 

 animal are of a deep blue. The ftrength of this fi(h is fuch, 

 that it pierced the bottom of nn Eaft Indian (hip with fuch 

 force as completely to imbed its fnout almoft to its bafe ; 

 and if it had not been killed by the violence of the effort, 

 but had been able to withdraw its fnout, the fhip muft have 

 been leaky, and thus have foundered. This power of tranf- 

 fixing veffels is mentioned by Pliny. This fifh is found not 

 only in the Brafilian and Eafl; Indian feas, but alfo in the 

 Northern ocean ; and it is faid to be a great enemy to 

 whales, with which it has frequent combats. Dr. Black 

 fays, that vs^hen this fpecies does not exceed four feet in 

 length, it is confidered as an eatable fifh ; but when it ex- 

 ceeds that length, it is too coarfe. 



Makair.\, the blackilh fword-fifh with fnout of middling 

 length, and two bony tubercles on each fide of the taiL 

 This is a fpecies lately difcovered, and defcribed by Cepede 

 under the title of " Makaira." This 'fifli was caft on the 

 ifle of Rhe, near Rochelle in France. Its length was 330 

 French centimetres, and its weight 365 kilogrammes; its 

 colour was blackifh. It was eaten by many of the inhabit- 

 ants of Rochelle, and found to be tolerable food, though 

 fomewhat dry ; the flefli was white. The " rouhd-fnouted 

 fword-fifh" is alfo defcribed by Cepede, from the fword or 

 fnout preferved, with the fore-part of the head, in the Paris 

 Mufeum. Shaw's Zoology, vol. iv. part i. 



Xiphias is alfo ufed to exprefs a fiery meteor, in form of 

 a fword. See Acontias. 



Xiphias, in AJlronomy. See Dorado. 

 XIPHIDIUM, \a Botany, from ?i?o;, a /word, alluding 

 to the fword-fhaped leaves. The name occurs in Pliny, and 

 was adopted by Loefling for the prefent genus, which 

 Linnasus, in publifhing Loefling's papers, funk in Ixia (fee 

 that article) ; but fubfequent writers have reftored it, the 

 germen being fuperior, and the corolla of fix feparate petals, 

 — Schreb. Gen. 37. Willd. Sp. PL v. i. 248. Vahl Enum. 

 V. 2. 162. Mart. Mill. Dift. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 V. I. 107. Aubl. Guian. 33. Swartz Ind. Occ. 79. t. 2. 

 JufT. 59. Lamarck lUuilr. t. 36. — Clafs and order, Trian- 

 dria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Enfata, Linn. Iridil-as ajine, 

 JufT. Hirmodoraceis, Brown ? 



Gen. Ch. Cal. none. Cor. inferior, of fix petals, re- 



gular, permanent ; the three outer ones largeft. Stam. 



D 2 Filaments 



