DIP 
read thofe names at the altar during iad tak 
nto c tables was a 
token and plete of coramunion, fo the ae of any one’s 
name out of them wasa denia ommunion with him, and 
a 
ee thefe diptychs 1s 
of general councils ; 3 as appears by ‘the 
emperor Juftinian’s mee to Epiphanius, patriarch of Con- 
ftantinople. Thefe diptychs are often caaeoned by the fa- 
thers, councils, ~ Liar senate hiftorian 
obfervations on Atheneus, lib. vi. cap. 
e 
do any fignal honour to, in the verfes of the Salii; as was done 
ermanicus and Verus, fons of the emperor ‘Marcus Au. 
relius, and a long time before, during the age of the republic, 
to Mamurcus Veturius, and Luc 
told by pe lib. ie S artian, Ovid, 
tarch, &c. t Fa. Rofweyd does not approve this notion 
of Cafaubon. "The pretended St. Dionyfius, a very ancient 
author, fays the contrary, and afferts the ae eltablith- 
me a of thie ufage to have been founded on {cripture, 2 Tim. 
ii. falm cxvi. 15. Rofweyd adds Heclefattie, ae I. 
ey takes thefe to have been the paffages the ancient church 
had a view to, rather than the Salian verfes. 
The profane diptycha were frequent!y fent as prefents to 
princes, &c. on which occafion they were finely gilt, and em- 
bellifhed ; as from Symmachus, hb. it. ep. 
e law 
d. all magiftra rates below 
confuls to make prefents of diptycha of ivory in the public 
ceremonies. 
DIPUS, in as a o of — much refem- 
bling the dormoufe : ind feet are long, and enable 
nd an ca fore paws 
They are 
geval a ps having two fore teeth in each jaw: 
the fore very fhort, the pofterior ones long, and the tail 
long and aed at the ti ap: 
Species. 
aa lg: Hied ie pain no thumb claw. Schre- 
agitta da longiffma apice fubpennata nizre- 
aiba, pele paliie longi tridattylis Pallas 
The rs to be two varieties of this animal; or at 
leat ai ee fo clofely allied, as to leave usin confider- 
able doubt whether they ought to be confidered as varieties, 
or {pecies. The firft, called by oan Cia as above- 
mentioned, has three toes on the poftertor feet, and no 
thumb claw. The head of this is end the ears longer 
than the head, the toes hairy, and the tail terminating in a 
tuft. The other, Zgyptius, has alfo the pofterior feet three- 
toed, _but has a claw on the forethumb: the body of this 
; the hair on the head 
ft d of a 
eolour; the breaft and belly whitifh, with a dufky 
acrofs the upper parts of the thighs. Both inhabit the eaft, 
and have the fame manners, living it fan a) plains ; but the 
=e to ral saa ar 
he fpecies “‘agitta is fuppofed to be the prs direc, 
er two-footed moufe, of the ancients, an animal reprefented 
on the coins of Cyrene, where it was anciently found in 
As the . 
DIP 
reat abundance; and which place it t fill inhabits. In the 
Cad de Phyfique for November 1789, Sonnini laid before 
the public an interefting account of this jerboa, which anim nal 
he had full opportunity “of examining during his travels in that. 
part of the globe. “ It is in the burning climate of Africa: 
ey ({ays this writer) taat nature feems to have taken 
pleafure in varyisg, in a manner altogether fingalar, the 
forms of the beings which fhe has piaced there, and in dee 
viating from the rules and the proportions which fhe feemed 
to have adopted, if, however, that can be calle d a deviation 
tween the legs of the jerboa; but the hinder jegs are,. in 
this animal, exceffively long, whiie the fore legs fcarce! 
appear. Thefe Jong limbs, or to exprefs myfelf with eal 
precifion, thefe long feet, fost it is the tarf{us which is fo ime 
moderately lengthened, are of ufe to the-jerboa only in his 
progre : thofe b-fore, which may be coune 
dered as little 
above, and of ac 
upper jaw projeGing beyond the lower, and both: furnithed. 
with two incifive teeth ; thofe above are broad, cut in right: 
angles, flat, and divided lengthwife, by a groove pafling 
through the middle; thofe of the under jaw are longer. 
convex externally, aie at their extremity, and bent back 
nward! It is evident that thefe teeth are difpofed nearly: 
as thofe in the hare, the rabbit, and ficld moufe, and this 
refemblance has procured all thefe names-to the jerboa, It 
would have been juft as reafonable to take him for a beaver: 
or porcupine. Ti t is fhort, broad, and obtufe; a 
number of ftiff hairs extend from fide to fae. and for rm long 
whifkers. The nofe is 
bee 
long, large, and covered wi rt hair; 
white in the lower part, and grey upwards ; the middle, a 
well as the paene of the ery is of a very light fawn colour, 
mixed with grey and black; they entirely furround the 
meatus auditorius for about a ‘thir of their length, f{ at 
they exactly refemble the larger end of aco 
at muft increafe the animai’s faculty of hearing, and which 
is particularly — calculated to defend the inner part of th 
extraneous fubftances that might otherwife 
‘The body i is aya behind than before, and.well covered 
with long, feft, and hair; that on the back and fides 
afh-colour, almo’t the ele length through, and of a clear 
fawn-colour, where it approaches the points, which are 
black ; but as the alhy part is not apparent, it may be faid 
the fur is fawn-coloured, with blackifh: zig-zag ftripes. 
Thefe tints, which are fomewhat dufky, form an agreeable 
contrait with the fine white of the belly. The fore legs are- 
fo fhort, that they fcarcely extend beyond the hair; they- 
are white, and have five toes, the greateft of which, or in- 
terior toe, is very fhort, rounded at the extremity, and has 
no nail; the other four, the fecond whereof, outwardly, is 
the longeft, are of confiderable length, and armed with great 
hooked-nails.. ‘Phe heel is very much ra aifed, and the infide, 
or fole of. the feet, is fleth-coloured.’ The hind legs are 
covered with long hair, of a fawn colour, and white; its 
long 
