F I S 
FLA 
Pastes. — 1. Take the blood-of a sheep, and 
mix it with honey and Hour to a proper con- 
sistence. 2. Take old cheese grated, a little 
butter sufficient to work it, and colour it 
with saffron ; in winter use rusty bacon in- 
stead of butter. 3. Crumbs of bread chewed 
or worked with honey or sugar, moistened 
with gum-water. 4. Bread chewed, and 
worked in the hand till it becomes stiff, 
which with a little cotton wool to make it 
stick on the hook is the best of all.. 
Worms.. — 1 . The earth-bob, found in sandy 
ground after ploughing ; it is white, with a 
red head, and bigger than a gentle ; ano- 
ther is found in heathy ground with a blue 
head. Keep them in an earthen vessel well 
covered, and a sufficient quantity of the 
mould they harbour in. They are excellent 
from April to November. 2. Gentles, to 
be had from putrid flesh ; let them lie in 
wheat-bran a few days before used. 3 -Flag- 
worms, found in the roots of flags : they are 
of a pale yellow colour, are longer and thin- 
ner than a gentle, and must be scoured like 
them. 4. Cow-dung, bog, or clap-bait, found 
under cow-dung from May to Michaelmas ; 
it is like a gentle, but larger. Keep it in its 
native earth like the .earth-hob. 5. Cadis- 
xvorm, or cod-bait, found under loose stones 
in shallow rivers : they are always covered 
with a case of sticks or small gravel, and 
when drawn out of their case are yellow, bigger 
than a gentle, with a black or blue head, 
and are in season from April to July. Keep 
them in flannel bags. 6. Lob-worm, found 
in gardens : it is very large, and has a red 
head, a streak down the back, and a flat 
broad tail. 7. Marsh-worms, found in marshy 
ground ; keep them in moss ten days before 
you use them: their colour is a blueish red ; 
are a good bait front March to Michaelmas. 
8. Brandling or red-worms, found in rotten 
dunghills and tanners’ bark ; they are red- or 
rather striped worms, very good tor all small 
fish, have sometimes a yellow tail, or a 
smaller sort are called tag-tails or gilt-tails, 
they have not the annular stripe of the brand- 
ling. 
Fish and Insects. — 1 .Minnow, 2. Gudgeon. 
3. Koach. 4. Dace. 5. Smelt. 6. Yellow 
frog. 7. Snail slit. 8. Grasshopper. 
Floats, are little appendages to the line, 
used for fishing at bottom, and serving to 
keep the hook and bait suspended at the pro- 
per depth, to discover when the fish have 
hold of them, & c. Of these there are many 
kinds: some made of quills, which are the 
best for slow waters; but far strong streams 
sound cork, without flaws or holes, bored 
through with a hot iron, into which is put 
a quill of a fit proportion, is preferable ; the 
cork should be shaped to a pyramidal form, 
and made smooth. 
The fishing-hook, in general, ought to be 
lon°- in the shank, somewhat thick in the 
circumference, the -point even and straight; 
the bend should be. in the shank. For set- 
ting the hook on, use strong but small silk, 
layTng the hair on the inside of the hook ; 
for if it is on the outside, the silk w ill fret and 
cut it asunder. 
FISSURE of the bones, in surgery, is 
when they are divided either transversely or 
longitudinally, not quite through, but cracked 
after the manner of glass, by any external 
force. See Surgery. 
FISTULA,, in the antient music, an in- 
F I S 
strument of tire wind-kind, resembling our 
flute, or flageolet. See Flute. 
Fistula, in surgery, a deep, narrow, and 
callous ulcer, generally arising from abscesses. 
See Surgery. 
FISTULARIA, pipe-fish, a genus of the 
order abdominales. The generic character 
is, snout cylindric; mouth terminal ; body 
lengthened; gill-membrane seven-rayed. 
1 . Fistularia tabacaria, or slender fistula- 
ria. This highly singular fish seems to have 
been first described by Marcgrave in his Na- 
tural History of Brasil, under the name of 
petimbuaba. Fie informs us that it grows 
to the length ot three or four feet, and is of a 
shape resembling that of an eel, with the 
mouth toothless and pointed, and the upper 
lip longer than the lower ; the head about 
nine inches long, from the eyes to the tip ol 
the mouth ; the eyes are large and ovate, 
with a bright-blue pupil and silvery iris,, 
marked on the fore and- Kind part by a red 
spot ; the skin smooth, like that of an eel, 
and of a liver-colour marked both above 
and ou each side by a row of blue spots, with 
greenish ones intermixed. The appearance 
of the tail is highly singular, being pretty 
deeply torke'd, as in the generality of fishes, 
while from the middle of the furcature 
springs a very long and thickish bristle or 
process, of a substance resembling that of 
whalebone, and gradually tapering to a fine 
point. A variety has been observed by Dr. 
Bloch, in which this part was double, and 
the snout serrated ou each side. 'I bis va- 
riety, or perhaps sexual difference, appears 
from the observations of Commerson, de- 
tailed by Cepede, to be of a brown colour 
above, and silvery beneath, but without the 
blue spots so remarkable ou the smooth- 
snouted kind. The count de Cepede in- 
forms us that the spine of this fish is of a very 
peculiar structure ; the first vertebra being 
of immoderate length, the three next much 
shorter, and the rest gradually decreasing as 
they approach the tail : he adds that there 
are no visible ribs. 
This species is said to live chiefly on the 
smaller fishes, sea-insects, and worms, which 
the structure of its snout enables it readily to 
obtain by introducing that part into the ca- 
vities of the rocks, under stones, &c. where 
those animals are usually found. 
2. Fistularia Chinensis, or Chinese fis- 
tularia. Length from three feet to four feet ; 
general shape like that of an eel, but the 
body thicker in proportion than in the pre- 
ceding species: head lengthened into a 
strong cartilaginous, or rather bony and la- 
terally compressed tubular snout, much 
broader than in the former species : -mouth 
small ; eyes rather large ; scales of moderate 
size, strong, and much resembling in their 
structure those of the genera perca and 
chatodon; from the middle of the back to 
the dorsal fin rtinseveral strong, short*, and ra- 
ther distant spines : dorsal and anal fin of si- 
milar shape, and placed opposite each other, 
pretty near the tail, which -is short, rounded, 
and marked by a pair ot black stripes ; pec- 
toral fins rounded : ventral small, and placed 
considerably beyond the middle of the body : 
general colour pale reddish-brown, with se- 
veral deep or blackish spots on various parts 
of the body, and three or -four pale or whitish 
longitudinal stripes on each side, from the 
gills to the tail ; fins pale yellow. Native of 
/Ml 
the Indian seas, preying on worms, sea- 
insects, &c. Though observed only in the 
tropical seas, yet its fossil impressions have 
been found under the volcanic strata ot 
mount Bolca in the neighbourhood of A e- 
rona. 
3. Fistularia paradoxa, paradoxical fistula- 
ria. A small species, described by Seba, and 
more accurately by Dr. Fallas. Length 
from two to four inches; body angular, and 
beset at the interstices of the lines with small 
spines: head small: eyes large, and situated 
at the base of the snout, which much resem- 
bles that of a syngnatlnis, and is long, slightly 
descending, straight, horny,com pressed, sharp 
above, and bicarinated beneath : it is armed 
on each side, near the base, by a small conic 
spine. It is a native of the Indian seas. 
" FIT, in medicine, denotes much the 'same- 
wit h paroxysm. See Paroxysm. 
Fits of easy reflection and transmission. 
See Optics. 
FITCH EE', in heraldry, a term applied to- 
a cross, when the lower end of it is sharpened 
into a point. 
FIXED bodies are those which bear a 
considerable degree of heat without evaporat- 
ing, or losing any of their weight. See Che- 
mistry. 
Fixed air. See Air, Carbonic acid 
gas, and Chemistry. 
Fixed stars. See Astronomy. 
FLACOURTIA, a genus of the class and 
order dioecia polyandria. The male calyx is 
live-parted ; corolla none ; stamina very nu- 
merous. Female calyx many-leaved; co- 
rolla none ; gennen superior. Styles 5 to ft. 
Berry manv-celled. There is one species, 
a small tree of Madagascar, bearing an eat- 
able fruit in some degree resembling a 
plumb. 
FLAG, a general name for colours, stand- - 
ards, undents, banners, ensigns, &c. whichare 
frequently confounded with each other. 
The fashion of pointed, or triangular flags, 
as now used, came from the- Mahometan 
Arabs, or Saracens, upon their, seizing of 
Spain, before which time, all the ensigns of 
war were stretched-, or extended on cross 
pieces of wood, like the banners of a 
church. The pirates of Algiers, and through- 
out the coasts of Barbary, bear an hexagonal 
flag. 
Flag, is. more* particularly used at sea, 
for the colours, antients, standards, &c. home 
on the top of the masts of vessels, to notily 
the person who commands the ship, of what 
nation it is, and whether it is. equipped for war 
or trade. 
The admiral in chief carries his flag on the 
main top ; and the vice-admiral on the 
fore- top ; and the rear-admiral omthe mizen 
top. 
When a council of war is to be held at sea, 
if it is on board the admiral, they hang a flag 
in the main shrouds ; if in the vice-admiral, 
in the fore shrouds ; and if in the rear-admiral, 
in the mizen shrouds. 
Beside the national flag, merchant-ships 
frequently bear lesser flags on the , mizen 
mast, with the arms of the city where the 
master ordinarily resides: and. on the fore- 
mast, with the arms of the place where the 
person who freights them lives. 
To tower, or strike the Flag, is to pull it 
down upon the. cap, or to take, it in, ouTof 
