Pyx for holding the Co 
i.-tli c 
pyx 
6orl.] 1. In the Horn. Culli. I'll., the vase or 
vessel in wliich the reserved eucharist is kept. 
The name jyr(p)m) 
fr this vessel seems 
to have come Into use 
In the ninth century. 
In earlier times the 
reserved sacrament 
waa kept In an area, 
colnmba, or turris 
(see reteroutwHt. In 
the Greek Chureh the 
vessel In which the 
sacrament Is reserved 
ls called the artopko- 
*,*. or . 
The pyx has also been 
used for unconsecrat- 
ed altar-breads. It 
has generally been 
made cylindrical in 
shape, with a foot 
like that of a chalice, 
and has sometimes 
had a conical cover. 
In modern usage It ls i.tij ceniur>. 
much smaller than 
formerly, and U often made round and flat like a watch- 
case, for convenience, especially In carrying the sacrament 
to the sick. For public exposition of the sacrament a 
monstrance or ostensory Is used instead. 
The King marched towards Calais, so strictly observing 
his Proclamation against Church-robbing that, when one 
waa complained of for having taken a Silver Pixe out of 
a Church, he not only caused the same to be restored, but 
the Soldier also to be hanged. Baker, Chronicles, p. 170. 
2. A box or chest in which specimen ruins are 
deposited at the British mint. 3. Nuut., the 
metallic box in which the nautical compass- 
card is suspended. 4. In anat., the acetab- 
nlum of the hip-bone; the cotyloid cavity; 
the pyxis Trial of the pyx, the final trial by weight 
and assay of the gold and silver coins of the United King- 
dom, one coin being deposited in the pyx from every fif- 
teen pounds of gold and one from every sixty pounds of sil- 
ver coined. The trial Is conducted periodically by a jury 
of goldsmiths under the direction of the queen's remem- 
brancer, and constitutes a public attestation of the stan- 
dard purity of the coin. The phrase is also applied to the 
assaying of gold and silver plate which takes place at the 
different assay-offices. 
pyx (piks), r. t. [< pyx, n.] To test by weight 
and assay, as the coins deposited in the pyx at 
the British mint. See trial of the pijx, above. 
pyx-cloth (piks'kldth), n. A cloth of silk or 
other material in which it was formerly cus- 
tomary to wrap or veil the pyx. Also C'orpu* 
Cliristi cloth, pyx-kerchief, pyx-reil. 
Pyxicola (pik-sik'o-la), w. [NL., < Gr. wt-ic, 
a box (see pyx), +' L". colere, inhabit.] A ge- 
4880 
mis of vaginicnlotiH Vorticellinidte, in which 
the animalcules are attached behind to a 
lorica wliich can be closed by a discoidal 
operculum like the lid of a box, whence the 
name. 
Pyxidanthera (pik'si-dan-the'rft), n. [NL. 
(F. A. Miclmux, 1803), so called in allusion to 
the lid-like opening of the anthers; < Gr. ffvfif, 
a box, + NL. anthera, anther.] A genus of 
gamopetalous plants of the order Diaprnriacea. 
It la characterized by a persistent sessile corolla with 
short bell-shaped tube and five flat roundish lobes, five 
stamens fixed In the notches between the lobes, nostaml- 
nodes, a three-celled ovary with many ovules, and globose 
anther-cells which are transversely two-valved and awn- 
pointed at the base. The only species, P. barlmlata, is a 
dwarf and trailing shrubby evergreen, found In sands 
under pines from New Jersey southward to North Caro- 
lina; it is eagerly sought as a highly ornamental early 
spring-flowering plant, being covered with a profusion of 
small starry blossoms. It is known as the pine-barren 
beauty, and flowering most (which see, under imwwi ), and 
also, locally, by contraction of it* generic name, as pi/xie. 
It bears crowded awl shaped dark-green leaves covering 
the short erect branches, or alternate on the longer creep- 
ing ones, and somewhat hairy or bearded near the base, 
whence the specific name. 
pyxidate (pik'si-dat). n. [< pyris(-id-) + -ate 1 .] 
In bot., having the character of a pyxis. 
pyxidinm (pik-sid'i-um), n. ; pi. pyxidta, (-ft). 
[< Gr. wvfi&tm, a writing-tablet, dim. of irvflf , 
a box: see pyx.] 1. In bot., same as pyxis, 9. 
2. [cap."] [NL.] In eool.,a, genus of I'orti- 
cellintdee. 
pyx-veil 
Pyxinei, Pyxine (pik-sin'f-i, -e), . pi. [NL., 
< L. pyxi*, < Gr. irufic, a box, 4- -in- -r -ei, -<.] 
A natural order of lichens, comprising those 
known in the arctic regions as tripe de ntrhr. 
The order is characterized by a horizontal foliaceoua thal- 
I M-, mostly fixed by the center, and an orbicular disk, with 
the exclple distinct from the thallus, and at first closed. 
pyxis (pik'sis), . ; pi. pyxides (-si-dez). [L., 
alsopuxw, < Gr. irvfic, a box: see pyx.] 1. In 
Gr. Hutu/, and arctueol., a type of cylindrical 
vase or box with a cover, used especially bv 
women, as for the toilet. See cut in preced- 
ing column. 2. A box; a jewel-case. 3. In 
anat., the cotyloid cavity, or acetabulum of the 
hip-joint. 4. [cap.] [NL.] A genus of brachi- 
opods. Chemnitz, 1784. 5. [cap.] [NL.] In 
conch., a genus of gastropods. Humphreys, 
1797. 6. [cap.'] [NL.] A genus of land-tor- 
toises of tin- family Testuditiida-, having the 
anterior part of the plastron so movable that 
it can be shut like the lid of a pyxis. '/'. /.''/'. 
1827. 7. A tortoise of this genus, the only 
Greek Pyxis of red-figured pottery. 4th century B. C. 
Pyxis arachnoiika. 
known species, Pyxis arachnoidta, of Madagas- 
car and Mauritius. Its shell is yellow, with 
broad black bands radiating from the center 
of the dorsal shields. 8. [cap.] [NL.] In en- 
torn., a genus of coleopterous insects. Dejean, 
1834. 9. In bot. : (a) A seed-vessel, common- 
ly a capsule, with a circumscissile dehiscence, 
the top falling away like a lid, as in the com- 
mon purslane and plantain, and in the fruit 
known as monkey-pots. Bee Lecythif, and cut 
under circumscissile. (b) The theca of mosses. 
Also pyxidinm Pyxis Nautlca, a southern constel- 
lation Introduced by Lacaille, representing a ship's com- 
pass or binnacle. It seems no longer to be In use. 
pyx-kerchief (piks'ker'chif ), . Same as j>yx- 
cloth. 
pyx-veil (piks'val), . Same as pyx-cloth. 
