LYC 
animal is not unfrequently sold for the 
amazing price of twenty-five pounds. Sea- 
otters are perfectly inoffensive, and the 
female manifests the most affectionate 
attachment to her young, fondling it with 
endless caresses, and often throwing it in 
the air and catching it with the utmost 
caution and tenderness. These animals 
feed on crabs, lobsters, and other shell-fish, 
and frequent the shallows which are most 
thickly covered with sea weeds. Tfie flesh 
of the young is thought particularly like 
lamb, and is highly valued. 
LUXATION, in surgery, is when any 
bone is moved out of its place, or articula- 
tion, so as to impede or destroy its proper 
motion or office ; hence, it appears that 
luxations are peculiar to such bones as have 
moveable joints. 
LYCHNIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Decandria Pentagynia class and order. 
Natural order of Caryophyllei. Essential 
character : calyx one-leafed, oblong, even ; 
petals five, with claws, and a sub-bifid bor- 
der ; capsule five-celled. There are twelve 
species. 
LYCIUM, in botany, 6ox-fftorn, a genus 
of the Pentandria Monogynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Luridae. Solaneas, 
Jussieu. Essential character: corolla tu- 
bular, closed at the throat by the beard of 
the filaments; berry two-celled, many- 
seeded. There are thirteen species. Seve- 
ral of these shrubs, from China and the 
Cape of Good Hope, will bear the open air 
in a warm situation and dry soil, when they 
have once acquired strength, except in 
very severe winters, especially if the roots 
are covered with litter, and the branches 
with mats. 
LTCOPERDON, in botany, a genus of 
the Cryptogamia Fungi class and order. 
Natural order of Fungi, or Mushrooms. 
Generic character : fungus roundish, fleshy, 
firm, becoming powdery, and opening at 
the top ; seeds fixed to filaments connected 
with the inner coat of the plant. These 
singular fungi are described by Dr. Wi- 
thering; thete is also an elaborate disser- 
tation on the British stellated lycoperdons, 
by Mr. AVoodward, in the second volume 
of the Transactions of the Linnean Society 
of London. 
LYCOPODIUM, in botan}', wolf’s fool, 
or wolf’s claw moss, a genus of the Crypto- 
gamia Miscellaneae class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Musci, or Mosses. Generic 
character ; fructifications in the axils of the 
scales digested into oblong imbricate spikes. 
LYI 
or the leaves themselves, sessile ; capsule 
kidney-shaped, two-valved, elastic, many- 
seeded ; veil none. There are several spe- 
cies; six of these are natives of Britain, 
figured by Dillenius and others. 
LYCOPSIS, in botany, wild bugloss, a 
genus of the Pentandria Monogynia elass 
and order. Natural order of Asperifoliae. 
Borragine®, Jussieu. Essential character : 
corolla with the tube bent in. Natives of 
the South of Europe. 
LYCOPUS, in botany, water horehound, 
a genus of the Diandria Monogynia class 
and order. Natural order of Yerticellat®. 
Labiat®, Jussieu. Essential character ; 
corolla four-cleft ; with one division emar- 
giuate ; stamina distant; seeds four, retuse. 
There are three species. 
LYDIAN stone, in mineralogy, is of a 
greyish black colour, which passes into vel- 
vet black ; it occurs massive, and is like- 
wise found in trapezoidal-shaped rolled 
pieces, witli rounded angles : it is hard, but 
not very heavy. This mineral is found near 
Prague and Carlsbad, in Bohemia ; in other 
parts of Germany, and in Scotland. When 
polished it is used as a test stone for deter- 
mining the purity of gold and silver ; owing, 
however, to its great hardness, it is less 
suited for this purpose than basalt. It 
takes its name from the circumstance of its 
being first found in the province of Lydia 
in Lesser Asia. 
LYGEUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Triaudria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Gramine®, or Grasses. Es- 
sential character : spathe one-leafed ; corolla 
two on the same germ ; nut two-celled. 
There is only one species, viz. L. spartum, 
rush-leaved lygeum, or hooded matweed, 
which is a native of Spain, where it is use- 
ful for making baskets and ropes, also for 
filling their paillasses or lower mattresses. 
LYING to, in naval affairs, the situa- 
tion of a ship when she is retarded in her 
course, by arranging the sails in such a man- 
ner as to counteract each other with nearly 
equal effort, and render the ship almost 
stationary with respect to her head-way ; a 
ship is usually brought to by laying either 
her main-top-sail aback, the helm being put 
close down to leew'ard. This is particularly 
practised in a general engagement, when 
the hostile fleets are drawn up in two lines 
of battle opposite each other. It is also 
used to wait for some other ship, either ap- 
proaching or expected; or to avoid pursu- 
ing a dangerous course, especially in foggy 
weather, &c. 
