OTH 
■with their hollow shell downwards, and 
when it goes out they turn on the other 
side ; they remove not from their place, 
unless in cold weather, to cover themselves 
in the ouse. The reason of the scarcity of 
oysters, and consequently of their dearness, 
is, because they are of late years bought up 
by the Dutch. 
There are great penalties, by the Admi- 
ralty Court, laid upon those that fish out of 
those grounds which the court appoints, or 
that destroy the cultch, or that take any 
oysters that are not of size, or that do not 
tread under their feet, or throw upon the 
shore, a fish which they call a five finger, re- 
seinbling a spur- rowel, because that fish 
gets into the oysters when they gape, and 
sucks them out. The reason why such a 
penalty' is set upon any that shall destroy 
the cultch is, because they'find that if that 
be taken away, the ouse will increase, and 
the muscles and cockles will breed there, 
and destroy the oysters, they having not 
whereon to stick their spat. The oysters 
are sick after they have spat ; but in June 
and July they begin to mend, and in August 
they are perfectly well the male oyster is 
black-sick, having a black substance in (he 
fin ; the female white-sick (as they term it) 
having a milky substance in the fin. They 
are salt in the pits, salter in the layers, but 
salterat/sea. 
OSTRICH. See Struthio. 
OSYRIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Dioecia Triandria class and order. Natural 
order of Calyciflora?. Elaeagne, Jussieu. 
Essential character : calyx trifid ; corolla 
none : female, stigma roundish ; drupe one- 
celled. There are two species, viz. O. alba, 
poet’s casia, and O. japonica. 
OTHERA, in botany, a genus of the 
Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Berberides, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial character : calyx four-parted ; petals 
four, ovate, flat ; stigma sessile ; capsule. 
There is but one species, viz. O. japonica, 
which has a shrubby stem, with round, 
slriatedi purple branches ; leaves alternate, 
ovate, blunt, coriaceous, spreading, an inch 
and half in length •, petioles semicylindric, 
smooth; flowers axillary, aggregate, pe- 
duncled ; it is a native of Japan. 
OTHONNA,in botany, African ragicort, 
a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Neces- 
saria class and order. Natural order of 
Compositae Discoidese. Corymbiferae, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx one-leafed, 
multifid, subcylindrical ; down almost none ; 
receptacle naked. There are twenty seven 
OTII 
species, among which we shall notice the O. 
bulbosa, bulbous African ragwort ; this has 
a thick shrubby stalk, dividing into several 
branches, and rising five or six feet in 
height ; the leaves come out in clusters 
from one point, spreading on every side ; 
they are smooth, narrow at their base, en- 
larging gradually to their points, their edges 
are acutely indented like those of the holly ; 
from the centre of their leaves arise the foot 
stalks of the flowers being five or six inches 
long, branching out into several smaller, 
each sustaining one yellow radiated flower ; 
these are succeeded by slender seeds 
crowned with down. Almost all the Othon- 
nas are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 
OTIS, the bustard, in natural history, a 
genus of birds of the order Gallina. Gene- 
ric character : bill somewhat convex ; nos- 
trils oval and open ; tongue bifid and point- 
ed ; legs long, and naked above the knee ; 
only three toes. Gmelin mentions eleven 
species, and Latham nine. We shall notice 
only the following : O. tarda, or the great 
bustard, is found in the plains of Europe, 
Asia, and Africa, but has never been ob- 
served in the New Continent. In England 
it is occasionally met with on Salisbury 
Plain, and in the w'olds of Yorkshire, and 
formerly was not uncommonly seen in flocks 
of forty or fifty. It is the largest of British 
land birds, weighing often twenty-five or 
thirty pounds. It runs with great rapidity, 
so as to escape (he pursuit of common dogs, 
but falls speedily a victim to the greyhound, 
which often overtakes it before it has power 
to commence its flight, the preparation for 
which, in this bird, is slow an laborious. 
The female lays her eggs on the bare 
ground, never more than two in number, 
in a hole scratched by her for the purpose ; 
and if these are touched or soiled during her 
occasional absence, she immediately aban- 
dons them. The male is distinguished by a 
large pouch, beginning under the tongne- 
and reaching to the breast, capable of hold- 
ing, according to Linnaeus, seven quarts of 
water. This is sometimes useful to the 
female during incubation, and to the young 
before they quit their nest ; and it has been 
observed to be eminently advantageous to 
the male bird himself, who on being attacked 
by birds of prey, has often discomfited his 
enemies by the sudden and violent discharge 
of water upon them. These birds are soli- 
tary and shy, and feed principally upon 
grasses, worms, and grain. They w'ere 
formerly much hunted with dogs, and con- 
sidered as supplying no uninteresting diver- 
