Pip 
stems smooth and even, striated, angular ; 
leaves acuminate, a little oblique at the 
base ; peduncle longer than the petiole, 
and opposite to itj spike cylindrical, fre- 
quently, together with the peduncle, pen- 
dulous ; petiole channeled at the base. It 
is the leaf of this species of pepper plant 
which is called betle, or betel, which serves 
to enclose a few slices or bits of the areca; 
these, together with a little chnnain, or shell 
lime, are what the southern Asiatics univer- 
sally chew to sweeten the breath and 
strengthen the stomach ; the lower people 
there use it as ours do tobacco in Europe, 
to keep off the calls of hunger : it is there 
deemed the height of unpoliteness to speak 
to a superior without some of it in the 
mouth. The women of Canara on the Ma- 
labar coast, stain their teeth black witli 
antimony, thus preserving them good to old 
age ; the men, pn the contrary, ruin theirs 
by the betel and chunam, or lime, which 
they take with it. 
PiPERiTi.®, in botany, from the word 
piper, pepper, the name of the second order 
in Linnaeus’s “ Fragments of a Natural 
Method;” consisting, as the name imports, 
of pepper, and a few genera which agree 
with it in habit, structure, and sensible 
qualities. These plants are mostly herba- 
ceous and perennial. The stalks of some 
of them creep along rocks and trees, into 
which they strike root at certain distances. 
None of them rise above fifteen feet high, 
and But few exceed three or four feet. The 
flesh roots of many of these plants, particu- 
larly those of several species of arum, are 
extremely acrid when fresh. They lose 
this pungent quality, however, by being 
dried, and become of a soapy nature. The 
pepper plant of Senegal bears a round ber- 
ry, about the size of hemp seed, which,when 
ripe, is of a beautiful red colour, and of a 
sweetish taste. It contains a seed of the 
shape and bigness of a grain of cabbage, but 
very hard, and possessing an agreeable 
poignancy. The berries grow in small 
bunches on a shrub that is about four feet 
high, and has thin supple branches, furnish- 
ed with oval leaves, that are pointed at the 
ends, not very unlike those of the privet. 
PIPRA, the mamkin, in natural history, 
a genus of birds of the order Passeres. Ge- 
neric character : bill short, strong, hard, 
nearly triangular at the base, and slightly 
incurvated at the tip ; nostrils naked ; tail 
short. These birds are very similar to the 
genus of Titmice, and are almost all peculiar 
to South .America. There are thirty-one 
PIS 
species noticed by Gmelin. Latham enu- 
merates only twenty-five. The following 
are most deserving of attention. P. rupi- 
cola, or the rock manakin, is as large as a 
pigeon, and is a very beautiful species, inha- 
biting Cayenne and Guiana, and building in 
the holes and clefts of the rocks, in the most 
obscure recesses. They are very timid ; 
but are frequently tamed, so as to accom- 
pany the domestic poultry. The female, 
after laying her eggs for a few years, assumes 
in some instances the distinctive plumage 
of the male, and may be mistaken for him ; 
a circumstance, however, not peculiar to 
this genus of birds. The black-crowned 
manakin is frequent in Guiana, avoiding the 
open plains, and haunting the skirts of woods 
in small flocks. These birds are found in the 
neighbourhood of ant’s nests, from which they 
are seen to spring up frequently as if stung 
by these insects, uttering at the momenta cry 
somewhat similar to the cracking of a nut. 
PIRATE, one who maintains himself by 
pillage and robbing at sea. By statute 28 
Henry VIII. c. 1 $, all felonies committed 
upon the' sea, or any place where the Ad- 
miral has jurisdiction, shall be tried where- 
ever the King shall appoint by his special 
commission, as if the offence had been at 
common law. And by statute 6 George I. 
if any subjects or denizens of this kingdom, 
commits any hostility against others of the 
King’s subjects upon the sea, under colour 
of any commission from any prince or other 
authority, he shall be deemed a pirate, and 
suffer accordingly. 
By statute 18 George II. c. 30, persons 
committing hostilities, or aiding enemies at 
sea, may be tried as pirates. Piracies at 
sea are excepted out of the general pardon 
by 20 George II. c. 62. 
PISCES, in natural history, is the fourth 
class in the Linntean system, consisting of 
five orders, tiz, 
Abdominales Jugulares 
Apodes Thoracici. 
Cartilaginii 
The class is described as having incumbent 
jaws ; eggs without white ; organs of sense ; 
for covering, imbricate scales ; fins for sup- 
porters : they swim in water, and smack. 
The several orders and other matters rela- 
tive to fishes have been treated of in the ar- 
ticle Ichthyology, and in the several parts 
of the Dictionary, in the alphabetical order 
of the genera, &c. To this article we have 
referred, intending to give under it a brief 
account of the functions of the several 
