RAP 
claw ; seeds naked. There are fifty-nine 
species. R. aconitifolius, aconite leaved 
crowfoot, is a very handsome species, about 
three or four feet in height, branched ; 
stems hollow within ; leaves large, digitate, 
three-lobed, divided to the base; segments 
lanceolate, hirsute, especially at the base; 
flowers white, terminating each branch ; 
petals roundly serrate. Native of the Alps 
of Europe. The double flowering variety 
has been obtained by seeds, and is pre- 
served in many gardens for the beauty of its 
flowers. By some gardeners it is called 
fair-maid of France. The Persian crow- 
foot, or garden ranunculus, has been great- 
ly improved by culture, and many new 
flowers obtained from seeds, amongst which 
are several with semidouble flowers, which 
produce seeds ; and from these there are 
such prodigious varieties of new flowers 
annually obtained, which are large and of 
such variety of beautiful colours, as to ex- 
ceed all other flowers of that season ; many 
of them are finely scented ; the roots, when 
strong, generally produce twenty or thirty 
flowers upon each ; it is a native of the 
Levant. 
RAPE of women, is where a man has car- 
nal knowledge of a woman by force, and 
against her will, which is by our law a capi- 
tal felony, and subjects the offender to the 
punishment of death, which is never remit- 
ted. By 18 Elizabeth, c. 7, if any person 
shall, unlawfully and carnally, know and 
abuse any woman child under the age of 
ten years, whether with her consent or 
against it, he shall be punished as for a 
rape. And it is not a sufficient excuse in 
the ravisher to prove that she is a common 
strumpet ; for she is still under the protec- 
tion of the law, and may not be forced. 
Nor is the offence of a rape mitigated, by 
showing that the woman at last yielded to 
the violence, if such her consent were 
forced by fear of death or duress ; nor is it 
any excuse that she consented after the 
fact. 
Rape is also a name given to a division 
of a county, andsometunes means the same 
as a hundred, and at other times signifies a 
division consisting of several hundreds ; 
thus Sussex is divided into six rapes, every 
one of which, besides its hundreds, has a 
castle, a river, and a forest belonging to it. 
The like parts in other counties are called 
tithings, lathes, or wapentakes. 
RAPHANIJS, in botany, radish, a genus 
of the Tetradynamia Siliquosa elass and 
order. Nataral order of Siliquosse, Cru- 
RAR 
ciformes, or Crucifer*. Essential eharac-f 
ter : calyx closed ; silique torose, subarti- 
culate, cylindrical; glands four, two be- 
tween eaeh shorter stamen and the pistil, 
and two between the longer stamens and 
the calyx. There are six species, R. sati- 
vus, cbmmon garden radish, has a large 
fleshy, fusiform, annual root ; stem upright, 
thiek, mueh branched and diffused, rough 
with pellucid bristles ; leaves rough ; calyx 
green, rough haired ; petals pale violet, 
with large veins running over them. It is 
a native of China. There are four varieties 
of the common radish, viz. the long-rooted 
radish ; the small white turnep-rooted or 
Naples radish ; the black Spanish radish ; 
and the large turnep-rooted, or white Spa- 
nish radish. The first variety is that which 
is commonly cultivated in our kitchen 
gardens for its roots ; of this there are seve- 
ral subordinate variations. 
RAPHIDIA, in natural history, a genus 
of insects of the order Neuroptera. Gene- 
ric character : mouth with a curved toothed 
horny mandible ; thorax long, cylindrical ; 
three stemmata ; wings deflected ; antennas 
filiform, as long as the thorax, the anterior 
part elongated and cylindrical ; four feelers 
very short, filiform ; tail of the female ter- 
minated by a large recurved bristle. There 
are two speeies, viz. the R. ophiosis, a 
smallish fly with rather large transparent 
wings, and a narrow thorax, stretehing for- 
wards in a remarkable manner ; it is found 
on trees in summer, though but seldom ; the 
pupa resembles the complete insect, except 
being destitute of wings. R. rotata, men- 
tioned by Gmelin has, by other naturalists, 
been supposed to be a mere variety of the 
ophiosis. Dr. Shaw mentions two other 
species, viz. R. cornuta, which in size is 
equal to one of the larger dragon flies, and 
is distinguished by its very long horn-like 
jaws, which extend far beyond the thorax, 
and are terminated by a bifid tip; the 
wings are large, reticulated, and semi-trans- 
parent. It is a native of North America. 
R. mantispa, a small species that has the 
habits of the genus Mantis, and is sup- 
posed by some to belong to that genus. 
RAREFACTION, in physics, is the 
making a body to expand or occupy more 
room or space, withput the accession of 
new matter. It is by rarefaction that gun- 
powder takes effect; and to the same prin- 
ciple also we owe eolipiles, thermometers, 
&c. The degree to which air is rarefiable 
exceeds all imagination ; perhaps indeed its 
degree of expansion is absolutely beyond 
