ANS 
and Ciliate each side, the fringe affixed to 
each valve ; shell bivalve, inequivalve ; one 
of the valves fiattish, the other gibbous at 
the base with a produced beak, generally 
curved over the hinge ; one of the valves 
often perforated near the base ; hinge with 
a linear prominent cicatrix and a lateral 
tooth placed within, but in the flat valve 
on the very margin ; two bony rays for the 
base of the animal. There are nearly fifty 
species enumerated by Gmelin, found in 
different parts of the world. A. ephip- 
pium has a shell, roundish, pellucid, with 
wrinkled plaits ; the flat valve perforated. 
It inhabits European and American seas, 
and is frequently found sticking to the com- 
mon oyster. About two inches long, 
broad ; the outside rugged and filmy, the 
inside smooth and pearly: varies in co- 
lour, but generally with a silvery hue. 
ANONA, in botany, a genus of plants, 
belonging to the Polyandria Polygynia 
class of Linnaeus. The perianthium is com- 
posed of three cordated, hollowed, and 
acuminated leaves ; the corolla consists of 
six cordated sessile petals, three alternately 
interior and smaller ; the stamina are scarce 
visible, but the antherae are numerous ; the 
fruit is a large berry, of an oval fighre; co- 
vered with a squamose punctuated bark ; 
the seeds are numerous, hard, of an oblong 
figure, and are placed circularly. 
ANSERES, in natural history, the third 
order of birds according to the Linnaean 
system : they are distinguished by a smooth 
bill, covered with a soft skin and broader 
at tlie point ; feet formed for swimming ; 
toes palmate, connected by a membrane; 
shanks short and compressed ; body fat and 
downy ; flesh mostly tougli ; their food is 
fish, frogs, aquatic plants, worms, &c. They 
make their nest generally on the ground ; 
the mother takes but little care in provid- 
ing for the young. They are frequently 
polygamous. They are divided into those 
genera having bills with, and those without 
teeth : of the former are the 
Anas, Phaeton, and 
Mergus, Plotus. 
Of the latter are the 
Alea, Pelecanus, 
Aptenodytes, Proceliaria, 
Colymbus, Prynchops, 
Diomedea, and 
Larus, Sterna. 
This order comprehends all kinds of wa- 
ter-fowl. The webbed feet of these birds 
ANT 
are admirably adapted to aid them in 
swimming ; and the greater quantity of oil 
secreted by the glands near the tail, and 
rubbed by means of their bills over all the 
feathers of their body, enables them to 
live on the w'ater, without ever being wet. 
They live mostly on fish, and some of them 
have been occasionally tamed to the catch- 
ing of fish for the use of their masters. In 
some of the lakes of China, where the wa- 
ter-fowl abound, the natives have the fol- 
lowing ingenious mode of catching them : 
For several days before they attempt to 
take them, many empty gourd-shells are set 
afloat on the water, to habituate the birds 
to their appearance; and when they are 
observed to take no notice of these shells, 
hut to swim among them, a man, with one 
of the same kind upon his head, goes into 
the lake, and wades or swims among the 
birds with nothing but his head above the 
water. He now begins his sport, and tak- 
ing the birds by ttieir legs, draws them un- 
der water, breaks their necks, and fas- 
tens them to his girdle, one after another, 
till he is sufficiently loaded, and then re- 
turns to the shore. 
ANSWER, in law : On an indictment for 
perjury, in an answer in Chancery, it is 
a sufficient proof of identity, if the name 
subscribed be proved to be the hand-writ- 
ing of the defendant ; and that the same 
was subscribed by the master, on being 
sworn before him . 
ANT. See Formica. 
ANTECEDENCE, in astronomy, an ap- 
parent motion of a planet towards the west, 
or contrary to the order of the signs, viz. 
from Taurus towards Aries, &c. 
ANTECEDENT, in grammar, the word 
to which a relative refers : thus, God 
whom we adore, the word God is the an- 
tecedent to the relative whom. 
Antecedent term, in mathematics, the 
first one of any ratio : thus, if the ratio 
be a: b, a is the antecedent term. 
ANTEDATE, among lawyers, a spuri- 
ous or false date, prior to the true date of a 
bond, bill, or the like. 
ANTELOPE, in natural history, of the 
Mammalia class of animals, of the order 
Glires. The generic character is, horns hol- 
low, seated on a bony core, growing up- 
wards, annulated or wreathing, permanent. 
Front teeth in the lower jaw, eight, and no 
canine teeth. Antelopes constitute a very 
numerous race : they were formerly, even 
by Linnaeus, ranged under the genus Capra, 
but now have obtained a rank for them- 
