CH^ 
number of five, as in the whale and por- 
poise, or even seven, as in the nai val. In 
the last particular they seem to constitute 
an intermediate link between carnivorous 
and herbivorous animals, approaching nearly 
to ruminating quadrupeds ; but differ in sub- 
sisting on animal food, as they live chietiy 
on actiniae, medusae, and other zoophytes, 
on crustaceoHS animals, and on small fish. 
See Monouon, Bal^na, Pha'seter, and 
Delphinos. 
CEYLANITE, in mineralogy, a species 
of the flint genus, of a dark indigo-blue, 
which passes into a bluish or greenish black. 
It occurs sometimes in rolled pieces, and 
angular pieces, and sometimes also crystal- 
lized. Specific gravity 3.76 to 3.79. It 
is found, in sand, with tourmalin and other 
fossils. 
CHdiROPHYLLUM, in botany a ge- 
nus of the Pentandria Digynia class and 
order. Natural order of Umbellatae. Es- 
sential character : invol. reflected, con- 
cave ; petals heart-inflected ; fruit oblong, 
even. There are ten species, of which C. 
bulbosum, tuberous chervil, is about five or 
six feet high with reddish spots, smooth and 
even at top, swelling at the joints. Botli 
nmbels of unequal rays, the partial rather 
convex ; petals white, obcordate, unequal ; 
some florets of the disk abortive. It is a na- 
tive of Germany, Austria, Switzeiland, and 
Norway ; in hedges and by wood sides ; 
flowering in June and July. C. silvestre, 
wild cicely or cow-weed, and C. temulum, 
wild chervil, rough cow-parsley, are both 
common weeds; the others are admitted 
«nly into botanic gardens, not being in use 
either for medicine or in the kitchen. 
CHdJTODON, in natural history, a ge- 
nus of fishes of the order Thoracici : gene- 
ric character ; head and mouth small ; teeth 
close set, flexile, setaceous ; gill mem- 
brane three, four, five, or six rayed ; body 
broad, compressed, and generally fasciated ; 
dorsal and anal fin thick, fleshy, and scaly 
at the base. The fishes of this numerous 
genus are generally extremely beautiful, 
their colours remarkably vivid, and their 
variegations consisting chiefly ot stripes, 
lines, bends, or spots ; tlieir body covered 
with strong scales, which are finely denti- 
culated at the margin ; the dorsal and anal 
fins are remarkably broad. According to 
Gmelin there are about 60 species. Dr. 
Shaw has enumerated and described still 
more. The latter has divided them into 
classes, of which the first is described as 
kaving a single dorsal fin ; and even or 
CHA 
rounded tail, or very slightly inclining to 
crescent-shaped in some few species ; 
among the species of this class is C. plec- 
torhenchus, or pleat-nose chaetodon. See 
Plate III. Pisces, fig. 1. The species of the 
second class have a single dorsal fin, and 
forked or lunated tail ; those of the third 
class have two dorsal fins. 
CHAFF, in agriculture, the husky sub- 
stance of corn, which is separated by 
threshing and winnowing. It also some- 
times signifies the rind of corn ; thus, bar- 
ley that has a thick rind is said to be thick- 
chaffed ; and it likew ise implies straw, &c. 
cut small for the purpose of being given to 
horses and other cattle, mixed with corn. 
This svibstance, whether obtained by the 
dressing of grain or made from straw' and 
other matters by cutting, is highly useful in 
the feeding of horses and many other ani- 
mals, as saving much other more valuable 
food. Besides its advantage in the common 
feeding of animals, it is of vast utility in the 
fattening of different sorts of animals, whei-e 
much luxuriant green food is given, as a dry 
meat ; as without some sort of material of 
this nature they never go on w'ell. 
CHAIN, a long piece of metal com- 
posed of several links or rings, engag- 
ed the one in the other. They are 
made of divers metals, some round, some 
flat, others square, some .single, some dou- 
ble. A gold chain is one of the badges of 
the dignity of the Lord Mayor of London, 
and remains to tlie person after his being 
divested of that office, as a mark that he has 
passed the chair. It is also tlie badge of 
office of the sheriff, but only while ia 
office. 
Chain is also a string of gold, silver, or 
steel-wire, wrought like a tissue, which 
serves to hang watches, tweezer-cases, and 
other valuable toys upon. The invention 
of these pieces of workmanship was de- 
rived originally from England, whence, fo- 
reigners give them the name of chains of 
England. 
in making these chains, a part of the wire 
is folded into little links of an oval form, the 
longest diameter about three lines, the 
shortest one. These, after they have been 
exactly soldered, are again folded into 
two, and then bound together and inter- 
woven by means of several other little 
threads of the same thickness, some of 
which passing from one end to the other, 
imitate the warp of a stuff, and the otliers, 
which pass transversely the woof ; there arsj 
at least four thousand little links in a 
R 2 
