EPI 
and six lateral fins or pills ; the. pupa re- 
sembles the larva, except in having rudi- 
ments of future wings. The larva is alto- 
gether aquatic, the complete insect aerial. 
Iu the former state it lives two or three 
years ; but as a perfect animal it survives 
but a very few hours, perishing in the course 
of the same evening that gives it births The 
most common species is the E. vnlgata, or 
common May fly, so plentiful in the early 
part of summer about the brinks of rivulets 
and stagnant waters. It is of a greenish 
colour, with transparent wings, elegantly 
mottled with brown, and is furnished with 
three very long black bristles. It flutters 
in the evening about the surface of the 
water • but during the day is generally seen 
in a quiescent posture, with the wings clos- 
ed, and applied to each other in an upright 
position. 
EPIIEMERIDES, in literary history, an 
appellation given to those books or journals, 
-which shew the motions and places ot the 
planets for every day in the year. It is 
from the tables contained in these epheme- 
rides, that eclipses, and all the variety of 
aspects of the planets, are found. 
EPHIELIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Octandria Monogynia class and order. Es- 
sential character : calyx five-parted ; petals 
five, witli claws; nectary ten scales, two 
to each petal ; capsule oblong, one-celled, 
two-valved, two-seeded. There is but one 
species ; viz. E. guianensis : this is a lofty 
tree, growing in the forests of Guiana, where 
it flowers in the month of October. 
EPI B ATERIU M , in botany, a genus of 
the Monoecia Hexandria class and order. 
Essential character: calyx double; outer 
six-leaved, small ; inner three-leaved, large; 
petals six, three outer, between the caly- 
cine leaflets; three inner; drupes three, 
subglobular, mucronate, with the three per- 
manent styles; inclosing a kidney-form nut, 
There is only one species; viz. E. pendulum. 
EPIC, or heroic poem, a poem expressed 
in narration, formed upon a story partly 
real and partly feigned ; representing, in a 
sublime stile, some signal and fortunate ac- 
tion, distinguished by a variety of great 
events, to form the morals, and affect the 
mind with the love of heroic virtue. 
EPICHRYSUM, in botany, a genus of 
the Cryptogamia Fungi class and order. Fun- 
gus rounded, concave ; seeds globular ; tad- 
less, attached to a branched thread creeping 
within. There is but one species ; viz. E. 
argentenm. 
EPICUREAN philosophy, (he doctrine 
EPI 
or system of philosophy maintained by Epi- 
curus and his followers. 
Epicurus, the Athenian, one of the great- 
est philosophers of his age, was obliged to 
Democritus for almost his whole system, 
notwithstanding he piqued himselt upon de- 
riving every thing from his own fund. He 
w rote a great number of books, which are 
made to amount to above 300. Though 
none of them are come down to us, no an- 
cient philosopher’s system is better known 
than his, for which we are mostly indebted 
to the poet Lucretius, Diogenes Laertius, 
and Tully. His philosophy consisted of 
three parts, canonical, physical, and ethe- 
real. The first was about the canons, or 
rules of judging. The censure which Tully 
passes, upon him for his despising logic, 
will hold true only with regard to the logic 
of the Stoics, which he could not approve of, 
it being too full of nicety and quirk. Epi- 
curus was not acquainted with the analyti- 
cal method of division and argumentation, 
nor was he so curious in modes and forma- 
tion as the Stoics. Soundness and simpli- 
city of sense, assisted with some natural 
reflections, was all his art. His search alter 
truth proceeded only by the senses, to the 
evidence of which he gave so great a cer- 
tainty, that he considered them as an infal- 
lible rule of truth, and termed them the 
first natural light of mankind. 
In the second part of his philosophy he 
laid down atoms, space, and gravity as the 
first principles of all things. He did not 
deny the existence of a God, but thought 
it beneath his majesty to concern himself 
with human affairs. He held him a blessed, 
immortal being, having no affairs of bis 
own to take care of, and above meddling 
with those of others. See Atomic Phi- 
losophy; 
As to his ethics, he made the supreme 
good of man to consist in pleasure, and, 
consequently, supreme evil in pain. Na- 
ture itself, says he, teaches us this truth, 
and prompts us from our birth to procure 
whatever gives us pleasure, and avoid what 
gives us pain. To this end he proposes a re- 
medy against the sharpness of pain: this 
was to divert the mind from it, by turning 
our whole attention upon the pleasures we 
have formerly enjoyed. He held that the 
wise man must be happy, as long as he is 
wise ; that pain, not depriving him of his wis- 
dom, cannot deprive him of his happiness. 
EPICYCLE, in the ancient astronomy, 
a little circle whose centre is in the circum- 
ference of a greater circle ; or it is a small 
