CAP 
fourteen inches long;, marked with dift.nfl rings nearly 
to the points, and bended, by.a double flexure, into a 
form refembling that of the ancient lyre. The females 
are without horns. Barbary and India are the regions 
which this fpecies is known chiefly to inhabit. The fe¬ 
male goes nine months with young, and produces only 
one at a birth. Bengal, as we learn from travellers, af¬ 
fords a* variety of this fpecies, the horns of which-refemble 
thofe of tire prefent fubjecl ; but its face, back, and Tides, 
are of a very deep brown colour; its belly and the intide 
of its legs are white ; its tail is black above and white be¬ 
neath ; and its flze fuperior to that of the lull variety. 
Mr. Pennant diflinguiflies this animal by the epithet 
brown, and conjectures that it may be the fame with the 
lidmee of Barbary, mentioned by Dr. Shaw in his travels. 
As the chace of thefe animals is a favourite diverfion with 
•the cojitrn nations, from that may be collected proofs of 
their rapid fpeed. The greyhound, the fleeted of clogs, 
is ui'ually unequal in the courfe ; and the fportfman is 
obliged to call in the aid of the falcon, trained to the 
•work, to feize on the animal and impede its motions, to 
give the dogs and the hunters an opportunity of overtaking 
it. In India, and in Perfia, a fort of leopard is made ufe 
of in the chace: this is an animal that takes its prey, not 
by fwiftnefs of foot, but by the greatnefs and fuddennefs 
of its fprings ; but, fhould the leopard fail in its fir ft eflay, 
the game efcapes. The Arabians hunt it with a falcon : 
“ I had (lays Haflelquifl), an excellent opportunity of fee¬ 
ing this (port near Nazareth in Galilee. An Arab, mount¬ 
ed on a fvyift courfer, held the falcon in his hand till he 
ei'pied the antelope on the top of a mountain; he then 
let loofe the falcon, which flew in a direCt line like an 
arrow, and attacked the animal ; fixing the talons uf one 
of his feet into the cheek of the creature, and the other into 
its throat, extending his wings obliquely, (preading one 
towards one of its ears, and the other to the oppofite hip. 
The animal, thus attacked, made a leap tw ice the height 
of a man, and freed himfelf from tire falcon ; but being- 
wounded, and lofing his ftrength and fpeed, he was again 
attacked by the falcon ; which now fixed the talons of 
“both its feet into the antelope’s throat, and held it fall 
till the huntfman, coming up, inftantly difpatched it; the 
falcon drinking the blood as a reward for his labour. A 
young falcon which was learnii g, was likewife put to the 
throat of the bleeding animal : for by this means they are 
taught to fix their talons in the throat, as being the pro- 
perefl part; for fliould the falcon fix them in the creature’s 
hip, or fome other part of the body, the huntfman would 
not only lole his game, but his falcon alfo : for the ante¬ 
lope, ronfed by the wound, which could not prove mor¬ 
tal, would run to the oeferts and the tops of the moun¬ 
tains, whither its enemy, keeping its hold, would be 
obliged to follow ; anti, being (eparated from its mailer, 
mull of courfe perifli.” The fliape of the lyre is faid to have 
been fuggefled from the fafhion of the horns of this animal. 
The brachia, or tides of that inflrument, were certainly 
made of the horns of animals, and the fhell of a tortoiie 
fometimes formed the bate ; which gave rife to that beau¬ 
tiful comment on this paflage in Horace, by Dr. Molyneux: 
O teftudinis aurete 
Dulcem quae ftrepitum, fieri temporas ! 
O ma/frquoque pifeibus 
Donatura cygni, fi libeat, fonum. 
The art of giving to dumb fiflies the voice of a fwan, vvas 
thought a iirange idea, till that gentleman pointed out that 
a tortoife made part of the lyre ; which animal was by 
the ancients ranked in the elafs of fillies: and even gave 
the name of yj^vq to that fpecies of mil fi cal inflrument. 
Horace again invokes his lyre by an addrefs to the tortoife ; 
which throws light on a feven-ftringed one prefcrved in the 
fupplement to Montfaucon: 
Tuque tefludo refonare feptein 
Callida nervis, 
Nec loquax olira neqtte grata. 
Vol. III. No, 16^1. 
CA'PRA,/. in agronomy, the (lie-goat, a name given 
to the ftar Capella, on the left ihoulder of Auriga; and 
fometimes to the conflellation Capricorn. Some again re- 
prefent Capra as a conflellation in the northern hemi- 
fphere, confifting of three ftars, comprised between the 
45th and. 5.5th degree of latitude. The poets fable her to 
be Amalthea’s goat, which hackled Jupiter in his infancy. 
CAPR ACOT'TA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, in the county of Molife ; thirteen miles north- 
weft of Molife. 
CAPRA'JA, an ifland in the Mediterranean, between 
the coafl of Italy and the northern part of the iiland of 
Corfica, about five leagues in circumference : the foil is 
mountainous, dry, and rough ; and furrounded with rocks, 
except in one part, where there is a good harbour, belong¬ 
ing to a town named Capraja. Lat. 43. 3. N. Ion. 27. 4 1. 
E. Ferro. 
CAPRA'RIA, one of the Temiti ifland?, in the Adria¬ 
tic, about four leagues from the coafl of Italy : it is very 
fmall, and uninhabited. Lat. 42. 10. N. Ion. rr. 22. E. 
Ferro. 
CAPRA'RIA, /. [from caper , a goat.] Goat-\vef.d. 
In botany, a genus oi the clafs didynamia, order angioi- 
pertnia, natural order perfonatae. The generic characters - 
are—Calyx: perianthium one-leafed,five-parted, oblong; 
diviiions linear, eretft, diflant, permanent, fltorter than the 
corolla. Corolla : monopetalous, bell-form, five-cleft, 
nearly equal ; divifions oblong, acute ; the two upper one's 
more ereift. Stamina : filaments four, fubulate, inferted 
into the bafe of the- corolla, (hotter by half than the co¬ 
rolla, the two lower ones rather fhorter than the others-; 
antherae cordate. Piftilhim: germ conical ; flyle filiform, 
longer than the ftamens ; fligmas cordate, bivalve, equal. 
Pericarpium : capfule oblong-conical, comprefled at the 
tip, bilocular, bivalve, with a contrary partition, which 
is doubled by the bending in of the edge of the valves. 
Seeds very many, roundiili. — EJJ'eniiai Character. Calyx, 
five-parted ; corolla, bell-form, five-cleft, acute ; capfule, 
bivalve, bilocular, many-feeded. 
Species. 1. Capraria biflora, or fhrubby goat-weed, or- 
fvveet-weed : leaves alternate ; flowers in pairs. This is 
a ill rub, feldom exceeding four feet in height. Branches 
long, fomewhat woody, eredt, roundifli, fometimes flightly 
hirfute. Leaves oblong, acuminate to both ends, ferrate 
above, fmooth, fellile, an inch and a half long, in the 
fhade near five inches in length; on fandy coafts fuccu- 
lent, thick and brittle, as are alfo the calyxes. Peduncles 
one-flowered, (lender, axillary, one or two, very feldom 
three, much fhorter titan the leaves. Flowers without 
feent ; calyx fmooth, very deeply five-parted; corolla 
white, the divifions hirfute at the bafe; antherae twin; 
germ ovate, furrowed ; fligtna headed, acute. Capfule 
furrowed on both fides, the length of the calyx. Seeds 
very fmall. It is very common in Jamaica; in all the 
Caribees, and the neighbouring continent. It is one of 
the plants which was fuppoied to be the tea of the Chi- 
nefe, and is called in the French iflands thee dupays. Cul¬ 
tivated in 1759, by Mr. Miller. 
2. Capraria durantifolia : leaves in threes toothed, pe¬ 
duncles folitary, branches alternate. Stem about a foot 
high. Native ot Jamaica, in Houghs where mud has been 
worked up by carriages. 
3. Capraria cruftacea : creeping; leaves oppofite, ovate, 
fubpetioled crenated It is a native oi Amboina and China. 
4. Capraria lanceolata, or willow . leaved capraria : 
leaves oppofite, linear-lanceolate, quite entire ; racemes 
terminating compound. 5. Capraria un'dulata, or waved¬ 
leaved capraria : leaves oppofite, ovate-oblong quite en¬ 
tire waved ; the upper fubcordate verticilled ; racemes 
fpike-form. Shrubby. Oblerved at the Cape by Tlmn- 
berg and Maflon ; flower from March to July. 
6. Capraria lucida, or fhining capraria: leaves opno- 
fite oblong, acute, finely ferrulate glolfy ; petioles winged ; 
peduncles three-flowered. Smooth ; flems quadrangular, 
leaves an inch and half long, w ith petioles one-third of 
9 M - tlid.V 
