77 8 CAP 
their length. Biennial; native of the Cape, flowering, in 
April and May. 
7. Capraria humilis, or dwarf capraria : pubefcent ; 
leaves oppofite, or in threes, ovate, ferrate, petioled ; pe¬ 
duncles axillary fhorter than the petiole. This is an an¬ 
nual. Found in tire Eaft Indies, by John Gerard Koenig, 
M. D. Introduced 1781, by Sir Jofeph Banks, Bart. 
Propagation and Culture. The firft fort is propagated by 
feeds, which mu ft be fown upon a hot-bed in the fpring 
of the year, and the plants mufc be brought forward by 
planting them upon a fecond hot-bed : about the middle 
or end of June they may be tranfplanted either into pots of 
rich earth, or a warm border, and may then beexpoied to 
the open air,where they will perfect their feeds in autumn. 
The Cape forts may be increafed by cuttings, and are not 
fo tender as the foregoing. See Lechea, Lindernia, 
and Scoparia. 
CAPRE'OLATE, adj. [front capreolus, Lat. a ten¬ 
dril of a vine.] Such plants as turn, wind, and creep along 
the ground, by means of their tendrils, as gourds, me¬ 
lons, and cucumbers, are termed, in botany, capreolate 
plants. Harris. 
C APRE'Of.US, f. [ditn. of caprea, a tendril.] In bo¬ 
tany, a tendril, or production of fome weak plants, grow¬ 
ing from the ftalk, and ferving to entwine them about the 
Stronger neighbouring-plants-. In anatomy it means the 
helix, or circle Gt the ear, from its tendril-like contortion. 
Minfhew fays it is called capreolus , from capio to take, qu. 
capeolup, from the facility with which tendrils fallen upon 
any thing near them. It is probably from capra , a goat, 
rvhofe horn its contortions fomewhat relemble. 
CAPRE'OLUS (Elias), a celebrated civilian, and hif- 
totian, born at Brefcia in Italy, wrote an hiftory of Bre- 
fcia, and other works : died in 1519. 
CA'PRI, an iiland, in the Mediterranean, near the 
coal! of Naples, about eight miles in circumference, an¬ 
ciently called Caprea , where the emperor Tiberius refided, 
indulging himfelf in debaucheries, and iffuing his bloody 
orders of execution. The iiland is mountainous, but fer¬ 
tile, with great plenty of game, efpecially quails. 
CA'PRI; a town of Italy, in the iiland fo called; the 
fee of a billtop, fuffragan of Amalfi, great part of vihofe 
revenue arifes from the tenth ot the quails and other birds 
caught.in the iflund : feventeen miles South of Naples.. 
Lat. 3*0. 34. N. Ion. 3 r. 44. E. Ferro. 
CAPRIA'TA (Peter John), a civilian and hiftorian, 
born at Genoa. He wrote, in Italian, the hiftory of the 
wars of Italy pan Englilh tranflation of which was printed 
in London in 1663. 
CAPRI'CE, or CAPiucHio, f. [caprice, Fr. capricho, 
Span.] Freak; fancy ; whim ; hidden change of humour. 
.—It is a pleafaut fpeflacle to behold the fhifts, windings, 
and unexpeffed caprichios, of dillreiSed nature, when pur- 
ftied by a clofe and well-managed experiment. Glanville. 
Heav’n’s great view is one, and that the whole ; 
That counterworks each folly and caprice, 
That disappoints th’ effeft of ev’ry vice. Pope. 
CAPRI'CIOUS, adj. [ capricicitx , Fr.] Whimfical; 
fanciful ; humtmrfome. 
CAPRl'CIOUSLY, adv. [from capricious .] Whimfi- 
callv ; in a manner depending wholly upon fancy. 
C APRI'CIOUSNESS, f. [from capricious. Tlie qua¬ 
lity of being led by caprice, humour, whimlicalnefs.— 
A fubjedl ought to fuppofe that there are reafons,although 
he be not apprifed of them ; otherwife, he tr.ui! tax his 
prince of capHcionfnfs, inconftancy, or ill defign. Swift. 
C A'^R ICORN, f. in aflronomv, the goat, a font hern 
conftellation, and tire 10th fign of the zodiac, and alfoone 
of the forty-eight original conftellations received by tire 
Greeks from the Egyptians.. The figure of this fign is 
drawn as having the (ore-part of a goat, but tire hinder 
part of a fifir j and Sometimes limply under the form of 
- a goat. In writing, it is denoted by a character repre- 
feming the crooked horns of a goat’s head, thus v?. As 
CAP 
to the figure of this conftellation, the Greeks pretend that 
Pan, to avoid the terrible giant TyphOn, threw himfelf 
into the Nile, and was changed into lire figure here drawn ; 
in commemoration of which exploit, Jupiter took it up to 
heaven. But it is probable, as Macrobius obferves, that 
tire Egyptians marked the point of the ecliptic appropri¬ 
ated to this fign, where the fun begins again to afeend up 
towards the north, with the figure of a goat, an animal 
which is always climbing the Sides of mountains'. Thd 
liars in this conftellation, in Ptolemy’s and Tycho’s cata¬ 
logue, are twenty-eight; in that of Hevelius twenty-nine ; 
though it is to be remarked, that one of thofe in the tail, 
of the Sixth magnitude, marked the 27th in Tycho’s book, 
was loft in Hcvelius’s time. Flamfteed gives', fifty-one ftars 
to this fign. 
Tropic of CA'PRICORN, a little circle of the fphere, 
parallel to the equator, palling through the beginning of 
Capricorn, or the winter folftice, or the point of the fun’s 
greateft foutlr declination. 
CAPRIFICA'TION, f. a method ufed in the Levant, 
for ripening tire fruit of the domeftic fig-tree. See Ficus. 
CAPRIFI'CUS. See Ficus. 
CAPRIFO'LIUM. See Lonicera. 
CAPRl'GLIA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples and Principato Ultra : 13 miles South of Benevento. 
CAPPRIMUL'GUS, [. Goat-sucker; in ornitho¬ 
logy, a genus of birds belonging to the order of hafleres. 
Ariftotlecalls it aiyoGu^os;, from aif, a goat, and br'ha.ljco, 
to milk. The name which Pliny bellows is a literal tranfia- 
tion of this, Caprimulgus. Hence, too, are derived many of 
its riefignations in the modern languages. In Italian ,fucchia. 
capre ; in French, tete-chevre-, in German, geifs-melcher , 
milch-ziegen fuger, kinder-melcJier ; and in Norwegian, 
gede-malcher. As it never appears but in the twilight, 
this circumftance has, alfo procured it a clafs of names. Ir> 
Greek, nvxlixopa£ ; in Latin, fur nofiurnus; in Englilh, 
night-hawk ; in Italian, nottola ; in German, nacktfchadc , 
nacht-raeblin, nacht-vogel ; in Danilh, nat-raun, nat- 
Skade ; in Swedilh, natfkraefwa, nattfdarra. It is alfo 
called cova-terra (ground-hatcher) in Italian; chajfe-cra- - 
paud (toad-hunter) in French ; nacht-fchwalbe (night- 
fwallow) and crofs-bartige fchwalbe (great-bearded (wal¬ 
low) in German. Its generic characters are as follow: 
Bill, moderately curved inwards, awl-fhaped, deprelSed 
at the bafe. Whilkers, in a row at the mouth, which 
opens uncommonly wide. Tongue (harp, and very en¬ 
tire. Feet Ihort; the margin of the mid-toe broad and 
Serrated. This genus comprehends fifteen fpecies ; four¬ 
teen of which are peculiar to America ; and one only, viz. 
the Europaus, is a migratory inhabitant of the other three 
quarters of the globe. The fpecies are as follow : 
1. Caprimulgus Europacus, or the common goat-fucker, 
with the tubes of the noftrils hardly vifible. It feeds on 
moths, gnats, dorrs, or chafers; from which Charleton 
calls it a dorr-hawk , its food being entirely of that fpecies 
of beetle during the month of July, the period of that in- 
fecl’S flight in this country. This bird makes but a (hort 
flay with us : appears the latter end of May ; disappears, . 
in the northern parts of our iiland, the latter end of Au- 
guft ; but, in the Southern, flays above a month longer. 
It inhabits all parts of Britain, from Cornwall to the county 
of Rofs. Mr. Scopoli Seems to credit the report of their 
fucking the teats of goats and cows, an error delivered 
down from the days of Ariftotle. Its notes are mod An¬ 
gular. The loudefr fo much refembles that of a large 
Spinning wheel, that the Welfh call this bird aderyny dretll r 
or the wheel-bird. It begins its long moll punctually on 
the dole of day, fitting ufually on a bare bough, with the 
head lower than the tail, the lower jaw quivering with 
the efforts. The noife is fo very violent, as to give a fen- 
fible vibration to any little building it chances to alight oh. 
and emit this fpecies of note. The other is a fliarp Squeak, 
which it repeats often; this feems to be a note of love, as 
it. is obferved to reiterate it when in purfuit of the female 
among the trees,. It lays its eggs on the bare ground; 
ufually. 
