COR 
between them; ftipes ciliate-fpiny. The crufty covering 
of the feed cannot be accounted a fliell, and therefore 
the pericarpium is not a drupe ; becaufe this cruft forms 
the very papilla with which the embryo is covered. 
This tree iearcely flowers before it is thirty or forty years 
old. One fpecies of this tree, which is the codda-panna 
of the Hortus Malabaricus, is very large ; it has palmate- 
pinnatifid leaves, with a petiole (or ftipe) of tender 
thorns ; a fecond, which is the faribus of Rumphius, 
has the leaves plaited in a radiate form, palmate-peltate, 
with the petiole as in the other; a third fmaller, which 
is the fabal of Adanfon, with palmate leaves, an unarm¬ 
ed petiole, and a fruit in the ihape of a pea. Perhaps 
thefe may be different forts. Native of Malabar and the 
illand of Ceylon, the Marquefas and Friendly iflands. 
Cultivated before 1742, by Robert James lord Petre. 
Knox deferibes the great fan-palm under the name of 
tallipot. It is as big and tall as a fliip’s maft, and very 
ftraight. The leaves are of great ufe, one being fo broad 
and large that it will cover fifteen or twenty men. Being 
dried, it is very ftrong and limber ; and, though it be 
very broad when open, yet it will fold clofe like a fan, and 
then is no bigger than a man’s arm. The whole leaf when 
Ip read is round, but is cut into triangular pieces for ufe : 
thefe they lay upon their heads as they travel, with the 
narrow end foremoft, to make their way through thickets. 
Soldiers all carry them, not only to fltade them from the 
fun, and to keep them dry in cafe of rain on their march, 
but to make their tents for them to lie under. Thefe 
leaves all grow on the top of the tree. It bears no fruit 
until the laft year of its life, and then yellow bloffoms 
1110ft lovely to behold, but fmelling very ftrongly, come 
out on the top, and fpread abroad in great branches : 
thefe come to a fruit round and very hard, as big as our 
largeft cherries ; in fuch abundance, that one tree will 
yield feed enough for a country ; but not good to eat. 
The flowers fmell fo ftrong, that they cut dowrn the trees 
where they are nearhoules. The trunk within itis a pith 
only, which they beat in a mortar to flour, and bake 
cakes of it, which tafte much like white bread. The 
leaves alfo ferve for covering their houfes, and for writ¬ 
ing on with an iron ftyle. Moft of the Looks which are 
fliown in Europe for the Egyptian papyrus, are made 
from the leaves of this palm. 
2. Corypha minor, or fmaller palm : fronds palmate 
fan-fthaped plaited fubbifid, having a few threads inter- 
pofed ; ftipes unarmed. Leaves fubradical, fmooth, ri¬ 
gid, ftriated; petiole without prickles, channelled or 
flat above, round underneath ; the fegments of the leaf 
are enfiform and acute.' Spadix erett, round, fmooth, 
from three to five feet high, axillary, clothed with mem¬ 
branaceous fheathing lpathes,- whence iflue along the 
whole of the fpadix panicled racemes, angular, fmooth 
and firm. Flowers feflile, fmall, without feent, all 
hermaphrodite, numerous. Fruit the fize of a pea, and 
of a Iweet tafte, fmooth, black, not very fucculent. 
Shell membranaceous, thin, brittle, brownifh, contain¬ 
ing a flutted-roundifth, bony, fhining-kernel. It flower¬ 
ed firll in Europe in the imperial garden at Schoenbrunn, 
in 1773. 
CORYPHdE'NA, f. [from y.opvtpn, the top; and nu, 
to fwim.] In ichthyology, a genus of fifties belonging to 
the order of thoracici. 1 he generic characters are : head 
very much truncated ; the branchioftege membrane has 
moftly five rays ; and the dorfal fin is the iength of the 
back. Thefe fifth have a declining roftrum, i. e. Hoping 
towards the fnout, which appears .fthort and mutilated, 
as if cut through. They have, a comprefled body, and 
feales very ftrongly adhering. The jaws are.armed w ith 
teeth ; the tongue fthort ; the palate wide. The eyes 
are round, and covered with animating membrane. They 
have fteven fins, of which the dorftal is very long. They 
are chiefly found in the Mediterranean fea, and in the 
Eaftt and Weft! Indies. The Greeks w ere acquainted w ith 
two fpecies,. to which Pliny added, a third; but fucceed- 
Vol. V. No, 269, 
COR 249 
ing naturalifts have increafed the number to twenty-two. 
Thefe fifth yield to none in beauty and brilliancy of co¬ 
lours ; they are very nimble ; and commonly fwim on 
the furface of the water, as their name imports. 
1. Coryphaena pentydadtyla, the five finger-marked co- 
ryphena: which marks form the lpecific character. The 
tail-fin is fttrait, and'twenty-one rays in the dorftal; four 
rays in the membrane of the gills, thirteen in the pecto¬ 
ral fin, ftix in the ventral, fifteen in the anal, and twelve 
in the tail. The body is thin ; the. back and belly con¬ 
vex and carinated; the head is large; eyes placed near 
the fummit, with a dark-blue pupil inclofed in a yellow 
iris; fronting the eyes are four fmall holes. The head 
is brown on the top, with a blue ftripe on the forehead, 
reaching to the upper lip. Each jaw is armed with a 
row of ftharp teeth, and a pair of large tufks. The lips 
are thin, and there are fmall feales on the cheeks. The 
aperture of the gills is very wide, and the membrane is 
partly concealed by the operculum, which conftifts of 
two broad pieces. The body is covered with large ftrong 
feales. On the back, near the head, are five fpots or 
marks, like an imprellion made with the tops of the fin¬ 
gers, and five more are on the belly ; which have given 
name to the fpecies in feveral languages. The back is 
brown ; the fides white, and filvery. The dorfal fin be¬ 
gins dircElly behind the eyes ; the nine firft rays are ftiff, the 
reft! flexible; it is bluifth edged with orange. Cepede 
however deferibes the dorfal fin as being only half the 
length of that fin in the coryphena in general: but he 
may have feen a mutilated fpecimen, and thus have been 
deceived. The pedloral, ventral, and tail, fins, are 
orange-colour edged with violet, and with ramified rays; 
there are two white fpots on the tail fin ; the anal is 
bluifh, with Ample rays. This fpecies is found in the 
Chinefe feas, and at the Moluccas; in which latter place, 
according to Renard, they appear in fhoals, and are caught 
in fuch quantities that it is impoflible to confume them 
while frefh, fo that the major part are Halted and dried 
for exportation, furniftiing a branch of commerce to thefe 
people almoft as confiderable as the cod to the Europeans. 
They are ufuully about one foot in length ; the fiefh 
white, firm, and well-tafted. 
2. Coryphaena hippurus, the dorado, or little dolphin: 
its fpecific character is the twenty-five rays in the anal 
fin, tail-fin forked : feven rays in the’membrane of the 
gills, fixteen in the peftoral fin, fix in the ventral, eigh¬ 
teen in the tail, and forty-eight in- the dorfal. The body 
is long, and covered with tender feales ; head fliort and 
comprefled, blue above, green at the fides, and filvery 
below’. The eyes are placed near the mouth ; pupil, 
black, iris orange, with a white inner rim. The mouth 
is large; the lips ftrong; jaws of equal length, armed 
with four rows of fmall teeth bent backwards. The gills 
have a wide aperture, the membrane is concealed, the 
covert Angle. The back is rounded, of a lea-green co¬ 
lour interlpe'rfed with yellow fpots as far as the lateral, 
line, below which the green is infenfibly loft in a filvery 
white. The lateral line is of a yellow colour. The dor¬ 
fal fin is very long; the rays are yellow, but the mem¬ 
brane which unites them is blue ; the reft of the fins are 
yellow. It has its. name hippurus from the fimilarity of 
its dorfal fin to a horfe’smane. This beautiful fifth fthines 
in the water like gold, which has oceafioned its name in 
feveral countries; but it dies foon alter it is drawn out. 
of its element, and then the bright tints of its colours 
vanifth. It is found both in hot and temperate climates; 
at Brafil, in the Mediterranean, and in the Moluccas.. 
Shaepf law it frequently on the coaft of America. Ron- 
deietius had an opportunity of examining this fifth in 
Spain, where it is called lampugo, and appeared to him 
to be diftinguilhed from the whole finny tribe by its fu- 
perior beauty. The ancient naturalifts believed that it 
lay hid in a dormant flute during winter*like the ferpent 
and that its young increafed in fize in a far more rapid-, 
manner Uian thofe of any other fifth. The Spanifth ftfther- 
3. § intuij 
