£82 
DEL 
Caftalia. The waters of Caftalia dfefcended through a 
cleft of Parnaflus; the rock on each fide high and deep, 
ending in two fummits; of which one was called Haym- 
p ia. From this precipice the Delphians threw down 
the famous Trfop. By the dream, within the cleft, are 
leen fmall broken ftajrs leading to a cavity in which is 
water, and once perhaps up to the. top. Grooves have 
been cut, and the marks of tools are vifible on the rock; 
but the current, indead of fupplying a fountain, now 
pafies over its native Bed, and hadens down a courfe deep- 
worn to join the Pliftus. Clofe by, at the foot of the 
eadern precipice, is a bafon with fteps on the margin, 
once the celebrated bath ufed by the Pythia. The tem¬ 
ple was built and dedroyed feveral times. It was cuf- 
tomary for thofe who confulted the oracle to make rich 
prefents to the god of Delphi; and no monarch diftin- 
guilhed himfelf more by his donations than Crcefus. 
This facred repodtory of opulence, was often the objedl 
of plunder ; and the people of Phocis feized 10,000 ta¬ 
lents from it, and Nero carried away no lefs than 500 
datues of brafs, partly of the gods, and partly of the 
mod illudrious heroes. In another age, Condantine the 
Great removed its mod fplendid ornaments to his new 
capital. It was univerfally believed, and fupported, by 
the antients, that Delphi was in the middle of the earth ; 
and on that account it was called terra umbilicus. This, 
according to mythology, was fird found out by two doves, 
which Jupiter had let loofe from the two extremities of 
the earth, and which met at the place where the temple 
of Delphi was built. Apollonius. 
DEL'PHICUS, a furname of Apollo, from the wordiip 
paid to his divinity at Delphi. 
DELPHI'NIA, in antiquity, feads which the inhabi¬ 
tants of Egina celebrated in honour of Apollo, furnamed 
Dclpliinius , fo called, becaufe, in fabulous hidory, he 
aflumed the form of a dolphin to conduct Cadalius and 
Iris colony from the ide of Crete to the Sinus Criffaus Del¬ 
phinium, one of the courts of judicature of the Athenians. 
DELPHI'NIUM, J'. [from a fancied refemblance of 
the flower, before it opens, to a dolphin.] In botany, 
the Larkspur; a genus of the clafs polyandria, order 
trigynia, natural order multifiliqute. The generic cha¬ 
racters are—Calyx: none. Corolla: petals five, un¬ 
equal, difpofed in a circle; of which the uppermod is 
more obtufe than the red in front, and is extended be¬ 
hind into a tubular, draight, long, obtufe horn; the red 
ovate-lanceolate, fpreading, nearly equal. NeCtary two- 
cleft, feated in front within the circle of petals on the 
upper part, behind dretched out, involved w'ithin the 
tube of the uppermod petal. Stamina: filaments very 
many (fifteen or thirty), fubulate, wider at thebafe, very 
fmall, inclined towards the upper petal; antherae ereft, 
fmall. Pidillum : germs three or one, ovate, ending in 
flyles the length of the damens; digmas Ample, reflex. 
Pericarpium : capfules as many, ovate-fubulate, draight, 
one-valved, gaping inwards. Seeds: very many, cor¬ 
nered.— EJfcntial CharaEler. Calyx, none ; petals, five ; 
nedtary, cloven, produced into a horn behind; filiques, 
three or one. 
Species. I. Unicapfular. 1. Delphinium confolida, or 
branching larkfpur: neftaries one-leafed, fiem fubdi- 
vided. Root annual; dalk upright, a foot high or more, 
round, pubefeent, divided into alternate diverging 
branches; leaves alternate, the lower on petioles near 
half an inch long, the upper feflile or nearly fo ; they are 
divided down to the bafe into three or five parts, which 
are deeply cut into flender linear fegments, often forked 
at the end ; peduncles one-flowered, from the ends of the 
ftalk and branches, having on them a few entire awl- 
Ihaped leaves. Corolla blue, varying to purple, pink, 
hnd white, and in gardens to ftriped, and many different 
Ihades of colour : petals irregularly fcallopped on the 
edge; the lateral ones broadeft, the uppermoft lanceo¬ 
late, not blunter than the reft, rather fhorter than the 
neClary, but projecting backwards into a conical tube. 
DEL 
Stamens about feventeen ; anthers roundilh, double. It 
has frequently two ftyles, and fometimes only one. Cap¬ 
fules or filiques yellowilh-brow'n, fmooth, with nine or 
ten black tinning feeds in them, placed in a double row, 
and rough with fliort hairs and very fmall tubercles. In 
Englitli it is called wild or corn lark's-fpur, lark's-clazu, and 
lark's-toes ; in French, pied d’alloucttc ; in German, fitter - 
7 porn ; in Danifh and Svvedifli, ridderfpore .; in Italian, Jpe- 
ronella ; in Spanifli, efpuela de caballero. It grows wild in 
corn-fields in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Svvi'f- 
ferland, Carniola, Italy, and Spain. It was not obferved 
in a wild ftate in Britain by Gerarde ; and his editor, 
Johnfon, (1636,) exprefsly fays, “ not with us, that I 
have yet obferved.” Parkinfon however, in his Para- 
difus, publithed feven years fooner, affirms, that the 
fmaller wild kind is found in fome fields of our own coun¬ 
try ; but he does not fay that he had feen it. James 
Sherard, M. D. obferved it in Sw'affham-field, in Cam- 
bridgefhire. Profeffor John Martynfound it there, and 
in other fields of the fame county, about the year 1730; 
and T. Martyn remarked it abundantly, not only with 
blue, but with pink, purple, and white, flowers, in mod 
of the open fields round Cambridge, ever fince the year 
1752. The exprefled juice of the petals, with the addi¬ 
tion of a little alum, makes a good blue ink. The feeds 
are acrid and poifonous. 
2. Delphinium ajacis, or upright larkfpur : neftaries 
one-leafed ; ftem Ample. The ftalk of the upright or 
garden larkfpur is eighteen inches and more in height, 
and feldom branched. Leaves finely divided, commonly 
by threes, on broad petioles ; fegments linear, quite en¬ 
tire, channelled above; fpike of flowers eredt, and more 
denfe than the preceding ; commonly only one capfule 
or filique. This affords a great variety of colours in the 
flowers, both Angle and double, fome very large and nu¬ 
merous in clofe fpikes, making a fine appearance from 
the end of June to Auguft. The original country of 
this is unknown. It now comes up fpontaneoufiy in fe¬ 
veral parts of Europe, but probably from garden feeds. 
Linnaeus and others are of opinion that the larkfpur is • 
the hyacinth of the poets. Profeffor John Martyn how¬ 
ever, after profoundly confidering the matter, determines 
it to be the lilium martagon; and the learned Heyne ac- 
quiefees in his opinion. There does not appear to be 
the leaft foundation for Linnaeus’s notion. 
3. Delphinium aconiti, or aconite larkfpur: nectaries 
one-leafed, with four teeth in front ; branchlets one- 
flowered. Stature the fame as in the firft or fifth fpecies, 
with corollas of aconite ; ftem a foot high, panicled, 
branching, hoary, pubefeent; flowers terminating, Soli¬ 
tary, peduncled, fmall, livid, variegated within with 
purple and green. Native of the Dardanelles. Annual- 
II. Tricapfular. 4. Delphinium ambiguum, or doubt¬ 
ful larkfpur: nedtaries one-leafed; corollaslix-petalled ; 
leaves many-parted. Stature of the fecond fort, but 
more hoary ; branches divaricating in a Ample ftem : co¬ 
rollas blue, with a green outfide. This comes later to 
flower than the upright larkfpur. 
5. Delphinium peregrinum, or broad-leaved annual 
larkfpur : nedtaries two-leaved ; corollas nine-petalled ; 
leaves many-parted, obtufe. This has a very branching 
ftalk, about two feet high. The lower leaves are divided 
into many broad obtufe fegments, but thofe which are 
upon the ftalks are generally Angle ; the flowers grow 
fcatteringly towards the upper part of the branches, are 
fmall, and of a deep blue colour ; they are fucceeded by 
very fmall feed-veflels, which are Angle or double, rarely 
three together. Native of the fouth of Europe and the 
Levant. Cultivated in 1731, by Mr. Miller, who had 
the feeds from Gibraltar. 
6. Delphinium grandiflorum, or great-flowered lark¬ 
fpur : nedtaries two-leaved, with entire lips; flowers 
ufually folitary; leaves compound-linear, many-parted. 
This has a perennial root, which puts out two or three 
branching ltalks every fpring, which rife about a foot 
and 
