D I P 
bits the mountains north of the Cape of Good Hope, 
and is called by the Dutch the jumping hare. It is very 
flrong in the hind finews, and will leap twenty or thirty 
feet at a time: it emits a grunting found; fits upright 
when it eats, with its legs extended horizontally, and its 
back bent: it tifes its fore-feet to bring its food to its 
mouth, and burrows with them mod expeditioully. In 
lleeping, it fits with its knees feparate, and puts its head 
between its hind-legs, and, with its fore-legs, holds its 
ears over its eyes. 
4. Dipus meridianus, the torrid jerboa : with naked 
oval ears, long win fleers; four toes on the fore-feet, the 
hind-feet are as long as the body, thick, and flrong, but 
thinly haired. It has five toes on each foot; fcarcely 
any neck : the tail is alfo the length of the body, with 
very little hair upon it: the colour of the upper part of 
the body is yellow, of the lower white. It is of the fize 
of a common moufe, and inhabits the Torrid Zone. The 
whole length of the animal is eight inches; of its tail, 
four and three quarters : its colour is deep brown above, 
white beneath ; thefe are feparated, the whole length on 
each fide, by a yellow line. It inhabits Hudfon’s Bay, 
and the Labrador coa(t. It is alfo found in the fandy 
defert of Naryn, or Ryu Pefky, between the Volga and 
the Yaik, near the Cafpian Sea, in lat. 46^. In this tra£t 
fcarcely any thing grows except the torlok, or pterococ- 
cusaphyllus, and a few other poor plants oil which it feeds. 
Two were there taken fporting in the mid-day fun ; they 
were both males, and attempted to efcape to different 
holes. The burrows had three entrances, running ob¬ 
liquely, and were about a yard deep, lined or plaftered 
with mud. In the bottom was neither nefl nor provi- 
fion of grafs. The Afiatic animal differed in colour from 
the American, being above of a light grey mixed with 
tawny, and white below ; the colours divided length¬ 
ways by a lfripe of dufky red: the tail covered with 
longer and loofe hair at the end than in the other parts ; 
the foies of the feet clad with hair. Linnaeus defcribes 
this fpecies under the title of mus longipes ■, but Grnelin 
has removed if. Dr. Pallas, with great reafon, fuppofes 
it to be the fame with the jird of Dr. Shaw, which he 
defcribes with the jerboa. It agrees in colours with the 
above, in its long tail being better clothed than that of 
a rat, and in its burrowing under ground. This is fre¬ 
quent in Barbary, and is reckoned good food. 
5. Dipus tamaricinus, the tamarifk jerboa ; this has 
an oblong head, great whifkers, and a blunt nofe : nof- 
trils covered with a flap ; teeth yellow ; eyes large and 
brown; ears large, naked, and oval: there is a white 
fpace round the nofe and eyes, and beyond the ears: the 
fides of the head and neck are hoary ; neck fiiort; back 
and fides of a yellowifh grey, tipped with brown ; bread 
and belly white ; tail afh-coloured, annulated with brown; 
hind-legs long ; the fore-feet have a tubercle like a wart, 
indead of a thumb ; length more than fix inches, tail 
not quite To long. This fpecies inhabits the fait marfhes 
about the river Ural, and burrows beneath the knotty 
roots of the tamarifk bufhes. Each burrow has two en¬ 
trances, and is very deep : they feed only at night: their 
food confids of f'ucculent aquatic plants. 
6. Dipus Circafiianus, the Circadian jerboa. This fpe¬ 
cies has been ufually called the Circaffian marmot, with 
ears like thofe of mice ; red fparkling eyes; (harp teeth ; 
body long, and of an equal thicknefs ; chefnut-coloured 
hair, long, efpecially on the back. It is furnifhed with 
Iharp claws ; tail long and bufliy ; fore-feet fhorter than 
the hind-feet; fize of the hamder. Inhabits the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the river Terek-, which flows out of Circaf- 
fia and falls into the Cafpian Sea : runs fad up hill, very 
(lowly down ; burrows, dnd lives under ground. 
7. Dipus Canadenfis, the Canada jerboa. This ani¬ 
mal hath the upper jaw projecting far beyond the lower; 
the upper cutting teeth deeply divided by a longitudinal 
furrow; ears frnall, and hid in the fur, and placed far 
back; the three middle hind-toes very long, thofe on 
. D I R 85,5 
each fide very fhorf; colour of the fur on the upper part 
of the head and body, light; towards the bottom of 
the fur iron-grey ; belly whitifh ; length from nofe to 
the tip of the tail fcarcely two inches; tail very (lender, 
three incites and a half long. Inhabits the woods of Ca¬ 
nada. Its hind-legs are very long; it goes upright on 
thefe, and its pace is leaping; it is exceeding nimble, 
and is with difficulty caught, except it can be forced 
into the open grounds. It is torpid during winter, wraps 
itfelf up like the dormoufe, and coils up its long tail, 
previonfly rolling itfelf into a round ball of clay, which 
it forms for its winter retreat. * 
DIPYRE'NUM, f [from twice; and wyguv, Gr. 
a berry.] A furgical probe, which has two nutsmr but¬ 
tons at one end. 
To DIRA'DIATE, v. n. ffiliradiarc, Lat.] To fpread 
forth beams of light. 
DIR ADI A'TION, f. A fpreading forth beams of 
light. Among phyficians, an invigoration of the mufcles 
by the animal fpirits. 
DIRACOU'L, a .town of Afiatic Turkey, in the Ara¬ 
bian Irak : forty-two miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Bagdad. 
DI'RZS, in heathen mythology, the daughter of Ache¬ 
ron and Nox, vvho perfecuted the fouls of the guilty. 
They are the fame as the -Furies, and fome fuppole that 
they are called Furies in hell, Harpies on earth, and Di¬ 
ne in heaven. Virgil. 
DIR'CA,y. [derivation unknown. ] Leather-wood : 
in botany, a genus of the clafs oftandria, order monogy- 
nia, natural order vepreculae, (thymqlipeoe, Jbjf-) The 
generic characters are—Calyx: none. Corolla: one-pe- 
talled, club-fhaped ; tube bellying above; border ob- 
Icure, with unequal margin. Stamina: filaments eight, 
capillary, inferted into the middle of the. tube, longer 
than the corolla ; antherae roundifh, upright. Piftillum : 
germ ovate, with oblique tip ; (lyle filiform, longer than 
the (tainens, crooked at the tip ; ftigma ample. Peri- 
carpium : berry one-celled. Seed: (ingle.— EJfcntial Cha- 
raEler. Calyx, none ; corolla, fabulous with an obfeure 
border; (lamina, longer than the tube; berry, one-leeded. 
Dirca paluftris, or marfli leather-wood, the only fpe¬ 
cies known, it is in height five hr fix feet, but in Europe 
rarely more than half fo high ; it fends out many jointed 
branches, near the root; leaves oval,‘p a ^ e yellowifh, and 
fmooth. The flowers come out from the fide of the 
branches, two or three upon each peduncle ; they are of 
a greenifh white colour, and appear early in the fpring, 
when the leaves begin to (hoot. Kalm defcribes it as a 
little flmtb growing on hills towards fwamp^ and marflies 
in North America. The bark is very tough, as is alfo 
the (lirub itfelf, infomuch that the branches cannot eafily 
be feparated without cutting. The twigs are ufed for 
rods, and the bark for ropes, bafkets, &c. for which it 
is very fit, being equal in (Length and toughnefs to the 
bark of the lime-tree. The French in Canada call it 
bois de plomb, or leaden-wood. Introduced in 1750 by 
Archibald duke of Argyle ; it flowers in March and 
April ; but is very difficult to propagate in Europe, for, 
as it does not produce feeds here, it can only be increafed 
by layers or cuttings, and thefe are generally two years 
before they put out roots ; and, as it grows naturally in 
very moift places, it is with difficulty preferved in gar¬ 
dens, unlefs it be planted in wet ground : it is leldoni 
injured by cold. 
DIR'CE, in fabulous hi(lory,’a woman whom Lycus, 
king of Thebes, married after he had divorced Antiope. 
When Antiope became pregnant by Jupiter, Dirce fuf- 
pedted her hufband of infidelity to her bed, and impri- 
foned Antiope, whom (lie tormented with the greateft 
cruelty. Antiope efcaped from her confinement, and 
brought forth Amphion and Zethus on mount Citliae- 
ron. When thefe children were informed of the cruel¬ 
ties to which their mother had bedn expofed, they be- 
fieged Thebes, put I.ycus to death, and tied the cruel 
Dirce to the tail of a wild bull, vvho dragged her over 
roclcs 
