122 E X O 
forth through its ordinary -exits, wells, and the outlets of 
rivers. Woodward. 
EXI'TIAL, or Exrnous, adj. [w itialis, Lat.] De¬ 
finitive; fatal; mortal; deleterious. Notinufe. —Mod: 
exitial fevers, although not concomitated with the tokens, 
exanthemata, anthraces, or carbuncles, are to be cenlured 
peftilential. Harvey. 
EXITU'RA,./. [exeo, Lat. to come from.] A running 
abfcefs. 
EX'ITUS,/ [exeo, Lat. to dome out.] A prolapfusot 
falling down of the womb or anus. 
EX'ITUS, f. A laiv term: the ilFues, rents, and pro¬ 
fits, of lands or tenements. 
EXLUN'ZA, a town.cl Spain, in the province of Leon: 
five miles fouth-eaft of Leon. 
EX'MES, a town of France, in the department of 
Qrne, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift'Of Ar- 
genton : three leagues eaft of Argenton, 
EX-MI'N ISTER,/ Ufcd of late for one out of place, 
who has been a miniltcr of liate.—Here has been a con- 
grefs of mod of the ex-minijlers. Chejlerfield. 
EX'MOOR, an extenfive foreftof England, in the wed- 
tern part of the county of Somerfet. 
EX'MOUTH, a lea-port town on the fout’n coafi of the 
county of Devon, at the mouth of the river Ex : ten 
miles fouth of Exeter. Lat. 50. 29. N. Ion. 3. 25. W. 
Greenwich. 
E XO A C A N'TH A', / [from ef aaatfiotif/.ai, /pints horreo. ] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digynia, 
natural order of umbellatae, or umbelliferae. The ge¬ 
neric characters are—Calyx : umbel univerfal manifold, 
fp reading, the inner rays gradually fmaller, the inmoft 
very fliort; partial manifold ; involucre univerfal with 
rays ufually twelve, channelled, fpiny at the end ; partial 
halved, with the middle ray very long, fimilar to the fays 
of the involucre ; perianthium proper, fcarcely obferva- 
ble. Corolla: univerfal uniform ; proper five-petal led'; 
petals inflex-heart-lhaped, equal. Stamina : filaments 
five, capillary, longer than the corolla ; anthers rotnldifb. 
Piftillum: germ inferior, ovate ; ftyles two, fhorter, 
firaiglit; ftigmas two, Ample. Pericarpium : fruit fub- 
■ovate, (triated, bipartile. Seeds two, ovate, convex and 
ftriated on one fide, flat on the other; allied to Echino- 
phora, but witli uncalycled flowers, all hermaphrodite, 
equal petals, and naked feeds .—EJfential CharaB.tr. Invo¬ 
lucres fpiny; involucels halved, with unequal rays; 
flowers all hermaphrodite, with equal inflex-heart-fhaped 
petals ; feeds ovate, firiated. 
Exoacantha heterophylla, a Angle fpecies : leaves pin¬ 
nate; root-leaflets ovate, toothed, gaflied; Item-leaves 
lanceolate, acute. Root, Ample, thickifh, biennial; (tern 
two feet high or more, ftriated, fubflexuofe, fmooth ; 
leaves fmooth ; fruit ten-ftreaked. Found by Billardiere 
near Nazareth. 
EXOCCE'TUS, f. in ichthyology, the Flying-Fish. 
This genus is diftinguiflied by having the peftoral fins as 
long as the body, extending quite to the fin of the tail. 
They are the only fifties fo furniflied belonging to the order 
of abdominales. They have the membrane of the gills 
fupported by from fix to ten rays ; the head is covered 
with fcales; the lateral line runs near the belly, contrary 
to other fifh, and rifes below the operculum ; the eyes 
have no. niftating membrane. Both jaws are furniflied 
with lip-bones, which join at the corners : thefe are 
what Linnaeus mult mean to defcribe when he fays maxillis 
tonnexis, “ the jaws are connected or knit together;” for 
he could not mean to repeat a circumftance which is com¬ 
mon not only to all fifties, but to every animal whatfoever. 
The tail is bifurcated, and the lower part is longer than 
the upper. The body is quadrangular. Infide of each 
jaw there is a large membrane, which, when air is blown 
hi at the aperture of the gills, join together, and clofe 
•op the aperture of the mouth like a curtain, though the 
mouth itfelf continues open: this forms a referve of air 
which helps the full when flying. The ventral fins are 
E X O 
very far apart, and have but fix rays. The rays of all the 
fins are flexible ; the dorfal fin is direftly over the anal. 
Thefe fifties are found in both Indies, in the Red Sea, and 
in moft warm countries. Hardly any]inftance [occurs of 
their being found in the Britirti teas. They are frequent 
in the Mediterranean, and warmer latitudes in the Atlan¬ 
tic, where they are continually hunted by the dorados 
while they continue in their own element; and, as often 
as they endeavour to efcape them by afcending to the air, 
they become the viftims of the gull or the albatrofs; or 
are by them again forced back into the mouth of their 
purfuers below, who have ftill their eyes fixed upon 
them, and keep pace with their flight. Thus haraffed by 
inveterate enemies in both elements, they often fall down 
upon the decks of fhips as they pafs, and feem to yield 
themfelves up to man as the more merciful deftroyer. 
Plumier, in his MS. mentions a circumftance which 
calls for further enquiry : he fays, that the ova of the 
flying-fifh are fo extremely acrid, that not the fmalleft 
quantity of them can be fwallowed, for they immediately 
burn off the fkin from the tongue and palate. It would 
therefore be worth while to examine on the fp'ot, at the 
Antilles, '(for Plumier does not diftinguifh the fpecies,) 
whether the fiefti be not equally cauftic ; and wlietherthis 
quality arifes from their food, or is bellowed by nature for 
the prefervation of the fpawn, in order to fecure their 
propagation. 
1. Kxoccetus volitans, the common flying-fifh. Specific 
ch a rafter-, belly carinate on each fide, ventral fins final 1, 
and near the bread. There are fourteen rays in the dorf al 
fin, 1.5 in the pectorals and tail, 6 in the ventrals, and 13 
in the anal. This fpecies is beautiful to the fight; but 
his Ihining colours expofe him fo much the more to the 
attack of his enemies, againft whom he has no weapons of 
defence. Purfued by the coryphena and the large fpecies 
of fcomber, he rifes in the air by the help of his long pec¬ 
toral fins or wings to avoid them, but meets with certain 
death when his wings become dry ; for then he falls again 
into the fea ; or is ieized by thofe predatory birds which 
infeft the furface of the ocean ; fonietimes he drops on 
the deck of a fhip, and, being excellent food, his death is 
not lefs certain. Altronomers have placed his effigy in 
the heavens by the fide of the dorado, one of his mod 
dangerous enemies. The rich predominating colours of 
this fifh are a fhining filvery white, prevailing over ai¬ 
med the whole upper furface, agreeably relieved with 
azure on the head, back, and fides, and darker fhades of 
blue on the dorfal, peftoral, and tail, fins. The head is 
forriewhat flatted and compreffed every way. The lower 
jaw is longer than the upper, and is capable of extenfion 
fo as to give the mouth a tubular or cylindrical form ; 
both are furniflied with teeth, but fo fmall as not to be 
vifible to the naked eye, and only difcoverable by the 
touch. Linnaeus made it part of the generic charafter, 
that thefe fifh have no teeth ; but the more accurate ich- 
thyologid, Bloch, has correfted the error. The palate 
is lniooth, and the tongue alfo, which is lerni-cartilagi- 
nous, fliort, rounded, but uneven at the end. The aper¬ 
ture of the noflrils is femi-circular, and dole to the eyes, 
which are rounded and very large; the cryftalline hu¬ 
mour, which is vifible through the pupil, and of a dark 
blue while the animal is alive ; but becomes white di¬ 
reftly after death. The opercula, which fbine like po- 
lifhed filver, confifl of two pieces, the anterior one ends 
angularly, and in the poderiorone there is a little furrow. 
The bony arcs which fupport the gills are toothed like a 
comb. The fcales, though not hard, are eafily rubbed 
off. Two lateral lines appear on each fide : a fpurious 
one, very firaiglit, (hows the interdices of the mufdles, 
and feparates the blue from the filvery part of the fifh ; 
the real one follows the curvature of the belly, and con- 
fids of fcales with a longitudinal raifed firipe. The under 
part of the fifh is flatted about the vent, afterwards a lit¬ 
tle convex. 
The large peftoral fins, which have been compared to 
wings s 
