432 F I S 
FIS'TINUT, f. The piftachio nut. 
FIS'TRITS, or New Bystrzit, a town of Bohemia, 
in the circle of Bechin: twenty-eight miles fouth-weft of 
Iglau, and twenty-eight eaftof Budvveis. Lat. 39. 53. N. 
Ion. 31 50. E. Ferro. 
FIS'TULA,/. [Lat. fiftiik, Fr.] A finuous ulcer, ge¬ 
nerally callous within. There are feveral fpecies of this 
ulcer,as JlJluUiinano, fifhi'la epididymis, j'ljlulala chrymalis , fijlula 
in perinao, &c. for the treatment and cure of all which. 
Ice the article Surgery. —That fifiula which is recent is 
the eafieft of cure : thole of a long continuance are ac¬ 
companied with ulceration of the gland, and caries in the 
bone. Wifeman. 
FIS'TULA, f. in botany. See Cassio. 
FIS'TULAR, adj. Hollow like a pipe. 
FISTULA'RIA, f. [from fifiula, a pipe.] In ichthy¬ 
ology, the Pipe Fish : generic charadter, the jaws at the 
extremity of a long tube. This pipe or tube, which is 
of contiderable length, confilts of three thin, broad, dia¬ 
phanous, bones, connedted by a tranfparent membrane : 
the upper bone, which is like a covered fpout, is a part 
of the cranium, and the fide ones are merely productions 
of the opercula : this (Iructure, which gives the mem¬ 
brane liberty to expand, enables the ft fit to fwallow fub- 
ftances thicker than the tube itfelf. The body is narrow 
and round, gently tapering from the jaws to the tail. 
Both Indies produce thefe fifties ; yet they were unknown 
to the ancient naturalifts. There are only three fpecies 
of this genus, viz. 
1. Fiftularia tabacaria, the tobacco-pipe fifh. Specific 
character, a long briftle of the nature of whalebone, ariling 
from the middle of the tail-fin, which is bilid. There are 7 
rays in the membrane of the gills, 15 in the pedloral fins, 6 
in the ventrals, 13 in the anal, 15 in the tail, and 14 in 
the dorfal. The head is very long, quadrangular, and 
radiated at the fides. The aperture of the mouth is 
wide, and in an oblique direftiou ; the lower jaw is fome- 
what longer than the upper ; the teeth are fmall ; the 
tongue moveable ; the noftrils double, fituated near the 
eyes, which are large, with a black pupil and lilvery iris. 
The opercula confift each of one thin plate ; the aper¬ 
ture wide. The body is devoid of vifible feales, flat in 
the front part, and rounded towards the tail. The belly 
is long; the fins fliort, the rays madly four-branched. 
The colour is brown on the back, (potted with blue ; 
fides and belly filvery; fins red. This fpecies inhabits 
th.e feas of both Indies, and at Brafil : Maurice found it 
at Brafil, and Plumier at the Antilles ; Catefby and Brown 
obferved it at Jamaica; Gronovitts fays it is a native of 
the fea of Guiana; and Parra noticed it at the Havannah. 
It will grow three or four feet long, living on fmall fry 
and lobfters ; but it is very 1 lean, therefore only eaten by 
the poor. The briftle which fprings out of the tail is 
fometimes very long, and is articulated like the rays of 
the fins.—This fifh is corredtly delineated in the annexed 
engraving, at fig. 3. 
In Linke’s cabinet at Leipfic there is a variety of this 
fpecies, with a double briftle in the tail, and the long tu¬ 
bular head ferrated on botli fides. The briftle, indeed, 
may have been fplit by accident, as the brifiles are much 
thinner than the whole one ufually is ; whether the ferra- 
ture of the tube is a mark of the male fifh, can only be 
determined by future examination. . X he head of this 
ferrated fifh is (hewn at fig. 4 in the fame engraving. 
2. Filaria Chinenfis, the Chinefe trumpet-fifh. Spe¬ 
cific character, no teeth in the mouth, the tail-fin round¬ 
ed, no appendage. The membrane of the gills has four 
rays, the pectoral fins 13, the ventrals 10, the anal and 
dorfal 11 each, and the tail 23. The head is long, with¬ 
out feales, comprefled, fomewhat broad at the top, and 
fharp underneath, fomewhat in form of the blade of a 
razor. The lower is a little longer than the upper, which 
is joined in the middle to the upper bone; while the lower 
one is faftened end wife to the lateral bones. The mouth 
is fmall, in an oblique direction, and the iip-bones are 
n F I T 
broad. This fifh has no tongue ; the palate fmooth. 
The noftrils are double, and placed near the eyes. The 
eyes are round, and near the cranium; pupil black; 
iris filvery. The body is narrow, compreffcd, and cover¬ 
ed with fmall feales which are hard and ferrated. The 
back and belly are round. The body is nearly of the 
fame breadth from the head to the end of the tail, where 
it narrows all at once. The fins are fliort, with foft 
branched rays, except the firft. Before the dorfal fin, 
there are nine fliort fpines, bent backwards, and (landing 
apart; they are attached to a thin (kin, which has the 
power of drawing them flat as into a groove. This fifh is 
of a reddifh colour, varied with longitudinal bluiflt 
ftripes, and a number of dark brown fpots. It is found 
in both the Indies. Valentyn faw it in the Eaft Indies, 
Plumier at the Antilles; Commerfon at Cavita in the 
Philippines, and at China ; and, what may appear ex¬ 
traordinary, it has been found foffil among the volcanic 
ftrata of Mount Bolca near Verona ; (fee Ickthyolithologie 
d.es Environs de Verone, par Gazola.) It grows from two to 
three feet long, or more, feeding on worms, and the fryof 
other fifh ; the flefh is tough and lean. Cepede makes it 
a diftinct genus.—This beautiful fpecies is reprefented in 
the engraving at fig. 3. 
3. Filaria patadoxa, the doubtful pipe-fifli. Specific 
charadter, body reticulated with prominent lines; tail 
lanceolate ; two dorfal fins. In the firft dorfal fin 3 rays, 
18 in the fecond, 25 in the pedtorals, 7 in the ventrals, 12 
in the anal, 14m the tail. Cepede has naade this a diftindt 
genus, which lie calls Solenoftonuis. The fpecies was 
firft deferibed by Pallas. It inhabits Amboyna ; and is 
about two feet long. Body whitifh-afh, with obfolete 
brown ftripes; the fir ft dorfal fin and tail blackifh ; com- 
prelfed, arid fpinous at the interfedtions of the lines; back 
perfectly triangular; belly, towards the ventral' fins, 
nearly triangular, and behind them narrow, and equally 
fix-fided ; tail fienderer, comprefled, and feven-fided. 
The head is rather fmall ; eyes large, placed at the bate 
of the fnout, with a triangular fpine on each fide before 
the orbits; fnout very long, defeending; ftraight, horny, 
flattifli comprefled, (lender beneath, with two longitudinal 
ribs, and a fmall conic fpine on each fide towards the 
back ; jaws amending at the end, pointed, flattened at the 
fides, dilatable, the lower a little fhorter ; mouth fmall ; 
nape three-fpined ; gill-coverts very thin, fmall, radiate, 
with a few prominent lines. Firft dorfal fin long, reclin¬ 
ed, with fmall black bands, the rays limple ; pedloral, 
very broad ; ventrals, very large, the rays deeply many- 
cleft, and connedled by a lax membrane, forming a longi¬ 
tudinal pouch. 
FISTULA'RIA,/. in botany. See Pedicularis. 
FIT, f. [from fight, Skinner, ever/fit of a difeafe being 
a ftruggle of nature ; from viit in Flemifh, frequent, Junius.] 
A paroxyfm or exacerbation of any intermittent diftern- 
per.—Small ftones and gravel colledl and become very 
large in the kidneys, in which cafe a fit of the (lone in that 
part is the cure. Sharp. —Any fliort return after intermif- 
fion ; interval.—Religion is not the bufinefs of fome fits 
only and intervals of our life, to be taken up at certain 
days and hours, but a fyftem of precepts to be regarded 
in all our conduit. Rogers. 
Thus o'er the dying lamp tlft unfteady flame 
Hangs qaiv’ring on a point, leaps off by fits, 
And falls again as loth to quit its hold. Addifon. 
Any violent •affedtion- of mind or body.—An ambitious 
man puts it in the power of every malicious tongue to 
throw him into a Jit of melancholy. AddiJ'on .—D border ; 
diftemperature : 
For your hufband, • 
He’s noble, wife, judicious, and beft knows 
The fits o’ tip feafon. Siiakefptare. 
It is ufed without an epithet of diferimination, for the 
hyftericai diforders of women, and the convulfions of 
children ; 
