255 
A S C 
Into decay; the fplendid palaces and gardens being funk 
into a ruinous ftate, fince the commotions that followed 
the death of Nadir Shah. See Persia. 
ASCHTIKAN', a town of Afia, (ixteen leagues from 
Samarcand. 
ASCFIWOMSEE', a lake of Pruffia, forty miles fouth- 
eaft of Konigfberg. 
AS'CIA,/! An axe or chilTel. A fimple bandage fo 
called from its fhape in pofition. 
ASCID'FA, [from ao-xoq, Gr. a bottle; which mod of 
the fpecies refemble.] In helmintology, a genus be¬ 
longing to the order of mollufca; the characters of which 
are: Body fixed, roundifh, and apparently bluing from a 
fheath or pouch: apertures or mouths two, generally 
placed near the upper end, one beneath the other; fome- 
times one in the centre at top, and the other lateral. 
Thefe are found in the fea, and adhere by their bale to 
rocks, (hells, and other fubmarine fubltances: they are 
more or lefs gelatinous, and have tlie power of fquirting 
out the water they take in by their orifices or mouths. 
Some of them are efculent; moft of them fefiile, though 
a few are furnifiied with a long tubular (tern. They al¬ 
ternately contract and dilate themfeives, with a fimilar 
power to that of the (lug or fnail. There are thirty-four 
fpecies at prefent known, viz. 
1. Afcidia afperfa : fubcomprefied; rough whitifh (kin; 
pouch fpotted or (freaked with red. Inhabits the Norway 
Seas ; reprefented at fig. i, in the annexed engraving. 
2. Afcidia papillofa : body covered with fcarlet tuber¬ 
cles. Inhabits the Adriatic. 
3. Afcidiagelatinofa : body fcarlet, and fubdiaphanous. 
Inhabits the Mediterranean. 
4. Afcidia inteffinalis : body fmooth,and membranace¬ 
ous. Inhabits the European Seas. 
5. Afcidia quadridentata : fmooth, and whitifh. Inha¬ 
bits the North Seas. 
6. Afcidia ruftica : brownifii, with red or Hefti-colour 
apertures. Inhabits the European Seas, adhering to (hells 
and fea-weeds ; body flat beneath, rounded at top, as re¬ 
prefented in the engraving at fig. 2. In this very rare fpe- 
cimen the young are feen adhering, like tubercles, to' a 
piece of (hell, and to the parent animal ; the fmall are 
yellowifh white ; the larger red. 
7. Afcidia echinata : body haemifphaerical, with fcarlet 
gaping mouths. Inhabits the North Seas. 
8. Afcidia mentula : body compreflfed, hairy, with a 
red pouch. Inhabits the Northern Ocean. 
9. Afcidia venofa : fubcomprefied, torofe, red ; pouch 
the fame colour. Inhabits the Norway Seas, adhering to 
fuci like a bunch of fruit, as exhibited in the engraving 
at fig. 5. 
10. Afcidia prunum : ovate, hyaline, with a white 
pouch. Inhabits the Northern Seas. 
11. Afcidia conchilega: covered with fragments of 
(hells: pouch white, and gradually becoming blue. In¬ 
habits the feas of Norway. 
12. Afcidia parallelogramma : white, convex, hyaline : 
pouch reticulate, and yellowifh : one of the apertures yel¬ 
lowifh, the other dark brown. Inhabits Norway, amongff 
fuci. Body oblong, nearly fquare, with obtufe angles, 
and marked with fcarlet lines, as delineated in the engra¬ 
ving at fig. 4. 
13. Afcidia Virginea : cryftalline, with tranfverfe fcar¬ 
let (freaks : pouch reddifh. Inhabits the Norway Seas. 
14. Afcidia canina : elongated, roundifh, flaccid, form¬ 
ed in the fhape of teffes; mouths red ; as exemplified in 
the engraving at fig. 7. It inhabits the Atlantic and Nor¬ 
way Seas. Skin large, glabrous, fubpellucid: circumfer¬ 
ence of the apertures tranfparent red ; pouch reddifh yel¬ 
low, as fhown by a longitudinal feCtion of the outer (kin 
at fig. 8 ; where the animal is expofed in its true fhape and 
form. 
13. Afcidia patula: roundifh, yellowilh rough (kin, 
with a red pouch : orifices fcarlet, one of them lateral : 
Inhabits the Norway Seas, on rock or fuci. Body pellu- 
A SC 
cid : mouth refembiing a flafk, as reprefented in the en¬ 
graving at fig, 3. 
16. Afcidia fcabra : comprefTcd, pouch red, orifices the 
fame colour ; body roughifh to the touch ; apertures 
narrow, with a conic neck: outer (kin very pellucid, gela¬ 
tinous, and hardifh. Inhabits the Norway Seas, adhering 
by its fide to fuci, as fhown in the engraving at fig. 6. 
I 7 - Afeidia orbicularis : whitifh, w ith unequal raifed 
dots on the pouch. Inhabits the Norway Seas. 
18. Afcidia corrugata ; elongated, glabrous, pouch cine- 
leous, with white bands. Inhabits the Norway Seas. 
19. Afcidia lepadiformis : cluvate, hyaline; with a 
yellow in teft sne. Inhabits the Seas of Norway. 
20. Afcidia complanata : whitifh, with black inteftines* 
oiifices with fulvous dots. Inhabits the fandy (hores of 
Greenland. 
21. Afcidia tuberculum : yellowifh, with raifed dots of 
the fame colour ; orifices vertical, red. Inhabits the feas 
about Greenland. 
22. Afcidia villofa : obovate, fixed by roots, and co¬ 
vered with thick whitifh wool. Inhabits the Greenland 
Seas. 
23. Afcidia clavata : oval, with a long filiform fie in; 
both the apertures lateral. Inhabits the Northern Ocean. 
2 4 - Afcidia pedunculata : flem gradually tapering, the 
head or body fufiform; both the apertures terminal. In¬ 
habits the fea between Afia and North America, 
25. Afcidia mammillaris : whitifh, apertures terminal. 
Inhabits the coaft of Cornwall. 
26. A feidia globrilaris : femipellucid ; apertures fcarce- 
ly prominent. Inhabits the fandsof the Frozen Sea. 
27. Afcidia phufea : body red ; apertures lateral. In-i 
habits the feas about Smyrna and Conftantinople. 
28. Afcidia gelatina : white, compreiTed, fmooth; 
apertures with pale dots. 29. Afcidia cry(tallina : com- 
prefled, fmooth, with red dots on ihe body. 30. Afcidia 
oftodentata: oblong; apertures fix and eight-toothed. 
31. Afcidia patelliformis: white, the ditk red. Thefe 
four inhabit the Norwegian Sea. 
32. Afcidia pyura : conical, fmooth. Doubtful if be¬ 
longing to this genus. 
33. Afcidiaaurantium : fubglobofe, reddifh. Inhabits 
the fea about the Curile ides. 
34. Afcidia globularis: round, femipellucid, rough; 
apertures diflant, fcarcely prominent. Common in,the 
North Sea; fize of a cherry. 
AS'CII, J. [wmo;, Gr. of « priv. and exta, a fhadow.] 
/I hofe inhabitants ot the globe, who, at certain times of 
the year, have no thadow. Such are the inhabitants of 
the torrid zone, becaufe the fun is twice a-year vertical to 
them ; and they have then no fhadow. 
A S',Cl FES,/, [from acrxoq, a bottle.] In pathology, 
the dropfy ot the belly ; fo called from the rotundity of the 
belly, refembiing that of a bottle; termed alfo hydrocele 
peritoneei. When water is accumulated in the cavity of 
the belly betwixt the peritonaeum and the vifeera, or ra¬ 
ther in the duplicature of the peritonaeum, it conflitutes 
this difeafe. — There are two kinds of dropfy; the am- 
/area, called alfo leucophlegmacy, when the extravafated 
matter (wims in the cells of the membrana adipofa ; and 
the af cites, when the water polfeffes the cavity of the ab¬ 
domen. See Pathology. 
ASCIT'ICAL, adj. Belonging to an afeites ; dropfical; 
hydropical.—When it is part of another tumour, it is hy- 
dropical, either anafarcous or ajcitical. Wifeman. 
ASCI l I' 1 IOCS, adj. [ ajcititius , Lat.J Supplemental ; 
additional, nor inherent ; not original.— Homer has been 
reckoned an afeititious name, from fome accident of his 
life. Pope. 
AS C 1 UM, f. in botany, a genus of the clafs polyandria, 
order monogynia. The elTential generic characters are— 
Calyx: perianthium coriaceous ; corolla five-petalled ; 
berry one-ctlled, with very many feeds. 
Only one Ipecies, called Afeium norante. This is a tree, 
with alternate, entire, thick, leaves. The flowers grow in 
loofe 
