LAP 
behind thefe are the eyes, which feetn nothing but two 
black points. It inhabits the European and Indian Teas, 
and grows to the length of five inches. This harmlefs 
worm has the character of being extremely naufeous and 
fetid, and is laid to caufe the hair to fall off the hands ot 
thofe who touch, and to do other injury to the (kin. This 
is an accufation of very old Handing; for the name of 
fea-hare is derived from the ancients ; and the animal to 
which it is given appears to have been known at a very 
early period, and perhaps on that account its hiftory is 
obl'cured with many fabulous narrations. Filhermen leern 
in all ages to have attributed fome noxious properties to 
thofe marine animals which do not ferve for the nourifh- 
nient of man ; and the writings of naturalifts are Hill 
filled with the reports of thefe ignorant men refpeffing 
feveral productions of the fea, as the fea-nettle, ftar-filh, 
and in particular the fea-hare. Thefe relations have been 
multiplied and prodigioufly increafed with refpeCt to the 
marvellous, whenever the figure, the colour, or fmell, of 
the animal have any thing extraordinary or forbidding in 
them, as is the cafe with the fea-hare. Hence we find a 
long lift of noxious and aftoniftiing properties attributed 
to this animal. Not only are its flelli, and the water in 
■which it has been fteeped, of a poifonous nature, but even 
its very afpefl is deadly. A woman who would with to 
conceal her pregnancy cannot refill the fight of a female 
fea-hare, which produces naufea and vomiting, and finally 
mifcarriage, unlefs a maie of the fame fpecies, dried and 
falted, is given her to eat; for it is one of the fuperlti- 
tious ideas entertained by the common people in moft 
countries, that every noxious fpecies of animal carries 
■within itfelf a remedy for the ill effects which it may oc- 
cafion. It happens, indeed, unfortunately for the prefent 
llory, that in the fea-hare there is no diltinClion of fex. 
If thefe animals in Italy (for the above (lories are taken 
from Pliny) are fo deadly to mankind, it is quite other- 
wife in the Indian leas; for there it is man who is fuch a 
deadly foe to the fea-hare, that he cannot take it alive, 
lince it is deftroyed by his very touch! Thefe ridiculous 
fables refpefting an innocent animal, are ft ill believed by 
many people, and others as ridiculous have been added to 
them. Mr. Barbut relates that, a failor happening to take 
alaplifia in the Mediterranean, it gave him fuch inftanta- 
neous and excruciating pain as to caufe an inflammation, 
and the poor man loft his arm ! and fo fenfible are the 
filhermen of the poifonous quality of the mucus which 
oozes from its body, that they will not on any account 
touch it. Mr. Montague (Linn. Tranf. vol. vii.) “can¬ 
not help remarking how ftrange it is that the poifonous 
touch and offenfive fmell which appear to have been the 
origin of its name, fltould be without reafon handed down 
to pofterity, and that fuch an opprobrium ftiould have fo 
long been fixed upon one of the molt harmlefs and inof- 
fenfive of creatures. On the coaft of Devonllfire (he 
adds) we have had frequent opportunities of handling 
thefe animals with impunity ; for they neither aff'eft the 
hand nor the olradlory nerves, but are as deftituteof fmell 
as of any depilatory power.” We have given an accurate 
delineation of this uncouth animal at fig. 6 of the Lanius 
Plate IV. p. 218. 
2. Laplifia fafciata, the barred laplifia: black; the 
edges of the membranaceous covering and of the feelers 
fcarlet. Inhabits the Ihores of Barbary, among rocks : 
ivhen touched it difcharges a black and red fanies, but 
not fetid or hurtful. 
Befides the above, Cuvier enumerates and figures three 
others; viz. the camelus, punftata, and alba. To thefe 
Mr. Montague, in the Linn. Tranf. quoted above, adds one 
more, the viridis, which, though deftitute of any mem¬ 
branaceous plate or Afield under the flcin on the back, ap¬ 
proaches fo nearly to the L. depilans in its external form, 
that Mr., M. hefltates not to clafs it with that animal. 
LAP'MARK. See Finmark, vol. vii. 
LAPON'TI, a mountain of Afia, between Calhgar and 
Little Thibet. 
LAP 235 
LAP'PA, f in botany, the Latin name for any kind 
of bur, or feed, that flicks to the coats of animals. See 
Arctium, A-parine, and Xanthium. 
LAPPACE'AN, adj. [from lappad] Belonging tothc bur. 
LAPPA'GO, f. in botany. See Cenchrus racemofus ; 
fee alfo Triumfetta and Urena. 
LAPPAJAR'VI, a town of Sweden, in the government 
of Wafa : thirty-eight miles fouth-eait of Jacobftadt. 
LAPPA'NO, a town of Naples, in Calabria Citra : four 
miles north of Cofenza. 
LAP'PER, f [from lap.~\ One who wraps up.—They 
may be tappers of linen, and bailiffs of the manor. Swift. 
—One who laps or licks. 
LAP'PET, f. [diminutive of lap.~\ The part of a head- 
drefs that hangs loofe.—How naturally do you apply your 
hands to each others lappets, and ruffles, and mantuas ? 
Swift. 
LAP'PICE, f. [a hunting term.] The opening of a 
dog at the game. Bailey. 
To LAP'PICE, v. n. To open in the leafh or firing, to 
open as a grey-hound in the courfe. 
LAPPPNEN, a town of Pruflian Lithuania : fourteen 
miles weft of Tilfit. 
LAP'PING, f. The acl of licking up with the tongue. 
LAP'PO, a fmall ifland in the Baltic, between the 
coaft of Finland and the ifland of Aland. Lat. 60.20. N. 
Ion. 20. 4.8. E. 
LAP'PO, a town of Sweden, in the government of 
Abo : twenty-three miles fouth of Abo. 
LAP'PO, a town of Sweden, in Eafl Bothnia, and go¬ 
vernment of Wafa : thirty-leven miles eaft-north-eaft of 
Wafa. 
LAP'PO JER'FOI, a town of Sweden, in Eaft Bothnia s 
fixty miles fouth-eaft of Wafa. 
LAP'PO JOCK', a river of Eaft Bothnia, which runs 
into the fea, five miles below Ny Karleby. 
LAP'POREN, a fmall ifland on the eaft fide of the gulf 
of Bothnia. Lat. 63. 23. N. Ion. 20. 59. E. 
LAPP'TRASK, a town of Sweden, in the province of 
Nyland : twelve miles north-eaft of Borgo. Lat. 60. 37. N. 
Ion. 26. 12. E. 
LAP'PULA, f. in botany. See Caucalis, Daucus, 
Myosotis, and Triumfetta. 
LAP'SANA, f. [from thwirico, Gr. to purge, on account 
of its fuppofed efficacy as a purge.] Nipplewort; in bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs fyngenefia, order polyganfia 
requalis, natural order of compolitas femiflofculofi, (ci- 
choracea, JuJJ.) The generic characters are—Calyx: com¬ 
mon calculated, ovate, cornered: feales of the tube 
eight, equal, linear, hollow-calyculated, keeled, (harp ; 
of the bafe fix, imbricated, fmall, the alternate one 
fmalleft. Corolla: compound imbricated, uniform; co- 
rollules hermaphrodite, about fixteen, equal : proper 
one-petalled, ligulate, truncated, five-toothed. Stamina: 
filaments five, capillary, very ffiort; antherae cylindric, 
tubular. Piftillum: germ fomewhat oblong ; ftyle filiform, 
length of the ltamens ; ftigma bifid, reflex. Pericarpiutn 
none; calyx ovate, converging. Seeds folitary, oblong, 
cylindric-three-fided, ftriated. Down none ; receptacle 
naked, flat.— EJfential CharaEler. Calyx calycled ; each 
of the inner feales channelled; receptacle naked. 
Authors are by no means agreed refpedting this genus. 
Some would unite it with Hyoleris, others with Crepis, 
Haller and Gsertner regard Hyoleris foetida as a fpecies 
of Lapfana. The latter places the fecond fpecies under 
the name of Zacintha; the third and fifth under that of 
Rhagadiolus: Pallas made a new genus of the fourth fpe¬ 
cies under the name of Kolpinia; lee that word, vol. xi, 
p. 849. 
Species. 1. Lapfana communis, or common nipplewort: 
calyxes of the fruit angular; peduncles (lender, very 
much branched. Root annual. Stem upright, ftiff; from 
two to four feet high, hollow, cylindrical or nearly fo, 
ftriated, hairy, the hairs terminated by minute globules. 
Blanches fmooth. Leaves alternate, toothed, rough with 
hair, 
