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51(3 
of the muddy banks of rivers in Jamaica, Hifpaniola, and 
the country of the Illinois in Canada; flowering in Au- 
guft. Stems feveral, very fhort, each bearing only one or 
two ovate, fmooth, ereCt, leaves, on long, thick, fiftulous, 
(talks, from whofe lower part l'prings a fltort flower-ftalk, 
with a lingle-flowered, oblong, pointed, fpathe ; corolla 
blue. Stigmas fix, according to Swartz, which is remark¬ 
able, and requires examination. 
6. Leptanthus diverfifolius, or varying leptanthus : 
leaves partly ovate, inclining to heart-fliaped, ftalked ; 
partly linear and felfile. Spathe faid by Richard to con- 
fift of two valves. Gathered by him in Guiana. 
7. Leptanthus gramineus, or grafly leptanthus: all the 
leaves linear. Gathered by Richard in the river Ohio ; 
has the alpecl of Potamogeton gramineum. 
LEPTAS'PIS, f. [fromtheGr. Xsnflos, flender, and awrw, 
a (hield.j In botany, a genus of grades, feparated from 
Pharus by Mr. Brown, in his Prodr. Nov. Holl. 211, on 
account of the peculiar ovate concave outer valve of the 
corolla ; but its habit and inflorefcence are fo like Pharus 
latifolia, that the author himfelf candidly exprefles his 
doubts of the propriety of this meafure.—One fpecies was 
found By fir Jofeph Banks in the tropical part of New 
Holland ; another comes from the Molucca Ifles. 
LEPTAURE'A, /. in botany. See Zoegia. 
LEP'TINES, a fon of Hermocrates of Syracufe, bro¬ 
ther to Dionyfius. He was fent by his brother againfl the 
Carthaginians, and funk fifty of their fliips. He was af¬ 
terwards defeated by Mago, and baniflied by Dionyfius. 
He continued faithful to the interefts of his brother, 
though naturally an avowed enemy to tyranny and op- 
preflion. He was at length killed in a battle with the 
Carthaginians. 
LEP'TIS, the name of two cities of Africa; one of 
which, called Major, now Lebida, was near the Syrtes, 
and had been built by a Tyrian or Sidonian colony. The 
other, called Minor, now Lemta, was about eighteen Ro¬ 
man miles from Adrumetum. 
LEPTOCAR'PUS, f. [from the Gr. Autt-lo?, flender or 
fharp, and x^pwo?, fruit; the minute feed or nut being 
pointed with the permanent bafe of the ftyle.j A genus 
of hard rufhy plants, inftituted by Brown, (Prodr. Nov. 
Holl.) of nearly the fame defcription as Lepidofperma - ; 
but more akin to the Linnaean Reftio, from which it dif¬ 
fers in having a Ample fingle-feeded nut, inftead of a cap- 
fule with two or three cells and as many valves. The 
Hems are generally quite Ample, leaflefs, but clothed 
with flieaths lplit at one fide. Flowers either in tufts, or 
in fpike-like catkins. Examples of Leptocarpus, are Ref¬ 
tio diftachyos of Rottboll’s leones, and Schoenodum te- 
nax of Labillardiere ; (Nov. Holl. v. 2. t. 229.) Seven 
fpecies are defined as natives of New Holland, and there 
are fuppofed to be feveral at the Cape of Good Hope, be- 
fides the above, and the Restio imbricatus of Thunberg. 
See that article. 
LEPTOCEPH'ALUS, f. [from the Gr. TuwV, flender, 
and y.z!pa.Xo<;, head.] The Small Head ; in ichthyology, 
a genus of apodal fifhes introduced by Gmelin in his im¬ 
proved edition of Linnaeus. The generic characters are 
■—A fmall narrow head, thin comprefled body, and no 
peCloral fins. There is but one fpecies known at prefent, 
Leptocephalus Morrifii, Morris’s leptocephaius; of 
which, in cafe other fpecies fliould be dilcovered, the cha¬ 
racter may be taken to be, the want of a tail-fin, and the 
aperture of the gills wide, and lying partly underneath the 
head. It was in the Britifh Zoology of Mr. Pennant that 
this fmall fifh made its firft public appearance under the 
name of the Morris, Ijaving been firft difeovered on the 
coaft of the Anglefea by a gentleman of that name. 
Gronovius, to whom Mr. Pennant had communicated 
it, diftinguifhed it by the title of Leptocephalus. The 
defcription given by Pennant is as follows : The length 
was four inches; the head very fmall; the body com- 
prelfed fideways ; extremely thin, and almoft tranfparent; 
about the tenth of an inch thick, and in the deepeft part 
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about one third of an inch. Towards the tail it grew 
more flender, and ended in a point ; towards the head it 
Hoped down, the head lying far beneath the level of the 
back. The eyes large ; the teeth in both jaws very fmall; 
the lateral line ftraight; the fides marked with oblique 
ftrokes that met at the lateral edge ; the aperture of the 
gills large. It-wanted the pectoral, ventral, and caudal, 
fins : the dorfa! fin was extremely low and thin, extend¬ 
ing the whole length of the back very near the tail; the 
anal fin was of the fame delicacy, and extended to the 
fame diftance from the vent. Gronovius obferves, that, 
on account of the extreme tenuity ol the body, the joints 
of the vertebras appear to project fo diltinClly along the 
fides, that it might almoft pals, on a curfory view, for 
a fpecies of Tasnia, or tape-worm ; the vertebral joints, 
in fome meafure, expreffing the papillary foramina on the 
bodies of thofe animals. See the preceding Plate, fig. 5. 
LEPTOLO'GY, f. in rhetoric, a minute defcription of 
worthlefs things. Phillips. 
LEPTOME'RIA, f. [named by Mr. R. Brown in al- 
lufion to its flender habit; from the Gr. ?.e Trlot;, flender, 
and ftspic, a portion or fhare.j In botany, a genus of the 
clafs pentandria, order naonogynia, natural order calyci- 
ftoras, Linn, (elseagni, JvJJ~. fimtalaceas, Brown.) 
Eight fpecies are defined by Mr. Brown, as natives of 
New Holland. They are flender branched fliruhs, with 
lcattered minute leaves, or none at all. Flowers minute, 
white, reddilh, or green ; generally fpiked, with a fmall 
deciduous bracte to each; fometimes axillary, without 
brakes. The genus is akin to thofe fpecies of Thefium 
which grow at the Cape of Good Hope; but differs in its 
glandular neclary, which is either of one piece, lohed, 
crowning the germen, or compofed of glands, each of 
which Itands at the bafe of one of the legments of the 
calyx. Three of the fpecies have a ftarry five-rayed acute 
ftigma, and five-cleft, fpiked, braCleated flowers; the re¬ 
maining four have a drier drupe, a notched blunt ftigma, 
and five-cleft flowers: and all grow on the fouth coaft of 
New Holland. See Thesium. 
LEP'TON, a townfhip of the Weft Riding of York- 
Ihire, with 2180 inhabitants, including 478 employed in 
trade and manufactures : feven miles welt of Wakefield. 
LEPTOSPER'MUM,y. in botany. See Melaleuca. 
LEPTOSTACHY'A. See Phryma. 
LEPTOSTO'MUM, f. [from the Gr. Xevrlof, flender or 
narrow, and ro^ot. the mouth; expreflive of the narrow 
orifice of the capfule.] In botany, a genus of the clafs 
cryptogamia, order mufei. Generic efltntial characters—• 
Capfule oblong, without furrows, terminal. Lid hemif- 
pheri'cal, without a beak ; fringe a fimple, flat, annular, 
undivided, membrane, from the inner coat. 
The four known fpecies of this genus are natives tsf the 
fouthern hemifphere. They are molfes of a denfely-tufted 
mode of growth, with upright, branched, perennial, ftems; 
leaves moderately fpreading in every direction, broadifli, 
entire, revolute, with a ftrong midrib, and a terminal.hair, 
which is fufpeCied by Mr. Brown to be fometimes 
branched. Fruit-ftalk terminal. Capfule either ereCt or 
drooping; tapering at the bale into an inverfely conical 
apophyfis ; much contracted at the mouth. Veil fmooth 
and naked, deciduous. 
1. Leptoftomum inclinans, or flat leptoftomum : leaves 
obovate, obtnfe; capfule drooping, obovate-oblong. 
Found by Mr. Brown in Van Diemen’s Land, upon 
rocks and ftones at the eaft fide of Table Mountain, near 
the fummit, in 43 0 fouth latitude, and from 3000 to 3500 
feet perpendicular above the fea. This mols is two or 
three-inches high. Stems but little branched, leafy in the 
upper part, denfely clofed with rufty down below. Leaves 
rather concave, very minutely dotted or reticulated, tip¬ 
ped with a twilled hair one-fourth the length of each leaf. 
2. Leptoftomum ereChim, or upright leptoftomum : 
leaves oblong-parabolic, obtufe ; enpiules oblong, ereCL 
Found on the eaft coaft of New Holland, in a mountainous 
part of the country, growing on rocks near tlje banks of 
the 
