M A C 
tJon of Gramatici Veteres ; two books of commentaries 
oil til at part of Cicero De Republica which contains the 
Somnium Scipionis, from which lie appears to have been 
r Platonift; and a dialogue entitled Saturnalia, fuppofed 
to have been held at the feftival of Saturn by a company 
of learned perfons, whole names are thofe of fome of the 
molt eminent fcholars of that time. The queftions treat¬ 
ed of relate to topics of antiquity, mythology, hiltorv, 
and poetry, difcufl'ed in a miscellaneous way, with many 
references to the works of ancient authors, and to the 
laws and cuftoms of the Romans; and, although the ftyle 
is by no means pure, and the compofition is without Ikill, 
yet the work is of much utility as a help to clalfical eru¬ 
dition. From the frequent paifages tranfcribed without 
acknowledgment from known authors, Macrobius has by 
lome been regarded as a plagiarift ; but, as he exprefsly 
mentions in his preface an intention of borrowing in this 
manner, he ought to be acquitted of that charge. The 
editions of this author are numerous ; the belt are thofe 
of the Variorum, and Gronovius, Lugd. Bat. 8vo. 1670; 
of the Vulpii, Patav. 1736; and of Zeunius, Lipf. 1774. 
Tirabofchi. 
M ACROCAR'PON, f . in botany. See Artocarpus. 
MACROCEPH , ALUS,_/'. [Gr. compounded of y. axgo*, 
great, and xs<pa?&i> bead.] A perfon with a head larger or 
longer than the common lize. Macrocephali,or long-heads, 
is a name given to a certain people, who, according to the 
accounts of authors, were famous for the utifeemly length 
of their heads: yet cuftom fo far habituated them to it, that, 
inlfead of looking on it as a deformity, they elteemed it a 
beauty; and, as loon as a child was born, moulded and fa- 
fliioned its head in their hands to as great a length as pofli- 
ble, and afterwards ufed fuch rollers and bandages as might 
feem mod likely to favour its growing long. The greater 
part of the iflanders in the Archipelago, fome of the peo¬ 
ple of Alia, and even fome of thofe of Europe, dill prefs 
their children’s heads out length wife. We may obierve 
alfo, that the Epirots, many people of America, &c. are 
all born with fome Angularity in the conformation of their 
heads; either a flatnels on the top, two extraordinary pro¬ 
tuberances behind, or one on each fide; Angularities which 
we can only regard as an efteft of an ancient and ftrange 
mode, which at length become hereditary in the nation. 
According to the report of many travellers, the operation 
of comprefling the head of a child lengthwife, while it is yet 
foft, is with a view infenfibly to enlarge the interval be¬ 
tween the two eyes, fo that, the vifual rays turning more to 
the right and left, the Aght would embrace a much larger 
portion of the horizon; the advantage.of which they are 
well acquainted with, either in the conftant exercife of 
hunting, or on a thoufand other occaAons. Ever Ance 
the 16th century, the niiAionaries eftablilhed in the coun¬ 
tries inhabited by thefavagesof America have endeavoured 
to deftroy the cuftom ; and we find in the feftions of the 
third council of Lima, held in 1585, a canon which ex¬ 
prefsly prohibits it. But, if it has been reprefled one way, 
the free negroes and maroons, although Africans, have 
adopted it, fince they have been eftablilhed among the 
Caribs, folely with the view of diftinguilhing their chil¬ 
dren, which are born free, from thofe which are born in 
flavery. The Omaquas, a people of South America, ac¬ 
cording P. Veigh, prefs the heads of their children fo vio¬ 
lently between two planks, that they become quite (harp 
at the top, and flat before and behind. They fay they do 
this to give their heads a greater refemblance to the moon. 
MACROCEPH'ALUS, /. The Long-head ; in ento¬ 
mology, a genus of hemipterous infefts. This genus was 
erefted for a Angle fpecies, which might as well have been 
included among the Cimices, or bugs. The generic cha¬ 
racters are—Snout inflected ; fheath one-valved, three- 
jointed, and furnifhed with three briftles; antennae pro¬ 
jecting, very ftiort, clavate; head oblong,cylindrical above; 
l'cute) as long as the abdomen, deprefled and membra¬ 
naceous. 
Macrocephalus cimicoides : the bug-Uke long-liead. 
Vol. XIV. No. 956, 
M AC 55 
This infeCt is defcribed in the Tranf. of the Stockholm 
Academy, vol. viii. for 1787. It is fomevvhat lefs than 
the Cimex eroius. The body is of a ferruginous-grey- 
colour; the fcutel pale alb, with a yellow rigid 1'pot ; un¬ 
der wings violet. Inhabits North America. 
MACROCER'CIj/i The name given by Dr. Hill to 
a large genus of animalcules, diltinguilhed from all others 
by having tails longer than their bodies. See the article 
Helminthology, vol. ix. p, 361. and Plate VI. fig. 2-5. 
MACROCHIR', a Greek name of Artaxerxes, the fame 
as Longimanus. This furnaine arifes from his having one 
hand longer than the other. C. Nep. in Reg. 
MACROCNE'MUM, f . [from the Gr. /. iccxpoc , long, and 
xrnp-n, a leg ; alluding, as it feems, to the long ftafks by 
which its chillers of flowers are fupported.] In botany, a 
genus of the clafs pentandria, order inonogynia, natural 
order (rubiaceae, Jujf.) The generic characters are—Ca¬ 
lyx: perianth fuperior of one leaf, turbinate, five-toothed, 
permanent; often bearing a foliaceous, ftalked, internal 
appendage. Corollas of one petal, tubular; its limbs fmall, 
in five ovate flightly-fpreading fegments. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments five, awl-lhaped, villoie, fhorter than the corolla; 
antherte ovate, comprefled, in the mouth of the flower. 
Piftillum : gertnen inferior, conical; ltyle Ample, the length 
of theftamens; ftigma thickifh,two-lobed. Pericarpium: 
capfule oblong, lomewhat turbinate, two-celled and two- 
lalved, burfting lengthwife, the partitions from the mid¬ 
dle of each valve. Seeds numerous, imbricated, on a fe- 
parate linear receptacle in each cell.— EJJ'ential Char a Eler. 
Corolla tubular, five-cleft; capfule inferior, oblong, of 
two cells; the valves burfting longitudinally, with parti¬ 
tions from their centre. Seeds imbricated. This genus 
is allied to Cinchona, but difters eflentialiy in the ftruCture 
of its capfule. Its great peculiarity conlilts in the large, 
leaf-like, coloured, ftalked, lolitary appendages, placed 
within the calyx, and according to Jacquin, in his Hortus 
Schoenbrunenfis, originating from the very bafe of the 
germen, between two teeth of the calyx; but thefe, which 
might eafiiy be miltaken for braCteas, are not found in 
every fpecies, nor in every flower of any one. Indeed the 
original fpecies is dellitute of them. 
Species. 1. Macrocnemum Jamaicenfe: corymbs on 
long axillary ftalks; calyx without an appendage. This 
is a fmall tree, with a branching fmooth trunk ; branches 
long, loofe, round, warted. Leaves approximating ; to¬ 
wards the upper part of the branchlets petioled, oppofite, 
large, oblong, with a ftiort point, entire, nerved, frnootk 
on both Ades. Flowers in a fort of panicle; corollas ra¬ 
ther large, of a yellowifti green tube half an inch long, 
regular, narrower at the throat; before opening, five-cor¬ 
nered, then cylindrical. Browne obferves, that this tree 
riles generally to the height of twelve or fourteen feet. It 
is a native of the fouthern part of the iiland of Jamaica, 
on the banks of rivulets. 
2. Macrocnemum fpeciofum: corymbs fliorter than the 
leaves, hairy; calycine braCtea roundilh-ovate, its ftalk 
fhorter than the corolla. This is a beautiful flirub, five 
feet high ; its inflorelcence, and even the calyx and corolla, 
downy or hairy, as well as the margins of the leaves. 
The axillary and terminal corymbofe panicles compofe 3 
large tuft of flowers at the end of each branch, very con- 
fpicuous for the long purple-mouthed corolla, and the 
large rofe-coloured, veiny, linooth, or downy, appendage 
to the calyx of molt of them, more lplendid than the flow¬ 
ers themfelves. Native of the Caraccas. Jacquin had it 
flowering in his ftove in December. 
3. Macrocnemum candidiflimum: corymbs fliorter 
than the leaves, fmooth ; calycine braflea roundilh-ovate, 
its ftalk longer than the corolla. This difters from the lalt 
in its fmaller fize, and white calycine braCtea, whole ftalk. 
exceeds the flower in length ; the corolla is alfo of a fliorter 
figure. Found by Von Rohr in the neighbourhood of St. 
Martha. 
4. Macrocnemum coccineum : corymbs denfe, the length 
of the footftalks, iftlong clufters; calycine braCtea ellipti- 
P Cal* 
