O P H 
O P II 
Serpents are included among the Amphibia. See that 
article; all'o Anguis, Boa, Coluber, Crotalus, See. 
OPHIOM'ANCY, [from the Gr. oa ferpent, and 
pzvleia., divination.] The ancient art of making predic¬ 
tions from ferpents. Thus Calchas, on feeing a ferpent 
devour eight fparrows with their dam, foretold the dura¬ 
tion of the liege of Troy. And the feven coils of a fer¬ 
pent that was feen on Anchifes’s tomb, were interpre¬ 
ted to mean the feven years that ZEneas wandered from 
place to place before he arrived in Latium. Virgil, VEn.v, 
ver. 85. 
OPHIOMOR'PHITES, or Snake-stones, f . The 
name given by fome authors to the foflils called more 
ufually cornu ammonis ; which are compofed of feveral 
wreaths, rolled in a fpiral form over one another, and re¬ 
ferable a fnake when rolled-up. In the article Concho- 
logy, we have deferibed and figured a fmallone; but 
we are told that they are fometimes found as large as the 
fore-wheel of a chariot. See vol. v. p. 22, 30, and 211. 
alfo vol. xv. p. 525. 
OPHIOPH'AGI, f. [from the Gr. a ferpent, and 
(pezyu, to eat.] A name given by fome to eagles, vultures, 
and fome other birds of prey, which are fometimes feen to 
feed on ferpents.—Pliny gives the name ophiophagi to a 
certain people of Ethiopia, whom he delcribes as very 
barbarous and lavage, going always naked, and feeding 
on ferpents, whence the appellation. Solinus, who ge¬ 
nerally copies Pliny but irnperfeftly, has perverted his 
meaning ftrangely in this pafiage, having placed the 
ophiophagi in Arabia Felix, inftead of Ethiopia. Cham¬ 
bers. 
OPHIOPH'AGOUS, adj. Serpent-eating. Not ufed .— 
All fnakes are not of luch poiibnous qualities as com¬ 
mon opinion prefumeth ; as is confirmable from ophio- 
pliagous nations, and fuch as feed upon ferpents. Brown. 
OPHIOPH'AGUS, f. A ferpent-eater.—There is a 
tribe of civilized Arabs in Egypt, who pretend that they 
arerefpefted by ferpents, and that no fort of fnake can 
hurt them. As a proof of this, there is an annual pro- 
celfion of the tribe through the ftreets of Rofetta, of 
which I was a witnefs ; one of their number is obliged 
to eat a living fnake in public, or fo much of it as to oc- 
cafion its death. Probably the fnake may have been ren¬ 
dered harmlefs by fome means ; the people however 
fuppofe, that, for fome aft of piety performed by the an- 
ceftors of this tribe or family, (which is by no means nu¬ 
merous,) the prophet protefts the delcendants from any 
injury which the fnakes might occafion. The opliiophagus 
who is to keep up this ridiculous farce, being no doubt 
well paid, begins to eat the living reptile : a pretty large 
fnake is held in his hands, which w'rithes its folds around 
his naked arm, as he bites at the head and body. Horror 
and fury are depifted in the man’s countenance;and, in 
a ftrong convulfive manner, he puts the animal to death 
by eating and fwallowing part of it alive. Walpole's Mem. 
relating to Turkey, 1819. 
OPHIORHI'ZA, /! [from the Gr. o^ij, a ferpent, and 
pt^cz, a root; becaufe the plant, fays Hermann, is re¬ 
garded in Ceylon as a grand fpecific for the bite of the 
nagha, or ribband-fnake. This genus was originally 
called Mitreolaby Linnaeus, beingthe Mitra of Houfton.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order mono- 
gynia, natural orderof ftellatae, (gentianae, Juff.) Generic 
characters— Calyx : perianthiuin one-leafed, ereft, com- 
prefied, five-toothed, equal, permanent. Corolla : one- 
petalled, funnel-form: tube inflated at the bafe : throat 
almoftclofed with hairs: border five-cleft, blunt, fpread- 
ing. Stamina : filaments five, filiform, very fliort, in¬ 
ferred into the tube. Antherse oblong, the height of the 
tube. Piltillum : germ bifid, fuperior. Style filiform, 
the length of the ftamens, thicker above. Stigmas two, 
blunt. Pericarpium : capfule two-lobed, wide, bluntilh: 
lobes oblong, divaricated, two-celled : opening inwards 
with a contrary partition. Seeds numerous, angular, 
fixed all round to an oblong pedicelled receptacle, loofe 
515 
in the middle of each cell.—■ Ejfential Character. Corolla 
funnel-form ; germ bifid; ftigmas two. Fruit two-lobe.i. 
There are.three fpecies. 
1. Ophiorhiza mungos : leaves lanceolate-ovate. Stem 
fimple. Leaves oppofite, quite entire, fmooth, with ob- 
liquely-tranfverfe nerves, petioled. Flowers fertile from 
the upper fide of the horizontal fpike. Native of the 
Eaft Indies. Called in Ceylon eliawerya, and uaghawalli, 
from Jiagha, the ribband-fnake, for the bite of which the 
leaves of this plant are accounted a fpecific. 
2. Ophiorhiza mitreola: leaves ovate. Roots from the 
lower joints of the Item in bundles, long, filiform, white. 
Stem herbaceous, a foot high, fimple or branched, ereft, 
four-cornered at bottom, towards the upper part roundilh, 
fmooth, loofe. Annual ; flowering in fpring. Native of 
America : in Virginia, and in Jamaica, in wet meadows 
on the banks of rivers. 
3. Ophiorhiza fubumbellata : Item fltrubby ; leaves lan¬ 
ceolate, acute ; umbels axillary, trifid. Native of the 
ifland of Otaheite. 
OPHIOX'YLON, j. in botany. See Buddlea occi- 
dentalis, vol. iii. 
OPHIOX'YLUM, f. [from the Gr. otpij and |vAot, fer- 
pentine wood ; becaufe its root lpreads in a zigzag man¬ 
ner, like the twilling of a ferpent.] In botany, a genus of 
the clafs polyandria, order monoecia ; or father clafs pen¬ 
tandria, order monogyniu; natural order of apocineae, 
JuJJ. Generic charafters—Calyx : perianthium inferior, 
five-cleft, fometimes bifid, acute, ereft, very fmall. Co¬ 
rolla of one petal, funnel-fhaped; tube long, thread- 
fhaped, thickened in the middle ; limb five-cleft, fpread- 
ing. Neftary uncertain, or only found in imperfeft 
flowers, at the mouth of the corolla, cylindrical, entire. 
Stamina : filaments five, very fhort, in the middle of the 
tube, fometimes only two : antherie pointed. Piltillum : 
germen fuperior, roundilh ; ltyle thread-fliaped, the length 
of the ftamens; ftigma capitate. Pericarpium: berry- 
twin, two-celled. Seeds folitary, roundilh. — Ejfential 
Churatter. Calyx and corolla five-cleft, funnel-lhaped ; 
ftamens five ; piftil one. 
Ophioxylum ferpentinum, or three-leaved ophioxyluin, 
the only fpecies known, is a native of the Eafl Indies. It 
was cultivated in Hampton Court in 1690; and flowers 
in May and June. Stem ereft, round, quite fimple. 
Leaves generally in fours, ftalked, lanceolato-ovate, point¬ 
ed, fmooth. Flowers glomerate, terminal, white with a 
red tube ; occafionally imperfeft, when they have a nec¬ 
tary like that of narciflus. Berry large and flefliy, two- 
lobed, of a brick-red. Gaertner calls this fpecies trifoli- 
atum, and fays that, although the defeription giver; by 
Rumphius in his Herb. Amboin. (v. 7. 30.) belongs un¬ 
doubtedly to this plant, yet that his figure mult be ano¬ 
ther fpecies, for that it has oppofite cruciate leaves, white 
flowers, and black berries. Gaertner propofes to call it 
O. alba, but his opinion feems founded in error. The 
Lignum colubrinum is fuppofed to be the root of this 
plant. Its ferpentine form perhaps gave it the reputation 
of curing the bites of fnakes, which it hardly retains at 
prefent. 
Propagation and Culture. This may be raifed by feeds, 
which fliould be fown in pots in the early fpring, and be 
plunged in a bark hot-bed ; and, when the plants have 
obtained fome growth, removed into feparate pots, and 
re-plunged in the bark hot-bed of the ftove, where the 
plants mult be conftantly kept. It may likewife be in- 
crealed by layers and cuttings, which fliould be laid down 
or planted out at the fame feafon, and have the fame fort 
of management as thofe procured from feeds. Thefe are 
ornamental Itove-plants. 
O'PHIR, [Heb. allies.] A country mentioned in Scrip¬ 
ture, from which Solomon had great quantities of gold 
brought home in fhips which he lent out for that pur- 
pofe ; but where to fix its lituation is the great difficulty, 
authors running into various opinions on that head. 
Some have gone to the Weft, others to the Eafl, Indies, and 
others 
