619 
P L A 
nivorous birds; but, inftead of the caecum, which is 
found in thefe, it has only little and exceeding-lhort pro¬ 
tuberances at the extremity of the ileon ; the trachea 
arteria is like that of the crane, and makes a double in¬ 
flection in the thorax : the heart is furnilhed with a 
pericardium, though Aldrovandus fays that he could not 
perceive it. 
The fpoon-bill inhabits the fea-fliore, and feldom 
occurs on the inland country, except on lakes, and tran- 
fiently by the fides of rivers. It prefers the fenny coafts ; 
and is found in thofe of Brittany and Holland : fome 
places are even famous for multitudes of fpoon-bills; 
Such are the marfhes of Sevenhuys, near Leyden. During 
the breeding feafon they are very noify in their retreats, 
and return regularly every night to their repofe. They 
penetrate, in fummer, as far as Weft; Bothnia and 
Lapland, according to Linnaeus ; they appear alfo, in 
fmall numbers, in Pruflia, during the autumnal rains, 
having arrived from Poland. Rzaczynlki fays, that they 
are feen, though rarely, in Volhinia: fome pafs into 
Silefia, in the months of September and October. They 
are found alfo on the coafts of Africa, at Biflao, near 
Sierra Leone; in Egypt, according to Granger; at the 
Cape of Good Hope, where Kolben relates that they live 
both on ferpents and fifti, and are called Jlangen-vreeter, 
or ferpent-eaters: Commerfon faw them in Madagafcar, 
where the inhabitants denominate them fangali-ambava y 
or Spade-bills. The negroes, in fome parts, name them 
vang-van, and, in others, vourou-doulon, or the devil’s 
birds: the negroes give them this name, becaufe their 
cry is believed to forebode the death of fome perfon in 
the village. The fpecies, therefore, though not nu¬ 
merous, is widely diffufed, and feems even to have made 
the circuit of the Ancient Continent. Sonnerat found 
fpoon-bills in the Philippine iflands ; they occur alfo in 
both divifions of the New World. They feldom vifit 
England ; hut Pennant informs us a flock of them was 
feen in the marfnes near Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in April 
1774; and one was fliot on the river Yare, near the fame 
place, on the 28th of May, 1818. 
( 3 . Wings varied with black and white; bill reddilh; 
legs yellowifli. 
y. Entirely white, but furniflied with a long creft, 
compofed of feathers whofe webs are very loofe, and fe- 
parated from one another; the bill rufous grey, with red 
edges; legs of a dull pale red. Both varieties inhabit 
the ifland of Lu$on, the chief of the Philippines. 
2. Platalea ajaja, the rofeate fpoon-bill: body rofy ; 
tail-coverts fcarlet. This fpecies is a trifle lefs than the 
firft : length two feet three inches. The bill is fix inches 
in length, and ftiaped like that of the former; it is 
marked all round with a furrow parallel to the edge, 
and is of a greyilh white, fomewhat tranfparent, fo as 
to ftrow the ramification of the blood-veflels belonging 
to it. The forehead, between the bill and eyes, and 
throat, are bare and whitifh: the plumage isafine rofe-co- 
lour,deepefton the wings: the legs are grey, and theclaws 
blackifli; the toes furnifhed with membranes, as in the 
whitefpecies. It is represented on theannexed Plate,atfig.i. 
( 3 . Is a variety of the rofeate fpoon-bill, with a collar 
of black at the lower part of the neck : irides red. It is, 
probably, the laft-defcribed bird in full plumage. In this 
ftate it has been fliot in Jamaica, Guinea, Mexico, and 
other parts of America. It is faid to be of a blackifli 
chefnut the firft year, rofe-coloured the fecond, and of 
a deep fcarlet the third. It lives on the fmaller kind of 
fifti; and, if like the white, alfo 011 frogs, fnakes, and 
other reptiles. 
3. Platalea pygmea, the dwarf fpoon-bill : above 
brown, beneath white. This dwarf Species is only the 
Size of a fparrow. The bill is black, longer than the head, 
and flat at the end, not of a rounded form, as in the 
others, but Spread out a'moft at right angles, fo as to be 
nearly of a rhomboidal form ; the angles and tip of the 
upper mandible are white; the tongue Smooth. The 
P L A 
body is brown above, and white beneath; the quills have 
white lhafts ; the tail is rounded in fhape, fhort, and of a 
browhifh-white;, the feet have four toes, cloven ; and the 
claws pointed. Bancroft’s defcription varies fomewhat. 
He fays that the bill is flattilh, dilated, orbiculated, and 
flat at the point, and that the toes are palmated. It in¬ 
habits Surinam and Guiana. 
PLATAMO’NE, a town of European Turkey, in 
Macedonia, at the mouth of the river Jenicoro : forty-four 
miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Edefla. 
PLAT'ANAL, a fmall ifland in the Spanifh Main, near 
the coaft of Darien. Lat. 9. 6. N. Ion. 80. 40. W. 
PLATANA'RIA,/. in botany. See Spargianum. 
PLAT'ANE,/. [ platanns , Lat. ocvo<;, Greek; fo 
called from the breadth of its leaves, vrAaTvj, broad.] 
The plane-tree.— The platane round, the carver holm, 
the tnapple. Spenfer. 
I efpy’d thee, fair indeed and tall, 
Under a platane. Milton's P. L. 
PLATA'NI, a river of Sicily, which rifes near Caftro 
Nuovo, and runs into the fea ten miles fouth of Sacca. 
PLATA'NI-FO'LIO, /! in botany. See Carica. 
PLATA'NO-CEPH'AlUS. See Nauclea. 
PLATANUS, in ancient geography, a town of Afia, 
in Syria; Situated on the weftern bank of the river 
Orontes, eaft of Mount Cafius, towards lat. 35. 50. N.-— 
Alfo atown ofPhcenicia, placed by M. d’Anville between 
Berytus and Sidon, in the vicinity of Libanus. 
PLAT'ANUS,Ji [from the Gr. ir’kot. tv;, wide, or broad, 
the leaves of this tree being very broad ; or rather, from 
its fpreading branches.] The Plane-tree ; in botany, 
a genus of the clafs monoecia, order polyandria, natural 
order of amentaceae. Generic chara&ers—I. Male flowers 
compound, forming a globular ament. Calyx: a few 
very fmall jags. Corolla : Scarcely apparent. Stamina : 
filaments oblong, thicker at top, coloured; antherae 
four-cornered, growing round the filament at the lower 
part. II. Female flowers forming a globe, numerous, on 
the Same tree. Calyx: Scales many, very fmall. Co¬ 
rolla : petals many, concave, oblong, club-fhaped. 
piftillum: germen many, awl-fhaped, ending in awl- 
Ihaped ftyles ; with a recurved ftigma. Pericarpium : 
none. Fruits many, colleffed into a globe. Seed round- 
ifli, placed on a briftle-fhaped peduncle, and terminated by 
the awl-lhaped ftyle 5 with a capillary pappus adhering 
to the bafe of the feed.— EJJential Character. Male. 
Calyx ament globular ; corolla Scarcely apparent ; 
antherae growing round the filament. Female. Calyx 
ament globular ; corolla many petalled; ftigma recurved ; 
feeds roundifti, mucronate witli the ftyle, pappofe at the 
bafe. There are but two diftinit Species. 
1. Platanus orientalis, the oriental plane-tree : leaves 
fubpaimate; nerves fmoothilh underneath. Of this there 
are three varieties. 
a. P. orientalis elongata, the common oriental plane- 
tree : leaves attenuated at the ba He, flat. This noble tree 
grows naturally in Afia, where it becomes very large; 
the ftetn is tall, erefft, and covered with a Smooth bark, 
which annually falls off; it fends out many fide-branches, 
which are generally a little crooked at their joints. The 
bark of the young branches is of a dark-brown, inclining 
to purple; the leaves are placed alternate, on foot-ftalks 
an inch and a half long; the leaves themfelves are Seven 
inches long and eight broad, deeply cut into five 
Segments, and the two outer are Slightly cut again into 
two more; thefe fegments have many acute indentures 
on their borders, and have each a ftrong midrib, with 
many lateral veins running to the fides ; the upper fide 
of the leaves is of a deep green, and the under fide pale. 
The flowers come out upon long peduncles hanging 
downward, each fuftaining five or fix round balls of 
flowers ; the upper, which are the largeft, are more than 
four inches in circumference; thefe fit very clofe to the 
peduncle. The flowers are fo fmall as Scarcely to be dif- 
1 tinguilhed 
