56 
SERTULARIA. 
skirmishes, and intercepting his convoys. He adopted the 
liberal policy of civilizing the Lusitanians and neighbouring 
Spaniards, and familiarizing them with Roman letters and 
customs. For this purpose he established a great school in 
the city of Osca, at which the sons of men of distinction 
were gratuitously educated, and at the same time kept as 
hostages for the fidelity of their parents. Feeling that his 
power was not sufficiently firm, without the aid of super¬ 
stition, which ever captivates the ignorant and uncivilized, 
he trained a white fawn, that had been presented to him, to 
such a degree of tameness, that it followed him whitherso¬ 
ever he went, and was his constant companion; and he en¬ 
couraged the belief that the animal was the gift of Diana, 
and intended by that goddess to convey him information of 
the designs of his enemies. At length the famous Pompey 
was nominated to the command against him; and when he 
arrived, he found that all the Roman troops, which, after 
the death of Lepidus, had been carried to Spain by Per- 
senna, with the design of setting up there for himself, had 
joined Sertorius, who was now at the head of a considerable 
army. Pompey proceeded against him with a superior 
force; but Sertorius took a town in his presence, and after¬ 
wards defeated him at the battle of Sucro. He gave him a 
second defeat; but Metellus routed a separate division, and 
Sertorius was glad to take to the mountains. He then of¬ 
fered to lay down his arms, provided the proscription against 
him might be taken off, and he were permitted to return to 
Rome. Soon after he received an embassy from Mithri- 
dates, the formidable foe of the Romans, offering him an 
advantageous alliance, provided he were suffered to re- 
ossess the provinces from which he had been expelled by 
ylla. But Sertorius would not agree to more than his re¬ 
covery of Bithynia and Cappadocia, without touching upon 
the Roman province of Asia; and upon these terms the 
treaty was concluded. A conspiracy was now formed against 
Sertorius by the Roman patricians in his army, and they 
succeeded in exciting a revolt in several Lusitanian towns. 
Incensed at this defection, he caused several of the children, 
whom he kept as hostages at Osca, to be slain, and others 
to be sold as slaves. This is said to have been the only act 
of cruelty by which his memory is tarnished. In revenge 
for the loss of their sons, the conspirators formed a plot 
against the life of Sertorius; in consequence of which he 
was basely assassinated, while he was at a feast. This event 
took place in the year 73 B. C. “ The great qualities and 
military talents of this eminent person would undoubtedly 
have raised him to the first rank among the chiefs of his 
country, had he not been a leader of a party, instead of a 
commander for the state. With nothing to support him 
but the resources of his own mind, he created a powerful 
kingdom among strangers, and defended it a long time 
against the arms of Rome, although wielded by the ablest 
generals of his time; and he displayed public and private 
virtues, which would have rendered a people happy under 
his rule at a less turbulent period.” Univer. Hist. 
SERTULARIA, in Natural History, a genus of the class 
Vermes, and order Zoophytes. The Generic Character is 
this: the animal grows in the form of a plant; the stem is 
branched, producing polypes from cup-shaped denticles, or 
minute cells. There are nearly four-score species, divided 
into two sections. 
I.—Stem horny, tubular, fixed to the base, beset with cup¬ 
shaped denticles, and furnished with vesicles, or ovaries, 
containing polypes, eggs, or living young. 
1. Sertularia rosacea.—'This species is panicled, with 
opposite, tubular, truncate denticles, and alternate branches; 
the vesicles are crowned with spines.—-It inhabits the Euro¬ 
pean seas, and our own coasts, growing on shells, or creeping 
up other corallines; it is white; the vesicles resemble the 
blossom of the pomegranate. 
2. Sertularia puimla.-—The denticles of this species are 
opposite, pointed, and recurved; the vesicles are obovate; 
the branches loose and irregular.—It is found in the ocean, 
on fuci, particularly on the serratus. 
3. Sertularia operculata.—Denticles opposite, pointed, 
and nearly erect; the vesicles are obovate, covered with a 
lid; the branches are alternate.—It inhabits the European 
and American seas, on fuci and shells. The twigs are about 
five inches long; the denticles are bicuspidate, with a short 
bristle on each side. 
4. Sertularia tamarisca.'—Denticles nearly opposite, trun¬ 
cate, three-toothed; vesicles ovate, two-toothed, with a short 
tube in the centre; the branches are alternate.—This is found 
in most of the European seas, and is the largest of its kind. 
It is about four inches long, and is found adhering to shells. 
5. Sertularia abietina.—Denticles nearly opposite, tubular, 
oval; the vesicles are oval, and the branches alternate.—It is 
found in the British and other European seas, and the Medi¬ 
terranean, growing to shells. It is five inches long, and often 
covered with small serpulse; the branches are frequently 
pinnate. 
6 . Sertularia nigra.-—Denticles nearly opposite, minute ; 
vesicles large, placed all on one side, oval, quadrangular; 
the branches are pinnate.—This is found on the Cornish 
coast, adhering to the Mytilus margaritiferus. It is four 
inches long, blackish. 
7. Sertularia fuscescens.—Denticles nearly opposite, tubu¬ 
lar ; the vesicles are numerous, placed all on one side, minute, 
with three tubercles on each; the branches are pinnate. 
—This is also an inhabitant of the Cornish coast. It resem¬ 
bles the last, but is of a greyish-brown colour. 
8. Sertularia obsoleta.—Denticles generally placed in 
eight rows, ovate, slightly heart-shaped, and disposed in a 
quincunx form; the branches are alternate and pinnate.—It 
is an inhabitant of the Frozen ocean, is about five inches 
high, and of a horn colour, with the joints becoming more 
and more obsolete towards the top. 
9. Sertularia pinus.—Denticles sub-spinous, generally dis¬ 
posed in six rows; the vesicles are bottle-shaped, turgid, 
subdiaphanous, with a simple mouth; the branches are 
pinnate, nearly alternate.—It inhabits the White sea, fixed 
to shells. 
10. Sertularia cupressoides.—Denticles simple, obliquely 
truncate, with a slightly protuberant mouth; the vesicles are 
ovate, with a subtubular mouth; the branches are dicho¬ 
tomous, loose, and with the trunk joined with two rings at 
the junctures. This is found in the White sea; is subdia¬ 
phanous, yellowish, and nearly half a foot long. 
11. Sertularia cupressina.-—-Denticles nearly opposite, 
obliquely truncate, and a little pointed; vesicles obovate, 
two-toothed; branches panicled, and very long.—It is com¬ 
mon in all the European seas, and is found in a long pointed 
loose panicle. 
12. Sertularia argentea.—-Denticles nearly opposite, 
pointed; vesicles oval; branches alternate, panicled.—This 
is an inhabitant of the European and American seas; very 
much resembles the last, but the branches are shorter and 
looser, and the panicle is more obtuse. 
13. Sertularia rugosa.—Denticles nearly opposite, obso¬ 
lete; vesicles much wrinkled, and three-tcothed; the branch¬ 
es are scattered.—-This species inhabits the European seas, 
and is found growing on the Flustra foliacea, and other 
sertularise. 
14. Sertularia halecina.—Denticles alternate, tubular, and 
two-jointed; the vesicles oval, each united along the side 
to a small tubular stalk; the stem is alternately branched and 
pinnate.—-This is found in the European and Mediterranean 
seas. It is horny, and of a yellowish-grey; the denticles are 
nearly obsolete. 
15. Sertularia thuja.—The denticles in this species are 
arranged in two rows, closely adhering to the stem; the 
vesicles obovate, margined; stem waved and stiff, with a 
tuft of dichotomous branches near the tip.—It is found on 
the northern coasts of England, and in the Mediterranean, 
and is about half a foot long. 
16. Sertularia myriophyllum.—r-The denticles are truncate, 
all leaning one way on the stem; the stem itself is gibbous 
on the side opposite the branches: the branches lean all one 
way. This is found in most European seas, and in the 
Mediterranean*; 
