644 S T R U 
commonly longer than the stamens. Stigma simple, obtuse. 
Pericarp: berry crowned with the calyx, roundish, one- 
celled. Seed one, roundish.— Essential Character. Calyx 
five-toothed, superior. Corolla five-petalled. Berry one- 
seeded. 
Strumpfia maritima.—This is an upright shrub, three feet 
high. Branches round, somewhat ash-coloured, appearing 
to be composed of short joints from the fallen leaves, because 
the leaves together with the stipules take their rise from a 
common sheath, which surrounds the branch, and is per¬ 
manent. The leaves are in threes, and very much resemble 
those of rosemary. Stipules small, acute and blackish, al¬ 
ternate with the leaves. Common peduncles axillary, and 
only half the length of the leaves, sustaining about five small 
flowers, with white petals, and on short peduncles. Berries 
soft and white, the size of a pea. The whole plant has an un¬ 
pleasant smell.—Native of Curagao, on the rocks by the coast. 
Propagation aud Culture. —It must be preserved in the 
bark stove, and will not bear transplanting ; several plants 
that were raised from seeds, throve very well while they 
continued in the pot where they were sown, but decayed 
when they were transplanted. 
STRUMPSHAW, a parish of England, in Norfolk ; 4 
miles south-west-by-west of Acle. 
STRUMUS, a name given by some of the old Roman 
authors to the cucubalus, or berry-bearing chick-weed. It 
had this name from its being found of service in strumous 
and scrofulous swellings, when externally applied. The 
name cucubalus seems to have been derived from the word 
halicaccubum, or the winter-cherry, for the ancients es¬ 
teemed both these plants species of nightshade; and some of 
them have plainly described the cucubalus under the name 
of solanum hortense. 
STRUNG. The preterite and participle passive of string. 
—The strung bow points out the Cynthian queen. Gay. 
STRUNKOWITZ, a small town in the south of Bohe¬ 
mia; 6 miles north of Prachatitz, and 70 south-by-west of 
Prague. 
STRUPPI, among the Romans, garlands or wreaths of 
vervain, with which the statues of the gods were crowned. 
STRUSOW, or Struszow, a small town of Austrian 
Poland, in the circle of Tarnopol, on the river Sereth. 
To STRUT, v. n. [strotzen, Germ.] To walk with 
affected dignity ; to swell with stateliness. 
Adore our errours, laugh at us while we strut 
To our confusion. Shakspeare. 
Does he not hold up his head and strut in his gait. Shak¬ 
speare. —To swell; to protuberate. 
The pow’r appeas’d, with winds suffic’d the sail, 
The bellying can vass strutted with the gale. Dryden. 
As thy strutting bags with money rise, 
The love of gain is of an equal size. Dryden. 
STRUT, s. An affectation of stateliness in the walk.— 
Certain gentlemen, by smirking countenances and an un¬ 
gainly strut in their walk, have got preferment. Swiff. 
STRUTHIA, in Botany, a name originally given by Van 
Royen to the Gnidia of Linnaeus; and which being derived 
from a-TQovOcu ;, Gr., a sparrow , appears to have had in view 
the near affinity of that genus to passerina. See Gnidia. 
and Passerina. 
STRUTHIO, in Ornithology, a genus of birds of the order 
Gallins. Bill subconic; nostrils oval; wings short, unfit 
for flight, feet formed for running. There are four species. 
Though the power of flying may be considered as the dis¬ 
tinguishing characteristic of the feathered tribes in general, 
yet there are some families to which nature has denied that 
endowment, while she seems to have granted it to a few 
quadrupeds, and even partially to some fishes. It is thus 
that she displays the extent of her power, by the variety of 
her productions, and disdains to be confined within the nar¬ 
row limits prescribed to her by the systems of philosophers. 
In descending from the class of quadrupeds to contemplate 
T H I O. 
that of birds, we find the connecting links, which unite these 
orders into one chain, very short, and almost imperceptible; 
for while the flying squirrel, the bat, and some other quad¬ 
rupeds, are invested with the power of flight, and with other 
properties of birds, the ostrich, dodo, and cassowary, are by 
their great bulk confined to the ground, and they indicate by 
their habits, a near affinity to the four-footed animals. 
Hence, as we descend from those swift and slender birds, 
which are destined to move in the higher regions of the air, 
we find them growing, by almost imperceptible degrees, 
heavier and less agile, till at length, being wholly destitute of 
the qualities necessary for flight, they are incapable of rising 
from the surface of the earth. 
1. Struthio camelus, or black ostrich.—Feet two-toed. 
This is the largest of all birds, and from this prerogative, 
in a great measure, is incapable of flight. Its weight is 
sometimes from eighty to one hundred pounds: from the 
top of the head to the ground, it is from seven to nine feet; 
and its length from the beak to the top of the tail eight feet. 
When walking, it seems as tall as a man on horseback. The 
plumage of the ostrich, however, as well as its weight, is an 
insuperable bar against its rising in the air. The vanes of 
wing-feathers are separate and detached, like hairs, and in¬ 
capable of making any impression on the atmosphere. Those 
of the tail, and indeed of the whole body, are of the same 
structure. They are all as soft as down, and utterly unfit 
not only for flying, but for defending the body of the ani¬ 
mal from external injury. The feathers of other birds have 
their webs broader on the one side than the other, but those 
of the ostrich have the shaft exactly in the middle. The 
head, the upper part of the neck, sides, and thighs, are 
covered with a clear kind of hair, which on the head some¬ 
what resembles the bristles of a bog. The thighs of this 
bird, in which its great strength seems to lie, are large and 
muscular: and its hard and scaly legs, which are supported 
by two thick toes, have a considerable similarity to those of 
the goat. These toes Jare of unequal size; the inner, which 
is both longer and thicker, being seven inches in length, in¬ 
cluding the claw ; the other, which is without a claw, is four 
inches. It is the only bird that possesses eye-lids, and these 
are fringed. 
Though the ostrich be a bird known from the earliest ages, 
little comparatively is related of its history. In the scrip¬ 
tures, we have many comparisons drawn from its manners ; 
as an article of food it was forbidden the Jews. It is men¬ 
tioned by Aristotle as remarkable for its fecundity. In the 
parched deserts of Africa, where it resides, and where it runs 
with precipitation on the approach of an invader, it can 
rarely become an object of close examination. The race of 
these birds, though extremely ancient, still remains pure and 
almost solitary. Like the elephant, among the quadrupeds, 
the ostrich constitutes a genus offering few or no varieties, 
and is perfectly distinguished by characters equally striking 
and permanent. It is peculiar to Africa, to the neighbour¬ 
ing islands, and to those parts of Asia that lie in the vicinity 
of the African continent. It is seldom found beyond the 
distance of thirty-five degrees from Ihe equator ; and as it 
is incapable of flight, it must, like the quadrupeds of these 
latitudes, have always been confined to the ancient continent. 
It prefers for its residence those mountains and parched 
deserts that are never refreshed with rain, a circumstance 
which tends to corroborate the report of the Arabs, that these 
birds never drink. Vast flocks of them are seen in these 
barren and solitary regions. At a distance they are said to 
appear like an army of cavalry, and often alarm the cara¬ 
vans that are travelling through them. 
Among some nations, the eggs, the blood, and the flesh, 
have been eagerly sought as articles of food. Whole people 
have obtained the appellation of Struthophagi, from their 
partiality for this food. The Romans considered the flesh 
of the ostrich as a delicacy; and the imperial glutton, 
Heliogabalus, is said to have had 600 of them slaugh¬ 
tered in one day, in order that he might have the brains 
served up as a dish to pamper his appetite. At •present, the 
inhabitants 
