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DECAPODA 293 DECAZES DECAPODA. (1) The highest order of crustaceans, so called from having five pairs of legs. They are sub-divided into brachyiira, the snort-tailed deca- pods or crabs; macrura, or long-tailed, including the shrimp, lobster, prawn, crayfish, etc.; and anomura, of which the hermit-crab is an example. (2) One of the two divisions of the dibranchiate cuttlefishes (the other being the octo- poda). They have two arms longer than the other eight, and bear the suctorial disks only at the extremities. DECAPOLIS (de-kap'6-lis), a country in Palestine, which contains 10 princi- pal cities, on both sides of the Jordan. According to Pliny, they were Scythopo- lis, Philadelphia, Raphanae, Gadara, Hippos, Dios, Pella, Gerasa, Canatha, and Damascus. Josephus inserts Otopos instead of Canatha. DECATUR, town and county-seat of De Kalb co., Ga.; on the Georgia rail- road; 6 miles E. of Atlanta. It is a noted summer and winter resort on ac- count of its fine climate; is the seat of the Agnes Scott Institute for Young Ladies, and has newspapers, electric lights, and railway to Atlanta, and a National bank. A battle was fought here, July 20, 1864, between a portion of Sherman's army, under General Thomas, and the Confederates under General Hood, the latter retreating at night- fall. The Union loss was 1,500 in killed and wounded. The Confederate loss was estimated by General Sherman at not less than 5,000. Pop. (1910) 2,466; (1920) 6,150. DECATUR, a city and county-seat of Macon co., 111.; on the Sangamon river, and the Wabash, the Illinois Central, and the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Day- ton railroads; 173 miles S. W. of Chi- cago. Decatur is in the midst of the famous Illinois corn belt, and is the trade center of several counties. It has rail- road car shops, iron works, flour mills, planing mills, and manufactories of farming implements, carriages, engines, boilers, water works equipment, electric light fixtures and soda fountains, and linseed oil. There are many churches. National and other banks, several news- papers, a library, James Millikin Uni- versity, a hospital, parks, etc. Pop. (1910) 31,140; (1920) 43,818. DECATUR, STEPHEN, an American naval officer; born in Sinnepuxent, Md., Jan. 5, 1779. He was of French des- cent, and obtained a midshipman's war- rant in 1798. He saw some service against the French, and was commis- sioned lieutenant in the following year; and at the close of the French war in 1801 he was one of the 36 officers of that rank retained in the reduced strength of the navy. In the war with Tripoli (1801-1805), his brilliant achieve- ment of boarding and burning the cap- tured "Philadelphia" in the harbor of Tripoli, and then escaping under the fire of 141 ^uns. Nelson pronounced "the most darmg act of the age." P'or this he received his commission as cap- tain in 1804; in 1810 he was appointed commodore. In the war with Eng- land in 1812 he captured the frigate "Macedonian," but in 1814 he was obliged to surrender, after a resistance STEPHEN DECATUR that cost him a fourth of his crew, to four British frigates. In 1815 he chas- tised the Algerines for their piracy, and obtained indemnities from the Bey of Tunis and the Pasha of Tripoli. He was appointed a Navy Commissioner in 1816, and was killed in a duel by Com- modore James Barron, near Bladens- burg, Md., March 22, 1820. DECAZES (de-kaz'), ELIE, DUKE, French minister, born Sept. 28, 1780, in St. Martin de Laye, Gironde, an advo- cate in Libourne; became in 1805 judge in the Seine Tribunal, and in 1806 was called by King Louis to the Hague, Hol- land. Later he returned to France and was adviser for Bonaparte's mother, and in the Supreme Court of the French Empire. When Bonaparte fell he turned his allegiance to the Bourbons. He be- came the Prefect of Police for Paris, and in 1815 Minister of Police in the Cabinet, and was made Count. He mar- ried the rich heiress of Sainte-Aulaire