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Very wide i the upper jaw is a little longer than the under, and both are fumifhed with very fmall teeth. The apertures of the gills are only two fmall holes near the upper part of the head. It has two pair of fins on the belly, and two fins on the back, the one placed toward the head, and the other a little lower. Both are fir.ua ted in a kind of furrow, and the hinder is very high, and beautifully fpotted with black and white, and has its ribs running to a vaft length beyond its edge. The tail is very long, and not forked. It is common in the Mediterranean and other feas, and is brought to market among other fmall fifh at Rome, and in other places. See Tab. of Fifhes, N° 17. i&r/slchthyograph. p. 136. Dracunculus, Dragons, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the flower and fruit of which wholly agree with thole of arum ; but the leaves are divided into feveral deep fegments. The fpecies of Dragons enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe :
1. The common Dragons. 2. The common Dragons with leaves variegated with yellow. 3. The common Dragons with leaves variegated with white. 4. The great Indian late flow- ering Dragons with ftalks not fpotted. 5. The lefTer Indian Dragons with plain ftalks. 6. The great Ceylonefe Dragons with rough ftalks variegated with green and yellow. 7. The great Ceylonefe Dragons with rough ftalks, green variegated with white. 8. The great purple ftalked American Dragons, with roots like thofe of the cyclamen. 9. The polypody- leaved prickly Dragons of Ceylon, with a creeping root. 10. The fmooth Ceylonefe Dragons with green and white
- ftalks. 11. The great Ceylonefe Dragons with a trifid ftaik.
- 12. The climbing American Dragons. 13. The climbing A- merican Dragons, with trifoliate and auriculated leaves. 14. The dwarf American trifoliate Dragons. 15. The colo-
- cafia-like American Dragons with jagged leaves. 16. The low American Dragons with a white flower and white fruit. 17. The American Dragons with an extremely long, green piftil. 18. The five-leaved Indian Dragons. 19. The Indian Dragons with trifid leaves. Tourn. Inft. p. 160. See the the article Serpentaria, Cycl.
All the fpecies are propagated by parting their knobby roots, which when they have flood undifturbed for three years will afford a great number of ofF-fets. Thefe are to be taken off and planted in autumn foon after the green leaves decay; for ■ if they are removed after they have taken frefh root and began to ftioot, they feldom produce flowers the fucceeding fummer ; or if they do, they are very weak : they will thrive in almoft any foil and fituation.
Dracunculus, Dragons or Tarragon, an efculent garden herb. The latter name has moft univerfally obtained for this plant in England, the other being the ufual Englifh name of the great dracontium. Some of the antients have fhewn their great ignorance in natural philofophy, by fuppofing the Dracunculus not to be an original fpecies of plant, but to be raifed at plea-
. fure out of two other plants, by fowing the feeds of the com- mon flax in the roots of an onion.
DRAGMA, in pharmacy, a name ufed by the antients for a handful of any herb or other medicine.
DRAGMIS, in pharmacy, a word ufed by the antients to figni- fy a pugil, or as much of any thing as can be taken up at a pinch, between the thumb and two fingers.
DRAGON -Beams, in architecture, are two ftrong braces or ftruts, which ftand under a breaft fummer, and meet in an angle on the fhoulder of the king-piece.
DRAGON-f/y, See Libella.
DRAGON-.S/ji7/, in natural hiftory, a name given by people curious in fhelis to a fpecies of concamerated patella or limpet. This has its top very much bent, and is of an afh-colour on the outfide, but of an elegant and bright flefti-colour within. This
■ has been found flicking on the back of a tortoife, as the com- mon limpets do on the fides of rocks : and fome have been found affixed to large fhelis of the pinna marina brought from the Eaft Indies at different times. . Hift. Nat. Eclacic. part 2 p. 243-
Dragons, in botany, &c. fee Dracunculus.
DRAGOON, (Cycl.) in ornithology, the name of a fmall kind of carrier-pidgeon, called columba tabellaria minima by Moore. It is a baftard breed between the two fpecies of pidgeons called the horfeman and the tumbler. They are very good breeders, and as they are lighter than the horfeman, they are fuppofed more expeditious in flight for a few miles, but the horfeman outdoes them at greater lengths. Moore's Columb. p. 32.
DRAGS, in the fca language, is ufed for whatever hangs over the. fhip in the fea, as ihirts, coats, or the like : and boats when towed, or whatever elfe that, after this manner, may hinder the fhip's way when {he fails.
DRAINS, a name given in the fen countries to certain large cuts or ditches, of twenty, thirty, nay fometimes forty foot wide, carried through the marfhy ground to fome river, or other place capable of difcharging the water they carry out of the fen lands. Moft of thefe drains are made in our fen coun- tries by a body of men called The Undertakers, whofe reward is one third of the ground they drain. They creft fluices alio at a great expence, often not iefs than two thoufand pounds
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each. Yet thefe, with all the care they employ ;„ c!cli
them, are fubjefi to be blown up by the vaft Weight of that lies upon them when the lands are overflown
im '" thefe fluices have two or more pair of doors, of fix eicfi^ ten foot high, which fliut when the water in the fjiJ " r higher than in the Drains, by the weight and force of it ■ fo, e contra, throw but a body of eight foot fquare of water f .- about fix or feven hours during the ebb. The real ufe of th T Drains is very evident from the prefent ftate of the land wh t they are cut, and that of it before. In Cambden's tifti all this was bog, and now it is all firm land. The countr ' about Crowland was in that author's time fo foft, that it yjl not pallable by carriages ; and thus grew a witticifm upon i- that all the carts that entered this town were cafed on h * wheels with filver : but this is now fo firm ground, that car- riages of any kind pafs over it. The duck ponds ufed to be called the fen corn fields, and they now are fuch in reality their bottoms being dry, and producing oats, and rape feed or cole feed with great increafe. Fhilof. Tranf. N" 223. DRANK, a name given by our farmers to the great wild oats. Thefe are often very troublefome to the plowed lands, efpccL ally after wet feafons and much froft. Many to deftroy this weed fow the land with black oats, which being ripe much looner than the feeds of this plant, are cut down before.it can fow itfelf for another year; efpecially if they are cut a little the earlier, which will do them no harm, if they be fuft'ered to lie a while upon the ground afterwards for the grain to fwell before they are carried in. But, in general, when plowed lands begin to run to thefe weeds and thirties, it is a token to the farmer that it is time to fallow them, or elfe to fow them with hay-feed, and make paflures of them. The fowing beans upon a land fubjecf to theie weeds is alfo a good method, be- caufe the farmer may fend in his flleep when they are about three inches high, which will eat up the Drank, and all the other weeds, and will not hurt the beans. The general me- thod is to put twenty flleep to an acre ; but they muft be put in only .in dry weather, and not left too long. Mortimer's Husband, p. 318. DRAPERY Painter. See Painter.
DRAUGHT (Cycl.) — Draught Compajfes, thofe provided with feveral moveable points, to draw fine Draughts in archi- tecture, &c. See the article Compass, Cycl. DRAUOHT-Hooh, are large hooks of iron fixed on the cheeks of a cannon carriage, two on each fide, one near the trunni- on-hole, and the other at the train, and are called the fore and hind Draught-hooks. Large guns have Draught-hooks near the middle tranfum, to which are fixed the chains, which ferve to eafe the (hafts of the limbers on a march. The fore and hind hooks are ufed for drawing a gun backwards or for- wards by men with ftrong ropes, called Draught-ropes, fixed to thefe hooks. Guillet. Dx.au GHT-Horfe, in farming, a fort of coarfe made horfe de- ftined for thefervice of the cart or plough. In the choice of thefe horfes for what is called the flow Draught, they are to be chofen of an ordinary height, for otherwiie°when put into the cart one draws unequally with the other, and the tall ones hang upon the low ones. The Draught-horfi fliould be large bodied and ftrong loined, and of fuch a dilpofition, as rather to be too dull than too brisk, and rather, to. crave the whip than to draw more than is needful. Mares are the fitteft for this ufe for the farmer, as they will be kept cheap, and not only do the work, but be kept breeding, and give a yearly in- creafe of a foal, of the fame kind, and fit to be bred to the fame purpofes. They fhould have a good head, neck, breaft and fhoulders ; for the reft of the fliape, it is not of much confequence. Only for breeding the mare fliould have a Iart>e belly, for the more room a foal has in the dam, the better proportioned it will be. Draught-horfes fhould be always kept to that employ. Some put them to the faddle on occafion, but it does them great harm, alters their pace, and (poils them for labour. The Draught-horfe ought to have a large broad head, becaufe horfes of this fhaped head are lefs fubject than others to difeafes of the eyes. The ears fhould be fmall, ftrait and upright ; the noftrils large and open, that he may breathe with the more freedom. A horfe with a full and bold eye always promifts well. On the other hand, a funk eye and an eleva- ted brow are very bad figns. The horfe is efteemed fitteft for this purpofe alfo, that has a large and round buttock, which neither links down nor cuts. He muft have a firm and ftiona tail, and the dock muft be thick and well furnilhed with hair and placed neither very high nor very low. The legs fhould be rather flat and broad than round. The roundnefs of the leg being a fault in a horfe deftined to labour that will foon ruin him. As to the hinder legs, the thighs fhoulj be flefhy and long, and the whole mufcle which ftiews itfelf on the outfide of the thigh fliould be large and very thick. Nothing is fo ellential to the health of thefe ferviceable creatures at cleanlinefs : if they are fed ever fo well, and not kept clean, they will be fubjcc~t to numerous difeafes. The fervant who has the care of them ought to be up very early, and to clean the racks and mangers from all filth. The
currying
