Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/525

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ANGEL FISH ANGELL 493 the archangel Michael and the dragon stamped on one side of it. It was originally a French coin, first struck in 1340, with the French arms on the obverse. It was introduced into England in the reign of Edward IV., and called angel. Its value was then 6s. 8d. ; under Henry VIII. it was raised to 8a., and under Charles I. to 10., after which its coin- age ceased. ANGEL FISH, the common name of the squa- tina angelus (Dum.), a representative of the family of squatinidce, intermediate between the sharks and rays. The body is flattened above and below, and discoid in shape on ac- count of the broad pectorals and ventrals, as in rays ; the mouth is very wide and at the end of the snout ; the eyes small and on the dorsal aspect, with the large spout holes behind them ; the head rounded anteriorly ; the pec- torals separated from the head by a furrow in which are the long and closely approxi- mated gill openings ; two dorsals, both on the tail, further back than the ventrals ; tail keeled on the sides, and the caudal nearly or quite symmetrical ; male claspers small ; scales con- ical, with a terminal point; teeth conical, irregular, with interspaces. It is the only genus of the family, and this, the best known species, is called shark ray from its appear- ance, angel fish from the resemblance of the expanded pectorals to wings, monk fish from Angel Fish (Squntina angelus). its rounded head seeming to be enveloped in a cowl, and fiddle fish from its general shape. It attains a length of 7 or 8 feet, and is rough and mottled with brown and bluish gray above, smooth and dirty white below; the lighter pectorals are bordered with brown, the nostrils covered by a ciliated membrane, and along the back is a row of spines. It is not un- common in the European seas, and in the Medi- terranean, where it was known to Aristotle, in whose time, as now, the rough skin was used to polish wood. It is gregarious, fierce and dangerous to approach, hideous, very vo- racious, swimming near the bottom, and feed- ing on flat fishes and other species living in the mud and sand. The young are produced alive in June. The flesh is white, coarse, and taste- less, though formerly esteemed as food. A species has been described on the American coast as the S. Dumerili (Lesueur). ANGELI, Filippo, an Italian painter, born in Rome, lived in his youth in Naples, whence he is sometimes called the Neapolitan, and died in Florence about 1645. He excelled in land- scape painting, and was one of the first to ob- serve the strict rules of perspective in works of that class. His works are rare and dear. ANGELICO, Fra, the familiar appellation of one of the most celebrated of the early Italian painters, born at Mugello, Tuscany, in 1387, died in Rome about 1455. At the age of 20 he entered the monastery at San Domenico, near Fiesole, where he took the cloistral name of Giovanni da Fiesole. Previous to this time, according to Vasari, he had borne the name of Giovanni Guido di Mugello, and ac- cording to others that of Santi Tosini. Here he passed the remainder of his days in the devout discharge of his religious duties and the pursuit of his art. From the beauty of his angels and glorified saints he was called by his countrymen il beato (the blessed) and angelica (the angelic). He painted only sacred subjects, would never accept money for his pictures, and never commenced them without prayer. He visited Rome at the command of Nicholas V. to decorate the papal chapel. The pope offered to make him archbishop of Florence, a dignity which his humility would not permit him to accept, but which he succeeded in pro- curing for a brother monk. He painted fres- coes in his own monastery and in the church of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, and nu- merous easel pictures, of which the Louvre pos- sesses a noble specimen, the " Coronation of the Virgin." In many details of art he was excelled by his contemporaries ; but, in the language of Mrs. Jameson, "the expression of ecstatic faith and hope, or serene contemplation, has never been placed before us as in his pictures." ANGELINA, an E. county of Texas, bounded N. E. by Angelina river, and S. W. by the Neches; area, 1,059 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 3,985, of whom 742 were colored. The county abounds in heavy timber, oak, pine, beech, holly, hickory, magnolia, sweet gum, sugar maple, ash, sassafras, cane brakes, cypress, mulberry, &c. The soil is black, and in the bottoms sandy. Corn, cotton, sugar cane, rice, and tobacco are the principal products. Large numbers of hogs are raised and sent to market. There are two steam saw mills, but no other manufactories. Petroleum is abundant. Cap- ital, Homer. ANGELL, Joseph K., an American writer on law, born in Providence, R. I., April 30, 1794, died in Boston, May 1, 1857. He graduated at Brown university in 1813, edited the "United States Law Intelligencer and Review" from 1828 to 1831, and was for several years reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of Rhode Island. He published treatises, between 1824 and 1854, on the " Common Law in relation to