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CAPULETTI ED I MONTECCHI. 185 CARACARA. in Venice, founded on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. CA'PUT MOR'TUUM (Lat., dead head) . In historical research a term which denotes the residuum of a traditional narrative after all the supernatural or extraoi-dinar}- incidents have been cast aside. What remains may be possible or likely, but rests on no evidence. In chemistry the term was formerly used of the residuum of chemicals after the volatile substances had es- caped. It is still used metaphorically for a thing or institution which has been really de- stroyed, though the form is left, the essential and" valuable elements having been removed. CAPYBARA, kii'pe-ba'ra (Sp., Portug., from the native name) . or Carpincho. A large South American aquatic rodent (Hydroch(Frus cupi- vnra) of the family CaviidiP. It is about four feet long and weighs nearly 100 pounds, thus making it the largest known rodent. It resem- bles a gigantic rough-coated guinea-pig, hav- ing a Iieavj- flat head, with small eyes and ears, and a "blunt muzzle. The short, stout legs have hoof-like claws on the feet; the tail is very short, and the brown hair is scant and bristly. The capybara feeds exclusively on vegetable food, browsing on the grass near the rivers, and often committing great ravages in plantations of sugar-cane. It runs badly, but swims and dives well, and has the power of re- maining under water for seven or eight minutes. It is very inoffensive, easily tamed, and regarded •as stupid. The flesh, except that of old males, is good. The capybara is known throughout Span- ish South America as 'carpincho,' but is called in British Guiana 'water-hog,' ind 'water-horse,' a corruption of the more suitable Dutch icater- haas, i.e. water-hare. Consult Proceedings of Zoolorjicnl Society of London (1894). See Plate of C.WTES, ETC. CARABAO, ka'ra-bil'o. The domestic buffalo of tlie Philippines. See Buffalo, and compare Tamarao. CAR' ABAS, Fr. pron. ka'ra'ba', :MAEQris of. The fortunate but not wholly obedient master of "Puss in Boots," in Perrault's fairy-tale of the latter name. The name has also been used by Dis- raeli, in Vivian Grey, to label a caricature of an obstinate nobleman in contemporary English life. CARAB'ID.a; (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Gk. Kdpa/Sos, Iciiriihos, horned beetle). The largest family of ('olcoptera. See GRorxD-BEETLES. CARABINEERS'. See Carbineers. CARACAL, kar'a-kal (Fr., from Turk, qrira, black -f quhiq. ear). A slender, red-brown cat of Africa and Southern Asia, related to the lynx (q.v.). CAR'ACAL'LA (188-217). Emperor of Rome from 211 to 217. His real name was Bassianus. He was the son of Septimius Severus and .Tulia Domna, and was born at Lujtdunum (Lyons), April 4, A.D. 188. His father playfully nicknamed him CarttraUa, because he was found of wearing a long, hooded mantle, so called in the Gallic lan- guage. In 103 his father became Emperor, and three years later, on the overthrow of Albinus, the last of the rivals to the throne, Caracalla was declared Cwsar, or heir presumptive. In 197 he was made pontifex and co-Emperor in IflS, at the age of ten years, taking the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. At this early pe- riod of his life Caracalla showed no signs of that reckless and brutal nature which characterized his later jears. He married Plantilla, daughter of the pretorian i)refect Plantinus, in 202, and during the rest of his father's reign Caracalla ac- companied him on his expeditions, notably to Britain, where Severus died at Eboraeum (York) in 211. Caracalla now returned to Rome and associated his younger brother, Geta, in th& government ; but, unable to endure an equal, he killed Geta in the very arms of their mother on February 27, 212. and ordered his name to be erased from all public monuments. Caracalla now vented his mad rage on all the friends and adherents of his brother by a wholesale butch- ery, in which the great jurist Papinianus per- ished. At the same time he ordered the death of his wife, the Empress Plantilla. The rest of his reign as sole Emperor was oc- cupied largely with military campaigns on the frontiers ; against the Chatti and Alemanni in Germany (213), the lazyges in Thrace (214), and in the farther East. He was killed on the road to Carrhie, in Mesopotamia, April 8, a.d. 217, at the instigation of ilacrinus, the prefect, who succeeded to the throne. The great Baths of Caracalla — Thermw Antoniniamv — in Rome, of which extensive ruins stand to-day on the Appian Way. were built during his reign. CARACAI/LA, Baths of, or Thekm.e An- TONINIAN.E. Celebrated baths at Rome, of which impressive ruins remain. They were built about A.D. 212, partly on the remains of former build- ings disclosed by recent excavations, and were- completed by Heliogabalus and Severus. The group of buildings consisted of a central struc- ture, containing immense halls, surrounded by gardens and enclosed by a square formed by smaller buildings, the whole covering an area of more than 129,000 square yards. Water for the baths proper was supplied by the Marcian aque- duct. The walls and columns are of immense thickness. The great surface of the ceilings was reduced in weight by the use of pumice-stone in place of bricks; the walls were covered with mar- bles, and the floors with mosaic. Underground passages, extending in all directions, were used by a large body of attendants for the speedy ser- vice of the guests, of whom 1500 could be accom- modated at the same time. The recovery of many celebrated statues shows how lavishly the baths were adorned with works of art. CARACALtr, ka'ra-kli'loo. The capital of the District of Romanati, Rumania. 30 miles southeast of Krajova. It has some fine public buildings and a domestic trade. Population, in 1899, 12,035. CARACARA, kii'ra-kii'ra (imitation of its harsh cry). The Brazilian name of certain large, vulture-like hawks of South and Central America, which have very lonsj. naked legs, the head somewhat crested, and the cheeks bristly, the plumage chiefly black and white, and hand- somely arranged. They walk about on the ground, feeding on carrion, and where food is abundant gather into vast flocks. Of much ser- vice as scavengers, in the cattle-herding regions of South America they have increased greatly and developed many interesting traits. They erect in trees or on cliffs bulky nests of sticks and leaves, and lay only two eggs, heavily blotched and spotted. They constitute a sub-