QUADEia^ 393 QUAIN QUADRIGA, in Roman antiquities, a two-wheeled car or chariot drawn by four horses, harnessed all abreast. In monumental work it is the figure, as thus described, surmounting an arch or main structure. QTJADRILATEHAX, the name given in history to the four fortresses of north Italy — Mantu^, Verona, Peschi- era, and Legnago — which form a sort of outwork to the bastion of the mountains of the Tyrol, and divide the N. plain of the Po into two sections by a most pow- erful barrier. QTTADIIILLE, a dance consisting of five figures or movements, executed by four sets of couples, each forming the side of a square. Also, the music com- posed for such a dance; and, a game of cards played by four persons vnth 40 cards, the tens, nines, and eights being thrown out from an ordinary pack. QTTADROON, or QTJAE-TERON, a person who is one-quarter negro and three-quarters white; that is, one of whose grandparents was white and the other negro; and one of whose immediate parents was white and the other mulatto. QTTADRTJMANA, in zoology, an order of mammalia, founded by Cuvier, and containing the monkeys, apes, baboons, and lemurs. QUADRUPED, the name popularly applied to those higher vertebrate ani- mals which possess four developed limbs. The name is usually restricted to four- footed mammals. QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE, an alli- ance, so called from the number of the contracting parties, concluded in 1718 between Great Britain, France, and Aus- tria, and acceded to by Holland in 1719, for the maintenance of the peace of Utrecht. The occasion of the alliance was the seizure by Spain of Sardinia in 1717, and Sicily in 1718, both of which she was forced to give up. Another quadruple alliance was that of Austria, Russia, Great Britain, and Prussia, in 1814, originating in the coalition which had effected the dissolution of the French empire. QU.ffiSTOR, in Roman history, two qusestores parricidii, who acted as public prosecutors in cases of murder, or any capital offense, existed in Rome dui-ing the period of the kings. Two qnsestores elassici, who had charge of the public money, were first appointed about 485 B. c. The number was doubled B. c. 421, and it was decided that they should be chosen from the patricians and the plebeians. It was not, however, till 409 B. c. that a plebeian was elected. They also had chargfe of the funds of the army, to which they were paymasters. The number of quaestors was increased to eight 265 B. c Sylla raised the number to 20, and Julius Caesar to 40. QUAGGA, Equus (Asinus, Gray) quagga, a striped equine form, from South Africa, now nearly extinct. Height at shoulders about four feet; striped only on head, neck, and shoul- ders; prevailing color bro^vn; abdomen, legs, and part of tail whitish-gi-ay. _ QUAIL, the genus Coturnix, espe- cially C. communis, or dactylisonans, the latter name having reference to the peculiar dactylic call of the male, which has given rise to the provincial name of wet-my-lips, wet-my-feet, from a sup- posed similarity of sound. It is widely distributed over the Eastern Hemi- QUAIL sphere, visiting Europe in early summer and returning S. in the autumn, when immense numbers are caught and fat- tened for the market, as their flesh is much esteemed. Length about seven inches, general color reddish-brown. They nest on the ground, laying from 9 to 15 pyriform yellowish-white eggs, blotched with dark-brown. QUAIN, a family of eminent medical men. (1) Jones Quain, born in November, 1796, in Mallow, Ireland, studied medicine at Dublin and Paris, and in 1829 was appointed lecturer on anatomy and physiology in the Alders- gate School of Medicine, London. Two years later he was made Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at London Uni-
