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Thefe cirri often afford characters of diftincYibn to feveral kinds of fifties, and differ in the feveral fpecies in regard to number, fize, and proportion. As to number; \. in the greater part of fifties there are none. 2. In fome of the gadi, and tome other fifti, there is only one cirrus ; and, 3. They are more than one, as in the mullet, fturgeon, and cyprinus nobilis.
In regard to fituation, they arc in fbme placed on the under jaw, as in the gadi, liggri, &G. 2. In others, they are placed at the angles of the mouth, as in the barbie, the cyprinus, nobilis, &c. and, 3. In fome they are placed both on the up- per and under jaw, as in the filurus, cobitis, &c In regard to their differences in proportion, they are, 1. In moft fifties fmall, and much fhorter than the head, as in the gadi, mullets, &c. 2. They are in fome longer than the whole head, as in the cafe of the two upper cirri of the filu- rus. The ufe that thefe cirri are of to the fiih, is little more known than that of the antenna? of infects. If nature had given them only to thofe fifties which had the eyes placed on the upper part of the head, then they might be fuppofed to ferve to diftinguifh prey at the bottom, while the eyes were directed to fuch as offered itfelf nearer the furface : but as the feveral kinds of fifh which have them are of different kinds} and have their eyes in various directions, this ufe cannot be allotted them. It is poftible they may be of ufe to the fiih, in giving it the firft notice of any diftant motion of the water, which they may perceive by their hanging pofture fooner than any other part, and thus give notice of the neighbourhood of prey, or of the approach of an enemy. Artedi^ Ichthyol.
Cirrus, in antiquity an ornament added to the edges and borders of garments, much in the manner of the fimbria or fringes, only that thefe were fingle, and run along the borders of the drefs; whereas the dfri were knotted together, and hung down from the extremities of the robe, Pit'tfi, Lex. Ant in voc.
Cirrus, among botanifls, expreffes the little fibres which plants fend out from their ftallts, and by which they are attached to other bodies. See Stalk.
CISLEU, the ninth month in the ecclefiaftical year, and the third in the civil or political year among the Hebrews : it an- fwers pretty nearly to our November. Calm Diet. Bib].
CISSAMPELOS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, called by Plumier caa r eba. The characters of the genus, as collected by Lin nseus from that author, are thefe : the flower confifts of four oval petals, which are flat and expanded. The fruit which fucceeds the female flowers is a globofe berrv, con- taining only one cell, with a fingle rugofe feed. ' This fructification is at prefent very little known ; and it is much to bewUhed, that fome accurate obferver would take a ftricter account of it upon the fpot. Plumier, 29. Linnm Gen. Plant p. 517.
CiSSI TEb, in natural hiffory, a name given by the antients to that (pedes of the flinty settles, or eagle-ftone, which is co- vered with the common white coat of the flints. Pliny men- tions it as found principally about Captos, and bein°- exter- nally of a white colour, and rattling when ftiaken.
ClSoUS. This is properly in the Greek writers the name of the ivy. i hey write it*w*ros. But the word xwflo,-, cijlus,
_ when the 8 is changed into an s- by the Cretan and Cyprian dialect, is alfo x&pas, cijj'us.
The commentators on Pliny have been ftrangely confounded, about goats eating ivy, and the ivy of the antients bearino- great red flowers, and inftead of the {linking gum it affords
. with us, yieldingthe fweet labdanum in Cyprus : but all this is reconciled by knowing, that Pliny translated it all from Theophraftus, and miftook the cijjiu in this place of the text to mean ivy, whereas it really means dflus. SeeCiSTUs.
CISSYB1UM, in antiquity, a drinking cup, moft in ufe amono- country people, -it was fo called either becaufe it was made of the wood of ivy, or was ufually crowned with its leaves.
CISTERN (CycL) — Antiently there were cijlerns all over the country in Palestine. There were fome likewife in cities and private houfes. As the cities for the moft part were built on mountains, and the rains fell regularly in Judea at two feafons of the year only, in fpring and autumn, people were obliged to keep water in cijlerns in the country, for the ufe of their
- cattle, and in cities, for the conveniency of the inhabitants.
There are cijlerns of very large dimenfions to be feen ftill at this day in Palestine, fome whereof are an hundred and fifty paces long, and fifty-four wide. There is one to he ken at ' Ramah of two and thirty paces in length, and eight and twenty in width. Wells and cijlerns, fountains and {prints, are generally confounded in the fcripture language. Catmet Diet. Bibl.
If thefarmers of England would fall into the method ufed in Spain, and at Amfterdam, Venice and other places, of laving the rain-water of the whole year, or at leaft fo much of it as would be neceffary, in cijierns, they would have always water for their cattle in the fummer droughts, and many thoufaud acres ot land, now left ufelefs, might be turned to profit. The belt way of preferving the water for the fervice of the houfe, is in cijlerns in the cellars. Thefe may be made with brick or ftone, joined with plaifter of Paris, which will keep out the wet very well ; or with a kind of mortar made of flaked
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lifted lime, with Hnfeed oil, and tow or cotton. A bed of good found clay may be laid at the bottom, and on this the bricks for the floor, and then the walls may be raifed in the fame manner, only leaving fpaces behind them, into which clay is to be rammed in the like manner. Thus it will be a clay afiam, faced with brick ; and the bricks will keep the cla'y moift, and prevent it from cracking, tho' it be not full of wa- ter. This will do in any (hadowy place, as well as in cellars : and thus may a ciftem be made in a garden, in fomefhadv place, and covered over, which may receive the water running from the walks, and will retain it at hand, for the fervice of the garden, all the year.
Where there is want of water for the cattle in the fields, the way is to dig a pond in fome place into which there is a defcent; then cover the bottom and fides with a double coat of tough clay, each fix inches thick, and each very well rammed : then to cover the bottom with large {tones, which will keep the clay moift, and prevent its cracking, when not covered with water. But this is a troublefome thing ; for if there happen to be a crack in any part, it is oftenlbund neceffary to go over the whole work again before the pond will hold' a drop of water.
Another method of making a pond hold water, is to daub it over with clay and mortar mixed together, and then with mortar alone. This has an advantage over the other way, in that if any crack happen, it may be mended by a cement of clean hair and tallow, mixed with flaked lime and the yolks of eggs, well beat together. This applied to the crack, will clofe it fafely, without the neceffity of undoing the whole work, as in the other cafe.
In chalky countries it is common to find a low place on the downs, and digging a hole by way of a pit there, they cover the bottom evenly with the chalk rubbifh, and when it is wet- ted by the rain, they ram it well, and afterwards drive cattle into it, and fold theep in it : the confequence of all which trampling is, that the bottom at length becomes fo firm, that it holds the water perfeflly well. By one or other of thefe means, cijlerns or refervoirs may be made in all countries : and our farmers, if they would carefully try one or the other of them, as their land mod required, would not have fomuch to complain of from droughts. Mortimer's Hufbandry, p. 299.
CISTUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- raders of which are thefe : the Bower is of the rofaceous kind, compofed of feveral petals, arranged in a circular form. The piftil aril'cs from the cup of the flower, and finally be- comes a roundifh or pointed multicapfular fruit, which, when ripe, opens at the top, and generally contains a number of fmall feeds.
The fpecies of dflus enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The larger male dflus, with a roundifh leaf. 2. The larger male dflus, with a longifh leaf. 3. The male dflus, with fhorter leaves. 4. The Portugal dflus, with large hoary leaves. ;. The hall dflus, with long hoary leaves. 6. The male dflus, with curled and undulated leaves. 7. The female, ereft, fage-leav'd dflus, with upright moots. 8. The low' procumbent, fage-leav'd, female dflus. 9. The ladanum dflus of Montpeher. 10. TheSpanifh willow- leav'd ladanum dflus, with white flowers. 1 1 . The Spanifh willow-leav'd lada- num dflus, with white flowers with black fpots. 12. The bay-leav'd ladanum dflus. 1 3. The large ladanum dflus, with leaves like the black poplar. 14. The (mailer ladanum ci/hs, with leaves like the black poplar. 15 The broad-leav'd cretic ladanum dflus. 16. The hairy ladanum dflus. 17. The narrow, olive-leav'd, ladanum dflus 18. The common, narrow leav'd, ladanum dflus. 19 The rough, rofemary- leav'd, ladanum dflus : and, 20. The fmooth, rofemary-leav'd ladanum dflus. Toum.lnlt. p. 259.
The feveral fpecies of this beautiful fhrub are to be propagated by fowing their feeds on a gentle hot bed, or on a warm°bor- der of common rich earth in March. When the plants are grown to be three inches high, they fhould be tranfplanted either into fmall pots, or into a border of rich earth, placed at ten inches diftance. They will require fome fcreenino- from hard weather for the firft winter, and muff be watered a^ times. In the fpring following, they mull be very carefully removed, with as much as poflible of their own earth about them, and be placed w. ere they are to remain. They are very bad plants to remove when old.
They may alfo be propagated by cuttings, planting them in a rich bed, and fhading them with mats, and watering them carefully for two months: they will by ihat time have taken root, and may be treated as the feediing plants of the fame age. Mill Gard. Diet.
Cistus, in the writings of the antient Greeks. The Greeks wrote this word xurflor, djlbus : and, as the word in the Latin tongue is only the Greek name with a Roman termination, it undoubtedly ought to be fpelt dflbus not dflus. The antient writers have been fubjea to many mifreprefentations from the near refemblance of this word iuAs, dflbus, to «K7»os, djfus : the former being the name of the plant we call dflus, a fhrubby herb, with leaves like faTc, and a large flower refembling a rofe ; and the other, the name of the common ivy that climbs upon our walls and trees. Pli- 3 ny
