which with a length of 214 ft. has a diameter of only a quarter of an inch. One of the most remarkable characters of the genus Caecilia, which it shares with about two-thirds of the known genera of the order, is the presence of thin, cycloid, imbricate scales imbedded in the skin, a character only to be detected by raising the epidermis near the dermal folds, which more or less completely encircle the body. This feature, unique among living Batrachians, is probably directly inherited from the scaly Stegocephalia, a view which is further strengthened by the similarity of structure of these scales in both groups, which the histological investigations of H. Credner have revealed. The skull is well ossified and contains a greater number of bones than occur in any other living Batrachian. There is therefore strong reason for tracing the Caecilians directly from the Stegocephalia, as was the view of T. H. Huxley and of R. Wiedersheim, since supported by H. Gadow and by J. S. Kingsley. E. D. Cope had advocated the abolition of the order Apoda and the incorporation of the Caecilians among the Urodela or Caudata in the vicinity of the Amphiumidae, of which he regarded them as further degraded descendants; and this opinion, which was supported by very feeble and partly erroneous arguments, has unfortunately received the support of the two great authorities, P. and F. Sarasin, to whom we are indebted for our first information on the breeding habits and development of these Batrachians.
The knowledge of species of Caecilians has made rapid progress, and we are now acquainted with about fifty, which are referred to twenty-one genera. The principal characters on which these genera are founded reside in the presence or absence of scales, the presence or absence of eyes, the presence of one or of two series of teeth in the lower jaw, the structure of the tentacle (representing the so-called “balancers” of Urodele larvae) on the side of the snout, and the presence or absence of a vacuity between the parietal and squamosal bones of the skull. Of these twenty-one genera six are peculiar to tropical Africa, one to the Seychelles, four to south-eastern Asia, eight to Central and South America, one occurs in both continental Africa and the Seychelles, and one is common to Africa and South America.
These Batrachians are found in damp situations, usually in soft mud. The complete development of Ichthyophis glutinosus has been observed in Ceylon by P. and F. Sarasin. The eggs, forming a rosary-like string, are very large, and deposited in a burrow near the water. The female protects them by coiling herself round the egg-mass, which the young do not leave till after the loss of the very large external gills (one on each side); they then lead an aquatic life, and are provided with an opening, or spiraculum, on each side of the neck. In these larvae the head is fish-like, provided with much-developed labial lobes, with the eyes much more distinct than in the perfect animal; the tail, which is quite rudimentary in all Caecilians, is very distinct, strongly compressed, and bordered above and beneath by a dermal fold.
In Hypogeophis, a Caecilian from the Seychelles studied by A. Brauer, the development resembles that of Ichthyophis, but there is no aquatic larval stage. The young leaves the egg in the perfect condition, and at once leads a terrestrial life like its parents. In accordance with this abbreviated development, the caudal membranous crest does not exist, and the branchial aperture closes as soon as the external gills disappear.
In the South American Typhlonectes, and in the Dermophis from the Island of St Thomé, West Africa, the young are brought forth alive, in the former as larvae with external gills, and in the latter in the perfect air-breathing condition.
References.—R. Wiedersheim, Anatomie der Gymnophionen (Jena, 1879), 4to; G. A. Boulenger, “Synopsis of the Genera and Species,” P.Z.S., 1895, p. 401; R. Greeff, “Über Siphonops thomensis,” Sizb. Ges. Naturw. (Marburg, 1884), p. 15; P. and F. Sarasin, Naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen auf Ceylon, ii. (Wiesbaden, 1887–1890), 4to; A. Brauer, “Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Entwicklungsgeschichte und der Anatomie der Gymnophionen,” Zool. Jahrb. Ana. x., 1897, p. 389, xii., 1898, p. 477, and xvii., 1904, Suppl. p. 381; E. A. Göldi, “Entwicklung von Siphonops annulatus,” Zool. Jahrb. Syst. xii., 1899, p. 170; J. S. Kingsley, “The systematic Position of the Caecilians,” Tufts Coll. Stud. vii., 1902, p. 323. (G. A. B.)
CAECILIA, VIA, an ancient highroad of Italy, which diverged from the Via Salaria at the 35th m. from Rome, and ran by Amiternum to the Adriatic coast, passing probably by Hadria. A branch ran to Interamna Praetuttiorum (Teramo) and thence probably to the sea at Castrum Novum (Giulianova), a distance of about 151 m. from Rome. It was probably constructed by L. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus (consul in 117 B.C.).
See C. Hülsen in Notizie degli Scavi (1896), 87 seq. N. Persichetti in Römische Mitteilungen (1898), 193 seq.; (1902), 277 seq.
CAECILIUS, of Calacte (Καλὴ Ἀκτή) in Sicily, Greek rhetorician, flourished at Rome during the reign of Augustus. Originally called Archagathus, he took the name of Caecilius from his patron, one of the Metelli. According to Suidas, he was by birth a Jew. Next to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, he was the most important critic and rhetorician of the Augustan age. Only fragments are extant of his numerous and important works, among which may be mentioned: On the Style of the Ten Orators (including their lives and a critical examination of their works), the basis of the pseudo-Plutarchian treatise of the same name, in which Caecilius is frequently referred to; On the Sublime, attacked by (?) Longinus in his essay on the same subject (see L. Martens, De Libello Περὶ ὕψους, 1877); History of the Servile Wars, or slave risings in Sicily, the local interest of which would naturally appeal to the author; On Rhetoric and Rhetorical Figures; an Alphabetical Selection of Phrases, intended to serve as a guide to the acquirement of a pure Attic style—the first example of an Atticist lexicon, mentioned by Suidas in the preface to his lexicon as one of his authorities; Against the Phrygians, probably an attack on the florid style of the Asiatic school of rhetoric.
The fragments have been collected and edited by T. Burckhardt (1863), and E. Ofenloch (1907); some in C. W. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, iii.; C. Bursian’s Jahresbericht . . . der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, xxiii. (1896), contains full notices of recent works on Caecilius, by C. Hammer; F. Blass, Griechische Beredsamkeit von Alexander bis auf Augustus (1865), treats of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Caecilius together; see also J. Brzoska in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie (1897).
CAECILIUS STATIUS, or Statius Caecilius, Roman comic poet, contemporary and intimate friend of Ennius, died in 168 (or 166) B.C. He was born in the territory of the Insubrian Gauls, and was probably taken as a prisoner to Rome (c. 200), during the great Gallic war. Originally a slave, he assumed the name of Caecilius from his patron, probably one of the Metelli. He supported himself by adapting Greek plays for the Roman stage from the new comedy writers, especially Menander. If the statement in the life of Terence by Suetonius is correct and the reading sound, Caecilius’s judgment was so esteemed that he was ordered to hear Terence’s Andria (exhibited 166 B.C.) read and to pronounce an opinion upon it. After several failures Caecilius gained a high reputation. Volcacius Sedigitus, the dramatic critic, places him first amongst the comic poets; Varro credits him with pathos and skill in the construction of his plots; Horace (Epistles, ii. 1. 59) contrasts his dignity with the art of Terence. Quintilian (Inst. Orat., x. 1. 99) speaks somewhat disparagingly of him, and Cicero, although he admits with some hesitation that Caecilius may have been the chief of the comic poets (De Optimo Genere Oratorum, 1), considers him inferior to Terence in style and Latinity (Ad Att. vii. 3), as was only natural, considering his foreign extraction. The fact that his plays could be referred to by name alone without any indication of the author (Cicero, De Finibus, ii. 7) is sufficient proof of their widespread popularity. Caecilius holds a place between Plautus and Terence in his treatment of the Greek originals; he did not, like Plautus, confound things Greek and Roman, nor, like Terence, eliminate everything that could not be romanized.
The fragments of his plays are chiefly preserved in Aulus Gellius, who cites several passages from the Plocium (necklace) together with the original Greek of Menander. The translation which is diffuse and by no means close, fails to reproduce the spirit of the original. Fragments in Ribbeck, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta (1898); see also W. S. Teuffel, Caecilius Statius, &c. (1858); Mommsen, Hist. of Rome (Eng. tr.), bk. iii. ch. 14; F. Skutsch in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie (1897).
