COCKLE(Cardium), a genus of Acephalous Mollusks belonging to the family Cardiadae, and comprising about 200 species, nearly a third of which are said to occur in the Indian Ocean, while only a few, but these exceedingly abundant in individuals, and widely distributed, are found in northern and temperate latitudes. The shells of cockles are highly convex, and almost invariably show a ridge-and-furrow sculpture, the ridges or ribs being often spiny, and the valves locking closely together. The animal inhabiting the shell is provided with a large, fleshy, and highly elastic foot, by means of which it can rapidly bury itself in the soft muddy sand which it frequents, reappearing above the surface with equal facility. Iu performing those leaps, for which it is remarkable, “the long taper foot,” says Gosse, “is thrust to its utmost, and feels about for some resisting surface, a stone for instance, which it no sooner feels than the hooked point is pressed stiffly against it, the whole foot, by muscular contraction, is made suddenly rigid, and the entire creature—mantle, siphons, foot, shell, and all—is jerked away in an uncouth manner.” Many of the species are of considerable value as articles of food, especially the Common Cockle (Cardium edule), gregarious everywhere in the sandy bays and estuaries around the British coast, from low-water mark to a few fathoms deep, and extending from Iceland to the Canaries, and as far east as the Caspian and Aral Seas, where it occurs in one of its varieties. The shell of the cockle is liable to considerable variation, getting thinner and more elongated posteriorly in sheltered situations and in muddy ground, more convex and thicker when exposed to rougher conditions. They vary also in size from 1 inch to 2⅜ inches ‘ in ...

באשה. This word occurs only in Job xxxi, 40. By the Chaldee it is rendered _noxious herbs_; by Symmachus, ἀτελεσφόρητα, _plants of imperfect fruit_; by the Septuagint, βάτος, _the blackberry bush_; by Castelio, _ebulus_, “dwarf elder;” by Celsius, _aconite_; and by Bishop Stock and Dr. Good, _the night-shade_. M. Michaëlis maintains, after Celsius, that both this word and ֻּבאשִים, Isaiah v, 2, 4, denote the _aconite_, a poisonous plant, growing spontaneously and luxuriantly on sunny hills, such as are used for vineyards. He says that this interpretation is certain, because, as Celsius had observed, ביש, in Arabic, denotes the _aconite_; and he intimates that it best suits Job xxxi, 40, where it is mentioned as growing instead of barley. The word appears to import a weed not only noxious, but of a fetid smell. CŒLO-SYRIA, _hollow_ or _depressed_ Syria, Syria in the vale, 1 Macc. xiii, 10. This name imports the hollow land, or region, situated between two long ridges of mountains; and those mountains have been always understood to be Libanus and Anti-libanus. As these ridges run parallel for many leagues, they contain between them a long, extensive, and extremely fruitful valley.