(from the article "scat") The best-known species, the scat, or argus fish (S. argus;see photograph), is a popular freshwater aquarium fish when small. Scats commonly reach a length of 30 cm (1 foot). The young are colourful little fish with reddish or greenish bodies dotted with black spots, but the adults gradually lose ...
(from the article "pheasant") The argus pheasants, of southeastern Asia, carry long feathers covered with "eyes." Two distinct types are known: the crested argus, or ocellated pheasants (Rheinardia), and the great argus (Argusianus). The great argus of Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo (A. argus) can attain a length of 2 m (6.5 feet). During display ...
council area, western Scotland, extending from the southwestern Grampian Mountains into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and North Channel in ragged peninsulas indented and separated by deepwater lochs (sea inlets). Freshwater lochs (lakes) dot the inland areas. It includes many islands of the Inner Hebrides-notably Mull, Islay, and Jura. ...
leader of Scotland's anti-Royalist party during the English Civil Wars between King Charles I and Parliament. He guided his country to a brief period of independence from political and religious domination by England. [2 Related Articles]
British socialite (b. Dec. 1, 1912, Newton Mearns, Renfrewshire, Scotland--d. July 26, 1993, London, England), was an elegant society hostess and one of Britain's most celebrated beauties, but she scandalized the nation when she became embroiled in a prolonged (1959-63), sensational divorce from her second husband, Ian Campbell, the 11th ...
historic county in western Scotland. Argyllshire lies mainly within the Argyll and Bute council area, but northern Argyllshire extends as far as Lochs Shiel, Eil, and Leven in southern Highland council area. [1 Related Articles]
(from the article "ancient Greek civilization") ...of Alexander the Great, the Greek Eumenes of Cardia, was in effect traded by his troops to a rival for gain. Already under Alexander the elite troops known as "Silver Shields," or argyraspides, had taken their name from the conquered Persian treasure of precious metal.
heavy, dark sulfosalt mineral, a silver and germanium sulfide (Ag8GeS6), in which the element germanium was discovered (1886). It is a relatively scarce mineral found in sulfide veins in Germany and in Bolivia. It forms a solid solution series with canfieldite in which tin replaces germanium in the crystal structure, ...
(from the article "Barnes, Albert C.") American inventor of the antiseptic Argyrol (a mild silver protein) and noted art collector, whose collection resides in the Barnes Foundation Galleries in Merion, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia.
(from the article "South Asian arts") ...by brackets projecting from the wall) arches are Indian in character. The Qutb Minar, a tall (288 feet high), fluted tower provided with balconies, stood outside this mosque. The Arhai-din-ka-jhompra mosque (c. 1119), built at Ajmer, was similar to the Delhi mosque, the maqsurah consisting of engrailed (sides...
in Buddhism, a perfected person, one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nirvana (spiritual enlightenment). The arhat, having freed himself from the bonds of desire, will not be reborn. [5 Related Articles]
(from the article "inland water ecosystem") ...or temporary lakes that become saline as evaporation concentrates dissolved salts that either have been introduced by rainwater or have been leached out of substrata within the drainage basin. In arheic systems water falls unpredictably in small amounts and follows haphazard drainage patterns. Apart from rivers that arise outside the ...
(from the article "Central American and northern Andean Indian") ...by the men. Improvements on the basic slash-and-burn pattern have been rare throughout the world, but in this area they included irrigation, and even occasional terracing, by the Antillean Arawak, Arhuaco, Chibcha, Jirajara, Paez, and Timote, all of whom showed evidence of other cultural elaborations as well. In contrast with ...
city, eastern Jutland, Denmark. It lies along Arhus Bay and has an extensive harbour. Its origin is unknown, although traces of a Viking settlement have been found near the outflow of the now-covered Arhus stream. The oldest existing charter for the town (1441) refers to a still-earlier charter. Arhus became ...
(from the article "environmental law") ...and North America by laws that mandate extensive public access to government information on the environment. Similar measures at the international level include the Rio Declaration and the 1998 Arhus Convention, which committed the 40 European signatory states to increase the environmental information available to the public and to enhance ...
(from the article "annelid") ...or marine inhabitants; size, minute to 20 cm; examples of genera: Glossisphonia, Piscicola, Pontobdella.Pharynx with 3 toothed jaws or none, noneversible; terrestrial or freshwater; bloodsuckers or carnivorous; size, minute to 20 cm; examples of genera: ...Hirudo
(from the article "Anawrahta") Anawrahta was converted to Theravada Buddhism by a Mon monk, Shin Arahan. As king, Anawrahta strove to convert his people from the influence of the Ari, a Mahayana Tantric Buddhist sect that was at that time predominant in central Myanmar. Primarily through his efforts, Theravada Buddhism became the dominant religion ...
Icelandic chieftain, priest, and historian whose Islendingabok (Libellus Islandorum; The Book of the Icelanders) is the first history of Iceland written in the vernacular. Composed before 1133 and covering the period from the settlement of Iceland up to 1120, it includes information on the founding of the Althing (parliament) and ... [3 Related Articles]
(from the article "Iran, ancient") Soon afterward (c. 290-280 BC) the two eastern provinces of Margiana and Aria suffered an invasion by nomads. But the invasion was repelled, and the nomads were pushed back beyond the Jaxartes. Demodamas, a general to the first two Seleucid kings, crossed the river and even put up altars to ...
solo song with instrumental accompaniment, an important element of opera but also found extensively in cantatas and oratorios. The term originated in Italy in the 16th century and first gained currency after 1602, when Giulio Caccini published Le nuove musiche (The New Music), a collection of solo songs with continuo ... [2 Related Articles]
in Greek mythology, daughter of Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. She fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth. ...
(from the article "Patarine") ...and marriage; the group later widened its attack to oppose generally the papacy's moral corruption and temporal powers. The Patarine movement was so called because, under the leadership of Arialdus (Arialdo), a deacon of Milan, its members used to assemble in the Pataria, or ragmen's quarter of the city (pates ...
family of launch vehicles developed as a means of independent access to space for the European Space Agency (ESA) and as a launcher for commercial payloads. Among the many European satellites launched by Ariane have been Giotto, the probe to Halley's Comet; Hipparcos, the stellar distance-measuring satellite; Rosetta, a comet ... [6 Related Articles]
(from the article "Physical Sciences") Europe's most powerful rocket to date, the Ariane 5 ECA, became operational in 2005, with launches on February 12 and November 16. Using liquid-propellant engines and solid-propellant boosters, it was capable of lifting a 9,600-kg (21,000-lb) payload to geostationary transfer orbit. The premier flight of the Ariane 5 ECA, in ...
(from the article "launch vehicle") First to take advantage of this opportunity was Europe, which formed the Arianespace Corporation to market Ariane launches to commercial customers. Arianespace was a mixed public-private corporation with close ties to the French government; the French space agency was a major shareholder.
a Christian heresy first proposed early in the 4th century by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. Arius' basic premise was the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot be God. ... [49 Related Articles]
town, Campania regione, southern Italy. It is situated on a rocky eminence in the Apennines, east of Benevento, in a fertile district that has often been devastated by earthquakes. There is a castle of Norman origin and a 16th-century cathedral in Ariano Irpino. Cave dwellings can still be seen in ...
(from the article "Roger II") After the pacification of South Italy, the king promulgated in 1140 at the so-called Assizes of Ariano a corpus of law covering every aspect of his rule. He then returned to Palermo, which he seldom left again. There he spent his last 15 years in the most intellectual court of ...
(from the article "Anatolia") In the middle of the 3rd century, Cappadocia became an independent kingdom, and the rulers of Pergamum on the Aegean coast began to enlarge their territory. The Cappadocian leader Ariaramnes (c. 250-225) carved out a kingdom by incorporating into his own possessions the territory of other local dynasts. Pergamum, originally ...
Spanish soldier and colonial administrator who led the first Spanish expedition to found permanent colonies on the American mainland. [5 Related Articles]
Spanish-American explorer, soldier, and lieutenant governor (1591-93) and governor (1602-09, 1614-18) of the Spanish district of Rio de la Plata in South America.
(from the article "Panama") ...to the traditional political elites. The United States acquiesced and promptly recognized as president the minister to Washington, Ricardo Alfaro, who presided over orderly elections in 1932, when Harmodio Arias Madrid (brother of Arnulfo) was the winner.
economist and author whose poem Oda a la patria (1832; "Ode to the Fatherland") marked the renaissance of Catalan literature in the 19th century in Spain.
(from the article "Pacific, War of the") Chile was also to occupy the provinces of Tacna and Arica for 10 years, after which a plebiscite was to be held to determine their nationality. But the two countries failed for decades to agree on what terms the plebiscite was to be conducted. This diplomatic dispute over Tacna and ...
city, northern Chile. The city lies along the Pacific coast, at the foot of El Morro (a precipitous headland), and is fringed on its southern edge by sand dunes of the rainless Atacama Desert. Arica is situated near the Peruvian border and is the northernmost Chilean seaport. Founded as San ... [4 Related Articles]
(from the article "Italy") When Charlemagne conquered central and northern Italy, Duke Arichis II of Benevento (758-787) responded by titling himself prince and claiming the legitimist tradition of the Lombards. Lombard princes then ruled in the south for 300 years, until the Norman conquest. Arichis and his son Grimoald III (787-806) were powerful rulers ...
(from the article "Abu Zaby") ...Abu Zaby has lent some of its wealth to its less-prosperous sister states in the United Arab Emirates, to other countries in the Arab world, and to developing countries elsewhere. An Arid Lands Research Centre was founded at Al-'Ayn in the interior to seek improved methods of vegetable growing. Abu ...
(from the article "valley") In arid regions moisture conditions are inadequate to support abundant vegetative cover of the land surface. As a result, the land is subjected to intense fluvial, eolian, and mass-wasting processes. The importance of fluvial action may seem ironic for an arid region. Although most arid regions receive little rainfall, the ...
one of the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Aridisols are dry, desertlike soils that have low organic content and are sparsely vegetated by drought- or salt-tolerant plants. (Not included in this order are soils located in polar regions or high-elevation settings.) Dry climate and low humus content ... [2 Related Articles]
(from the article "climate") The average relative humidity for July reveals the humidity provinces of the Northern Hemisphere when aridity is at a maximum. At other times the relative humidity generally will be higher. The humidities over the Southern Hemisphere in July indicate the humidities that comparable regions in the Northern Hemisphere will attain ...
