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APRÆ SALTANTES, (Lat. i. e. dancing goats,] in meteorology, fiery meteors or exhalations, fometimes feen in the atmosphere. They form inflected lines, refembling in fome measure the caperings of a goat; whence the name.

CAPRALA, an ifle of France, in the Tufcan fea, NE. of Corfica, and in the dept. of Corfica. It is populous, and has a ftrong caftle. It is about 15 miles in circumference. Lon. 11. 5. E. Lat. 43. 15. N.

CAPRAOLA, a town of Italy, 8 miles S. of Viterbo, and 20 N. of Rome. Lon. 13.5. E. Lat. 43. 15. N.

(1.) CAPRIARIA, one of the Zemiti islands, in the Adriatic, about 4 leagues from Italy. It is very small, and uninhabited. Lon. 33. 22. E. from Ferro. Lat. 42. 10. N.

(2.) CAPRARIA, in botany, SWEET-WEED, a genus of the angiofpermia order, belonging to the didynamia clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 40th order, Perfonate. The calyx is quinquepartite; the corolla campanulated, quinquefid, with acute fegments; the capfule bivalved, bilocular, and polyfpermous. There is but one fpecies, viz.

CAPRARIA BIFLORA, a native of the warm parts of America. Being a troublesome weed, and without beauty, it is never cultivated except in botanic gardens for the fake of variety.

CAPRAROLA, one of the moft magnificent palaces in Italy, feated on a hill, in Ronciglione, whofe foot is watered by the Tircia. It was built by cardinal Farnese; and has 5 fronts, in the middie of which is a round court, though all the rooms are square, and well proportioned. It is 27 miles NW. of Rome.

CAPREA, or in ancient geography, an island CAPREÆ, in the Tufcan fea, famous for the retreat of the emperor Tiberius for 7 years, during which he indulged himself in the moft scandalous debaucheries. See TIBERIUS. Before he came hither, Caprese had attracted the notice of Auguftus, as a most eligible retreat, though in fight of populous cities, and almoft in the centre of the empire. His fucceffor preferred it to every other refidence; and in order to vary his plea fares, and enjoy the advantages as well as avoid VOL V. PART I.

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the inconveniences of each revolving feafon, built 12 villas in different fituations, dedicated to the 12 greater gods: the ruins of fome of them are ftill to be feen. See CARRI, N° 1. According to Dion Caffius, this ifland was wild and barren before the Cæfars took it under their immediate protection. The odium attached to the memory of Tiberius proved fatal to his favourite abode; fcarce was his death proclaimed at Rome, when the fenate iffued orders for the demolition of every fabric he had raised on the island, which, by way of difgrace, was thenceforward deftined to be a ftate prifon. The wife and fifter of Commodus were banifhed to its inhospitable rocks, which were foon ftained with their blood. In the middle ages Capreæ became an appendage of the Amalfitan republic, and after the downfal of that state, fell to the duchy of Naples. There stood a pharos on this ifland, which, a few days before the death of Tiberius, was overthrown by an earthquake.

* CAPREOLATE. adj. [from capreolus, a tendril of a vine, Lat.] Such plants as turn, wind, and creep along the ground, by means of their tendrils, as gourds, melons, and cucumbers, are termed, in botany, capreolate plants. Harris.

CAPREOLI, in botany, the tendrils, by which vines, peas, and other creeping plants, faften themfelves to any thing near them.

(1.) CAPREOLUS, in anatomy, the helix, or outer ambit of the ear. See ANATOMY, 549. (2.) CAPREOLUS, in ancient husbandry, a kind of iron hoe with two fangs.

(3.) CAPREOLUs, Elias, a native of Brescia, an excellent civilian and learned hiftorian, who wrote a Hiftory of Brefcia, and other works. He died in 1519.

(1.) CAPRI, an ifland at the entrance of the Gulf of Naples, anciently called CAPREA, 7 miles long and 2 broad. A large portion of its furface is unfit for cultivation; but every spot, that will admit the hoe, is industriously tilled, and richly laden with the best productions of the earth. It exhibits fome relics of its ancient grandeur. Two broken columns fhow the entrance of Tiberius's court; (See CAPREA;) at Santa Maria, there are extenfive vaults and refervoirs; and on an adjacent hill, the remains of a light-house. The island A

is