Aurora.

vated in pots, and require great attention. They are protected from the severe weather of winter, and during the flowering-season, from wind and rain. They ought, however, previous to flowering, to stand in an airy, sunny situation. Their delicacy forms a striking contrast to the natural hardiness of the plant; but few sights are more pleasing than that of a collection of choice auriculas, tastefully arranged. They are propagated by offsets, generally in the latter part of August.-When it is proposed to raise the A. from seed, care ought to be taken to select the finest flowers, which are encouraged to ripen their seeds by exposure to sun and air, hand-glasses being placed over them during heavy rains. The seed is sown either in autumn or spring, generally in boxes placed under shelter, or in a slight hot-bed. The more weakly plants are tended with particular care, as they are generally found to produce the finest flowers.

The name A., originally Latin, is derived from auris, an ear on account of a fancied resemblance of the leaves to the ears of an animal.

AURICULA, a genus, and AURICU'LIDE, a family of gastropod mollusca. They have a spiral shell, covered with a horny epidermis, the first whirl very large and the spire short, the aperture elongated and toothed. They belong to that section of gastropods in which the sexes are united in the individual, and to the same order with the common snails, having respiratory organs adapted for breathing in air, although some of them are capable of subsisting for a considerable time in water. Some of them inhabit fresh-water marshes, and others prefer the vicinity of salt water. They generally belong to warm climates, and some of them attain a large size. Auricula mida, a native of the East Indies, is known to shell collectors by the name of Midas's ear. AURICULAR CONFESSION. See CONFESSION.

AURIC ́ULATE, in botany, a term applied to leaves, stipules, etc., and signifying that they have at the base two small ear-like lobes.

AURIFABER (Lat. for GOLDSCHMIDT), JOANNES, 1515-75; a Lutheran divine, friend and companion of the reformer. He was educated at Wittenberg, became tutor to count Mansfeldt, and in the war of 1544 was with the army as chaplain. Afterwards he lived with Luther as his secretary, and was present at his death. Half of the next year he was in prison with the elector of Saxony, who had been captured by Charles V. He was for some years court preacher at Weimar, and in 1566 was appointed minister of the Lutheran church at Erfurt, holding the place until his death. He collected many of Luther's manuscripts and letters, and assisted in editing them. He also published Luther's Table Talk, in 1566.

AURI'GA, or THE WAGONER; a northern constellation in which is Capella, a very brilliant star of the first magnitude.

A. is

AURILLAC, a t. of France, capital of the dep. of Cantal (Auvergne). situated in a pleasant valley on the banks of the Jourdanne, about 269 m. s. from Paris. It is said to owe its origin to a Benedictine monastery founded in the 9th c. by St. Gerard. The English, in the 14th and 15th centuries, often besieged the town, and it was frequently taken and pillaged during the religious wars in France in the 16th century. The streets are wide, but irregular, and are kept clean by streams supplied by a reservoir above the town and by a canal from the Jourdanne. The neighboring quarries supply slates to cover the houses. The principal buildings of A. are the churches of Notre Dame and St. Gerard, St. Stephen's castle, the theater, college buildings, which contain a valuable public library, and the corn market. There is also a monument erected to the memory of the French philanthropist, M. de Montyon. Paper, jewelry, lace, copper utensils, leather, and beer are the chief industrial products. Pope Sylvester II. was b. at A., and the infamous Carrier of the first French revolution. Pop. '91, 15,824.

AURIOL, a t. in France, in the dep. of Bouches-du-Rhône, 16 m. n. e. of Marseilles; pop. about 2000. The manufacture of flags is a prominent business, and there are coalmines near the town.

AUROCHS, the European bison; a wild animal of the bos family, once plentiful over Europe, but now scarce. The A. was probably contemporary with the mammoth, and it is thought to be the animal described in Caesar's works as abundant in the forests of Gaul. There were two species, bos urus and bos primigenius; and of both fossil remains are found in post-tertiary deposits in Europe and America. It has been suggested that the animal furnished food for prehistoric mankind. The name has been used for the bison (q. v.) still found in Lithuania.

AURORA (styled Eos by the Greeks), the goddess of the dawn, or "morning redness," was the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister of Helios and Selene, and wife of the Titan Astræus. Zephyrus, Boreas, Notus, Hesperus and the other stars were her children. She was described as rising in the morning from her bed in the ocean, borne along on a chariot drawn by the divine steeds Lampus and Phaeton, ascending heaven from the river Oceanus, where she lifted with her "rosy fingers" the curtain of night, and announced the light both to gods and men. Homer frequently describes A. as the goddess of day, and the tragic writers identified A. with Hemera (the day). She was represented as clothed in a rosy yellow robe, with a star shining on her forehead, and a torch in her right hand. She had a passion for mortal youths, and carried off Orion, Cleitus, and Tithonus.

FIG. 4. NORTHERN LIGHTS OBSERVED BY CAPRON ON THE ISLAND OF SKYE, HEBRIDES, SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1874.

BOREALIS.