[1] _Jökull_, plural _jöklar_, Icel. snowfield, glacier.
[2] _Flói_, bay; _fjörðr_, fjord.
[3] _Vatn_, lake.
[4] See Th. Thoroddsen, "Explorations in Iceland during the years
1881-1898," _Geographical Journal_, vol. xiii. (1899), pp. 251-274,
480-513, with map.
[5] For the periods succeeding the union, Danish state papers and the
_History_ of Finn Jonsson are the best authority.
[6] Many of these poems were Englished in prose by the translator of
Mallet, by B. Thorpe in his _Sæmund's Edda_, and two or three by
Messrs Morris and Magnussen, as appendices to their translation of
_Volsunga Saga_. Earlier translations in verse are those in Dryden's
_Miscellany_ (vol. vi), A. Cottle's _Edda_, Mathias's _Translations_,
and W. Herbert's _Old Icelandic Poetry_. Gray's versions of
_Darradar-liod_ and _Vegtamskviða_ are well known.
[7] E.g. "The Battle of the Plains of Death," a burlesque on the
battle of Solferino.
ICELAND MOSS, a lichen (_Cetraria islandica_) whose erect or ascending
foliaceous habit gives it something of the appearance of a moss, whence
probably the name. It is often of a pale chestnut colour, but varies
considerably, being sometimes almost entirely greyish white; and grows
to a height of from 3 to 4 in., the branches being channelled or rolled
into tubes, which terminate in flattened lobes with fringed edges. It
grows abundantly in the mountainous regions of northern countries, and
it is specially characteristic of the lava slopes and plains of the west
and north of Iceland. It is found on the mountains of north Wales, north
England, Scotland and south-west Ireland. As met with in commerce it is
a light-grey harsh cartilaginous body, almost destitute of colour, and
having a slightly bitter taste. It contains about 70% of lichenin or
lichen-starch, a body isomeric with common starch, but wanting any
appearance of structure. It also yields a peculiar modification of
chlorophyll, called thallochlor, fumaric acid, licheno-stearic acid and
cetraric acid, to which last it owes its bitter taste. It forms a
nutritious and easily digested amylaceous food, being used in place of
starch in some preparations of cocoa. It is not, however, in great
request, and even in Iceland it is only habitually resorted to in
seasons of scarcity. Cetraric acid or cetrarin, a white
micro-crystalline powder with a bitter taste, is readily soluble in
alcohol, and slightly soluble in water and ether. It has been
recommended for medicinal use, in doses of 2 to 4 grains, as a bitter
tonic and aperient.
ICE-PLANT, the popular name for _Mesembryanthemum crystallinum_, a hardy
annual most effective for rockwork. It is a low-growing spreading
herbaceous plant with the fleshy stem and leaves covered with large
glittering papillae which give it the appearance of being coated with
ice. It is a dry-country plant, a native of Greece and other parts of
the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands, South Africa and
California. _Mesembryanthemum_ is a large genus (containing about 300
species) of erect or prostrate fleshy herbs or low shrubs, mostly
natives of South Africa, and rarely hardy in the British Isles where
they are mostly grown as greenhouse plants. They bear conspicuous white,
yellow or red flowers with many petals inserted in the calyx-tube. The
thick fleshy leaves are very variable in shape, and often have spiny
rigid hairs on the margin. They are essentially sun-loving plants. The
best-known member of the genus is _M. cordifolium, var. variegatum_,
with heart-shaped green and silvery leaves and bright rosy-purple
flowers. It is extensively used for edging flower-beds and borders
during the summer months.
ICE-YACHTING, the sport of sailing and racing ice-boats. It is practised
in Great Britain, Norway and Sweden, to some extent, and is very popular
in Holland and on the Gulf of Finland, but its highest development is in
the United States and Canada. The Dutch ice-yacht is a flat-bottomed
boat resting crossways upon a planking about three feet wide and sixteen
long, to which are affixed four steel runners, one each at bow, stern
and each end of the planking. The rudder is a fifth runner fixed to a
tiller. Heavy mainsails and jibs are generally used and the boat is
built more for safety than for speed. The ice-boat of the Gulf of
Finland is a V-shaped frame with a heavy plank running from bow to
stern, in which the mast is stepped. The stern or steering runner is
worked by a tiller or wheel. The sail is a large lug and the boom and
gaff are attached to the mast by travellers. The passengers sit upon
planks or rope netting. The Russian boats are faster than the Dutch.
In 1790 ice-yachting was in vogue on the Hudson river, its headquarters
being at Poughkeepsie, New York. The type was a square box on three
runners, the two forward ones being nailed to the box and the third
acting as a rudder operated by a tiller. The sail was a flatheaded
sprit. This primitive style generally obtained until 1853, when
triangular frames with "boxes" for the crew aft and jib and mainsail rig
were introduced. A heavy, hard-riding type soon developed, with short
gaffs, low sails, large jibs and booms extending far over the stern. It
was over-canvassed and the mast was stepped directly over the
runner-plank, bringing the centre of sail-balance so far aft that the
boats were apt to run away, and the over-canvassing frequently caused
the windward runner to swing up into the air to a dangerous height. The
largest and fastest example of this type, which prevailed until 1879,
was Commodore J. A. Roosevelt's first "Icicle," which measured 69 ft.
over all and carried 1070 sq. ft. of canvas. In 1879 Mr H. Relyea built
the "Robert Scott," which had a single backbone and wire guy-ropes, and
it became the model for all Hudson river ice-yachts. Masts were now
stepped farther forward, jibs were shortened, booms cut down, and the
centre of sail-balance was brought more inboard and higher up, causing
the centres of effort and resistance to come more in harmony. The
shallow steering-box became elliptical. In 1881 occurred the first race
for the American Challenge Pennant, which represents the championship of
the Hudson river, the clubs competing including the Hudson river, North
Shrewsbury, Orange lake, Newburgh and Carthage Ice-Yacht Clubs. The
races are usually sailed five times round a triangle of which each leg
measures one mile, at least two of the legs being to windward.
Ice-yachts are divided into four classes, carrying respectively 600 sq.
ft. of canvas or more, between 450 and 600, between 300 and 450, and
less than 300 sq. ft. Ice-yachting is very popular on the Great Lakes,
both in the United States and Canada, the Kingston (Ontario) Club having
a fleet of over 25 sail. Other important centres of the sport are Lakes
Minnetonka and White Bear in Minnesota, Lakes Winnebago and Pepin in
Wisconsin, Bar Harbor lake in Maine, the St Lawrence river, Quinte Bay
and Lake Champlain.
A modern ice-yacht is made of a single-piece backbone the entire length
of the boat, and a runner-plank upon which it rests at right angles, the
two forming a kite-shaped frame. The best woods for these pieces are
basswood, butternut and pine. They are cut from the log in such a way
that the heart of the timber expands, giving the planks a permanent
curve, which, in the finished boat, is turned upward. The two forward
runners, usually made of soft cast iron and about 2 ft. 7 in. long and
2½ in. high, are set into oak frames a little over 5 ft. long and 5 in.
high. The runners have a cutting edge of 90%, though a V-shaped edge is
often preferred for racing. The rudder is a runner about 3 ft. 7 in.
long, worked by a tiller, sometimes made very long, 7½ ft. not being
uncommon. This enables the helmsman to lie in the box at full length and
steer with his feet, leaving his hands free to tend the sheet. Masts and
spars are generally made hollow for racing-yachts and the rigging is
pliable steel wire. The sails are of 10-oz. duck for a boat carrying 400
sq. ft. of canvas. They have very high peaks, short hoists and long
booms. The mainsail and jib rig is general, but a double-masted lateen
rig has been found advantageous. The foremost ice-yacht builder of
America is G. E. Buckhout of Poughkeepsie.
An ice-yacht about 40 ft. in length will carry 6 or 7 passengers or
crew, who are distributed in such a manner as to preserve the balance of
the boat. In a good breeze the crew lie out on the windward side of the
runner-plank to balance the boat and reduce the pressure on the leeward
runner. A course of 20 m. with many turns has been sailed on the Hudson
in less than 48 minutes, the record for a measured mile with flying
start being at the rate of about 72 m. an hour. In a high wind, however,
ice-yachts often move at the rate of 85 and even 90 m. an hour.
Several of the laws of ice navigation seem marvellous to the
uninitiated. Commodore Irving Grinnell, who has made a scientific study
of the sport, says: "The two marked peculiarities of ice-yachting which
cause it to differ materially from yachting on the sea are: (1) Sailing
faster than the wind. (2) Sheets flat aft under all circumstances." Mr
H. A. Buck, in the "Badminton Library," _Skating, Curling, Tobogganing_,
&c., thus explains these paradoxes. An ice-boat sails faster than the
wind because she invariably sails at some angle to it. The momentum is
increased by every puff of wind striking the sails obliquely, until it
is finally equalled by the increase of friction engendered. Thus the
continued bursts of wind against the sails cause a greater accumulation
of speed in the ice-yacht than is possessed by the wind itself. When the
boat sails directly before the wind she is, like a balloon, at its
mercy, and thus does not sail faster than the wind. The ice-yacht always
sails with its sheets flat aft, because the greater speed of the boat
changes the angle at which the wind strikes the sail from that at which
it would strike if the yacht were stationary to such a degree that, in
whatever direction the yacht is sailing, the result is always the same
as if the yacht were close-hauled to the wind. It follows that the yacht
is actually overhauling the wind, and her canvas shivers as if in the
wind's eye. When eased off her momentum becomes less and less until it
drops to the velocity of the wind, when she can readily be stopped by
being spun round and brought head to the wind. The latter method is one
way of "coming to," instead of luffing up in the usual way from a beam
wind. In beating to windward an ice-boat is handled like a water yacht,
though she points more closely.
On the bays near New York a peculiar kind of ice-boat has developed,
called _scooter_, which may be described as a toboggan with a sail. A
typical scooter is about 15 ft. long with an extreme beam of 5 ft.,
perfectly oval in form and flat. It has mainsail and jib carried on a
mast 9 or 10 ft. long and set well aft, and is provided with two long
parallel metal runners. There is no rudder, the scooter being steered
entirely by trimming the sails, particularly the jib. As the craft is
flat and buoyant it sails well in water, and can thus be used on very
thin ice without danger. A speed of 50 m. an hour has been attained by a
scooter (see _Outing_ for March 1905).
See _Ice Sports_, in the "Isthmian Library"; _Skating, Curling,
Tobogganing, &c._ in the "Badminton Library."
I-CH'ANG (YI-CH'ANG, anciently known as _Yi-ling_), a town of China in
the province of Hu-peh, one of the four ports opened to foreign trade by
treaty in 1877. It is situated in 30° 42´ N. and (approximately) 111°
20´ E., on the Yangtsze-Kiang, 1000 m. from Shanghai. Built on the left
bank of the river where it escapes from the ravines and gorges which for
350 m. have imprisoned its channel, I-ch'ang is exposed to considerable
risk of floods; in 1870 the waters rose 20 ft. in one day, and the town
had many of its houses and about half of its wall swept away. The first
English vessels to ascend the river as far as I-ch'ang were those of
Admiral Sir James Hope's expedition in 1861. All cargo to or from
Szech'uen is here transhipped from steamer to junk, or _vice versâ_.
About 10 m. above I-ch'ang the famed scenery of the Yangtsze gorges
begins. Through these the great river runs in a series of rapids, which
make navigation by vessels of any size extremely difficult. A very large
trade, nevertheless, is carried on by this route between Chungk'ing and
I-ch'ang. As a local centre of distribution this port is of no great
consequence, the transhipment trade with Szech'uen being almost its sole
business. The population is estimated at 35,000. The number of foreign
residents is very small, trade being carried on by Chinese agents.
Before the anti-opium campaign of 1906 (see CHINA) opium was much grown.
The trade of the port amounted in 1899 to £531,229, and in 1904 to
£424,442, the principal import being cotton yarn and the principal
export opium.
ICHNEUMON (Gr. [Greek: ichneumôn], from [Greek: ichneuein], to track
out), the common name of the North African representative of a number of
small weasel-shaped mammals belonging to the carnivorous family
_Viverridae_; the Indian representatives of the group being known as
mongooses. A large number of species of the type genus are known, and
range over southern Asia and all Africa, the typical _Herpestes
ichneumon_ also occurring in the south of Spain. The latter is an
inhabitant of Egypt and the north of Africa, where it is known to
foreign residents as "Pharaoh's rat." It is covered with long harsh fur
of a tawny-grey colour, darker on the head and along the middle of the
back, its legs reddish and its feet and tail black. It lives largely on
rats and mice, birds and reptiles, and for this reason it is
domesticated. It is, however, fond of poultry and their eggs, and its
depredations among fowls detract from its merits as a vermin-killer.
During the inundations of the Nile it is said to approach the
habitations of man, but at other seasons it keeps to the fields and to
the banks of the river. The Indian mongoose (_H. mungo_) is considerably
smaller than the Egyptian animal, with fur of a pale-grey colour, the
hairs being largely white-ringed, while the cheeks and throat are more
or less reddish. Like the former it is frequently domesticated. It is
especially serviceable in India as a serpent-killer, destroying not only
the eggs and young of these creatures, but killing the most venomous
adult snakes. The fact that it survives those encounters has led to the
belief that it either enjoys immunity from the effects of snake poison,
or that after being bitten it has recourse, as the Hindus maintain, to
the root of a plant as an antidote. It has been found, however, that
when actually bitten it falls a victim to the poison as rapidly as other
mammals, while there is no evidence of its seeking a vegetable antidote.
The truth seems to be that the mongoose, by its exceeding agility and
quickness of eye, avoids the fangs of the snake while fixing its own
teeth in the back of the reptile's neck. Moreover, when excited, the
mongoose erects its long stiff hair, and it must be very difficult for a
snake to drive its fangs through this and the thick skin which all the
members of the genus possess. The mongoose never hesitates to attack a
snake; the moment he sees his enemy, "his whole nature," writes a
spectator of one of those fights, "appears to be changed. His fur stands
on end, and he presents the incarnation of intense rage. The snake
invariably attempts to escape, but, finding it impossible to evade the
rapid onslaught of the mongoose, raises his crest and lashes out
fiercely at his little persecutor, who seems to delight in dodging out
of the way just in time. This goes on until the mongoose sees his
opportunity, when like lightning he rushes in and seizes the snake with
his teeth by the back of the neck close to the head, shaking him as a
terrier does a rat. These tactics are repeated until the snake is
killed." The mongoose is equally dexterous in killing rats and other
four-footed vermin.
[Illustration: Egyptian Ichneumon (_Herpestes ichneumon_).]
ICHNEUMON-FLY, a general name applied to parasitic insects of the
section _Ichneumonoidea_ (or _Entomophaga_), order _Hymenoptera_, from
the typical genus _Ichneumon_, belonging to the chief family of that
section--itself fancifully so called after the Egyptian mammal
(_Herpestes_). The species of the families (_Ichneumonidae_,
_Braconidae_, _Evaniidae_, _Proctotrypidae_, and _Chalcididae_) are
often indiscriminately called "Ichneumons," but the "super-family" of
the Ichneumonoidea in the classification of W. H. Ashmead contains only
the _Evaniidae_, the _Stephanidae_, and the large assemblage of insects
usually included in the two families of the _Ichneumonidae_ and the
_Braconidae_, which are respectively equivalent to the _Ichneumones
genuini_ and _I. adsciti_ of older naturalists, chiefly differing in the
former having two recurrent nerves to the anterior wing, whilst the
latter has only one such nerve. The _Ichneumonidae_ proper are one of
the most extensive groups of insects. Gravenhorst described some 1650
European species, to which considerable subsequent additions have been
made. There are 6 sub-families of the _Ichneumonidae_, viz. the
_Ichneumoninae_, _Cryptinae_, _Agriotypinae_, _Ophioninae_,
_Tryphoninae_ and _Pimplinae_, differing considerably in size and
facies, but united in the common attribute of being, in their earlier
stages, parasitic upon other insects. They have all long narrow bodies;
a small free head with long filiform or setaceous antennae, which are
never elbowed, and have always more than sixteen joints; the abdomen
attached to the thorax at its hinder extremity between the base of the
posterior coxae, and provided in the female with a straight ovipositor
often exserted and very long; and the wings veined, with perfect cells
on the disk of the front pair. Ashmead proposes to separate the
_Agriotypidae_ (which are remarkable for their aquatic habit, being
parasitic on caddis-worms) from the _Ichneumonidae_ on account of their
firm ventral abdominal segments and spined scutellum. He also separates
from the _Braconidae_ the _Alysiidae_ as a distinct family; they have
peculiar mandibles with out-turned tips.
Their parasitic habits render these flies of great importance in the
economy of nature, as they serve to check any inordinate increase in the
numbers of injurious insects. Without their aid it would in many cases
be impossible for the agriculturist to hold his own against the ravages
of his minute insect foes, whose habits are not sufficiently known to
render artificial checks or destroying agents available. The females of
all the species are constantly on the alert to discover the proper
living food for their own larvae, which are hatched from the eggs they
deposit in or on the eggs, larvae or pupae of other insects of all
orders, chiefly _Lepidoptera_, the caterpillars of butterflies and moths
being specially attacked (as also are spiders). Any one who has watched
insect life during the summer can hardly have failed to notice the busy
way in which the parent ichneumon, a small four-winged fly, with
constantly vibrating antennae, searches for her prey; and the clusters
of minute cocoons round the remains of some cabbage-butterfly
caterpillar must also have been observed by many. This is the work of
_Apanteles_ (or _Microgaster_) _glomeratus_, one of the _Braconidae_,
which in days past was a source of disquietude to naturalists, who
believed that the life of the one defunct larva had _transmigrated_ into
the numerous smaller flies reared from it. Ichneumon-flies which attack
external feeders have a short ovipositor, but those attached to
wood-feeding insects have that organ of great length, for the purpose of
reaching the haunts of their concealed prey. Thus a species from Japan
(_Bracon penetrator_) has its ovipositor nine times the length of the
body; and the large species of _Rhyssa_ and _Ephialtes_, parasitic on
_Sirex_ and large wood-boring beetles in temperate Europe, have very
long instruments (with which when handled they will endeavour to sting,
sometimes penetrating the skin), in order to get at their secreted
victims. A common reddish-coloured species of _Ophion_ (_O. obscurum_),
with a sabre-shaped abdomen, is noteworthy from the fact of its eggs
being attached by stalks outside the body of the caterpillar of the
puss-moth (_Cerura vinula_). Lepidopterists wishing to breed the latter
cut off the eggs of the parasite with scissors.
The larvae of the ichneumon-flies are white, fleshy, cylindrical,
footless grubs; the majority of them spin silk cocoons before pupating,
often in a mass (sometimes almost geometrically), and sometimes in
layers of different colours and texture.
AUTHORITIES.--Among the older works on Ichneumonoidea may be specially
mentioned J. L. K. Gravenhorst, _Ichneumonologia Europaea_ (Breslau,
1829); A. H. Haliday (_Entom. Mag._ i.-v., 1833-1838), and A. Förster
(_Verhandl. Naturhist. Ver. Rheinl. u. Westph._ xix., xxv., 1862,
1868). Full reference to the systematic literature of the group will
be found in C. G. de Dalla Torre's _Catalogus hymenopterorum_, vols,
iii., iv. (Leipzig, 1898-1902), and a comprehensive summary in W. H.
Ashmead's recent memoir (_Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus._ xxiii., 1901). For the
British species consult C. Morley, _Ichneumons of Great Britain_
(Plymouth, 1903), and T. A. Marshall (_Trans. Entom. Soc._,
1885-1899). (G. H. C.)
ICHNOGRAPHY (Gr. [Greek: ichnos], a trace, and [Greek: graphê],
description), in architecture, a term defined by Vitruvius (i.2) as "the
ground-plan of the work," i.e. the geometrical projection or horizontal
section representing the plan of any building, taken at such a level as
to show the outer walls, with the doorways, windows, fireplaces, &c.,
and the correct thickness of the walls; the position of piers, columns
or pilasters, courtyards and other features which constitute the
design.