Izabal
a lake in Guatemala; also the name of a district in the same country. Area 4,500 square miles; pop. about 4,000.
J Rallidæ, distinguished by the extraordinary length of their toes and their spinelike claws, especially that of the hinder toe. They are very light birds; and the J, j, the 10th letter and the 7th consonant in the English alphabet. It was formerly interchangeable with i, the same character being used for both. It is a palatal, its sound being that of gwide surface over which their toes exin gem or of dg in ridge, edge. As a symbol, j j is used in medical prescriptions at the end of a series of numbers for 1; as, vij. = seven, viij. = eight, etc.
JABALPUR (jub-al-pör'), chief town of Jabalpur district, Central Provinces, India. Standing at the junction of the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsula systems, Jabalpur is one of the most important railways stations in India. It is the second commercial town in the Central Provinces, and manufactures cotton, tents, and carpets. Pop. about 100,650.
The district of Jabalpur has an area of 3,918 square miles, and a population of about 700,000.
JABORANDI (jäb-ō-ran'dē), a plant, either a piper or of the rutaceous genus Pilocarpus. It is valued in medicine as a sudorific.
JABLUNKA PASS (yäb-lön'ka), a pass across the Carpathian Mountains, in Hungary. It is 1,970 feet high, and is traversed by a railroad.
JACA (yäka), the devil in the mythology of Ceylon.
JACAMAR (jak'ä-mar), the name generally given to the birds ranked under Galbulidæ, a sub-family of Alcedinidæ or kingfishers. The jacamars have the bill less stout than the typical Alcedine; their body also is more slender; the tail long; the toes either in two pairs, or two before and one behind, the anterior ones being united. They are bright-colored birds, generally with a good deal of green in their plumage. They are found in the tropical parts of South America and in the West Indies.
JACANA (jak-ä'nä), a genus of grallatores (Parra of Linnæus), family is yellowish-gray above, whiter undertend enables them the more easily to procure their food, consisting of worms, small fishes, and insects, by walking on the leaves of aquatic plants which float on the water. Various species of the jacana, which in contour and habit resemble the English moor hen, are spread over the tropical regions of both the Old and New World.
JACCHUS (jak'us or yak'us), a name given to the sapajous of the genera Hapale and Midas, also commonly known as marmozets, ouistitis, and tamarins.
They are monkeys of small size, with short muzzle, flesh colored face, and round head. The five fingers are armed with claws, except the thumbs of the posterior extremities, which have nails; fur very soft; tail full and handsome.
Length of body about eight inches; tail 11. General color olive-gray; head and shoulders nearly black; the tail and lower part of the back are annulated with pale gray; and two tufts of pale hair grow round the ears. They are squirrel-like in their habits, and omnivorous; feeding on roots, seeds, fruits, insects, snails, and young birds. Natives of Guiana and Brazil.
JACITARA (jas-it-ā'rä), in botany, Desmoncus macracanthos, a fine palm, 50 or 60 feet long, with a stem as thin as a cane. It grows along the Amazon and the Rio Negro.