Virginia Creeper
or Ampelopsis, a fine climber. It is often called American ivy and woodbine. Flowers inconspicuous, July; blackberries in October. From five to seven leaflets spread out like the fingers of the hand. The creeper climbs over trunks of trees and walls by means of tendrils, terminating in flat disks or suckers. The foliage is handsome all summer, turning in autumn to a brilliant crimson. The creeper is a member of the vine family to which our wild grapes also belong. "As we were whirled along," says Thoreau, writing of a ride by train in autumn, "I noticed the woodbine, its leaves now changed, for the most part on dead trees draping them like a red scarf. It was a little exciting, suggesting bloodshed or, at least, an epaulet or sash as if it were dyed with the blood of the tree whose wound it was inadequate to staunch. For now the bloody autumn was come and an Indian warfare was waged through the forest."
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Virginia Military Institute
an educational non-sectarian institution in Lexington, Va.; founded in 1839; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 34; students, 673.
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Virginian Deer
the Cervus virginiacus, the common deer of North America. It is slightly smaller than the fallow d deer; reddish-yellow in summer, light gray in winter; antlers recurvine; IN VIRGINIA WHITE-TAILED DEER tail about a foot and a half long. These deer are timid and wild, and therefore domesticated with difficulty. Their flesh formerly constituted the staple food of the native Indians.
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Virginian Eared Owl
the Bubo virginianus, a large species common over the Northern States of the American Union. Length about two feet; reddishbrown on upper surface, mottled with black, and covered with regular bands of the same hue, lighter beneath; throat white; beak and claws black.
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Virginian Opossum
the Didelphys virginianum, the common opossum. It is about the size of a domestic cat; head long, large and pointed, ending in naked snout. Hair long, soft, and a woolly, whitish at the roots and brownish at the tips, giving the animal a dusky appearance.
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Virginian Quail
the Ortyx Virginiana, a species of rasorial birds belonging to the family Odontophorinæ, and nearly allied to that of the partridges or Perdicide. In the genus Ortyx the edges of the beak are sinuous or wavy, and the wings have the third to the sixth quills longest. The outer toe is united to the inner at the base. The Virginian quail is also named the Virginian colin. It attains a length of 8 or 10 inches, and is of a reddish-brown hue, mingled with gray and black above, and yellowish white below. The head and breast are reddish brown and the chin pure white. The voice is clear, and the note resembles the words "bob-white"-a name often familiarly given to the bird. The Virginian quail feeds mostly on grains and inhabits open grounds, but in winter it approaches the habitations of man. The eggs may number as many as 24. The bird is trapped in great numbers in winter. Its flesh is highly esteemed.
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Virginius
A valiant Roman, father of Virginia. The story of Virginius and his ill-fated daughter is the subject of the well-known tragedy of Virginius, one of the early productions of J. Sheridan Knowles. It is rarely performed in the present day. Vogesus or Vosgesus (Vosges). A range of mountains in Gaul, in the territory of the Lingones, running parallel to the Rhine , and separating its basin from that of the Mosella. The rivers Sequana (Seine), Arar (Saône), and Mosella (Moselle) rise in these mountains. Volupia or Voluptas. The personification of sensual pleasure among the Romans, who was honored with a temple near the Porta Romanula.
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Virgo
in astronomy, the Virgin: (1) One of the 12 ancient zodiacal constellations. It is bounded on the N. by Boötes and Coma Berenices; on the S. by Corvus, Crater, and Hydra. Its principal star, Alpha Virginis, is called Spica Virginis, or simply Spica. It is in the hand of the imaginary virgin which holds ears of corn, typifying the harvest which took place in Greece while the sun passed through this part of the ecliptic. (2) The sixth sign of the zodiac. The sun enters it about Aug. 23, and leaves it about Sept. 23.
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Viriathus
the shepherd leader of the Lusitanians, or ancient inhabitants of Portugal, in their struggle for independence against the Romans; was one of the survivors of his countrymen's massacre by Sulpicius Galba (150 b. c.). Thenceforward he carried on in Lusitania and southern Hispania a successful guerrilla warfare against a succession of Roman proconsuls, winning two pitched battles, and in 141 entrapping the army of Quintus Fabius Servilianus in a mountain pass. Unconditional surrender was followed by alliance and a promise of independence; but within a year Servilius Cæpio, the next proconsul, again took the field, and bribing some Lusitanian envoys, procured the assassination of Viriathus (139), with whose death the conflict virtually ended.
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Visayas
THE, a group of islands which occupy the central part of the Philippine Archipelago, between Luzon on the N., Mindanao on the S., the Pacific Ocean on the E., and Paragua on the W. They lie between lat. 9° 2 and 12° 39′ N., and between lon. 121° 48′ and 125° 50' W.; area, 57,714 square kilometers; pop. about 3,500,000. The group may be divided into three parts, each including several adjacent islands. The principal islands of the first group are Romblon and Panay, of the second, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol, and of the third Samar and Leyte. Many of the islands are mountainous, but there are valleys and plains which are usually very fertile. Agriculture is quite extensively carried on. There are large crops of rice, sugar cane, subacao, coffee, chocolate, wheat, corn, tobacco, hemp, etc. The forests of the islands are generally rich in excellent building and cabinet woods, such as molave, ipil, banaba, durigon, alintatao, narra, etc. There is also found in the forests an abundance of pitch, resin, gum, mastic wax, and honey. Gold, silver, lead, coal, marble, etc., are mined to a greater or less extent in some of the islands. Manufacturing is carried on to a considerable extent. In the province of Antique, on the island of Panay, the manufacture of fabrics from pineapple fiber, jusi, and sinamay is flourishing. Hunting and fishing are also important industries.
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