poetry, a set of verses so disposed, as that there are always five acrostics of the same name, in five divisions of each verse. See Acrostic.

Pentactinodos, in natural history, a name given by some authors to those species of star-fish which are composed of a body divided into five rays.

Pentadactylon, five fingers, in botany, a name given by some authors to the *ricinus* or *palma Christi*, from the figure of its leaf.

Pentadactylus piscis, the five-fingered fish, in ichthyology, the name of a fish common in all the seas about the East Indies, and called by the Dutch there *wijf winger wijf*.

It has this name from five black streaks which it has on each side, resembling the prints of five fingers. Its head is flat, convex at the bottom, plain in the sides, and inclined in the fore-part. The snout is thick, obtuse, and round; the lower jaw at its extremity bent and rounded; the nostrils are double; the balls of the eyes oval; the iris of a silver colour; the first fin of the back is small, the second is more elevated; those of the breast are inserted obliquely, that of the anus is greatly extended, and that of the tail much sloped. The whole body is covered with scales of moderate size, thin, flexible, and slightly indented on their hinder edge; the back is reddish, the sides of a silver colour, and the fins white. The fish is described by some as about nine inches long; by others as a foot and a half. It is a dry but not ill-tasted fish.