an arrondissement of the department of Calvados, in France. It extends over 373 square miles, and comprehends six cantons, which are divided into 97 communes, containing 89,450 inhabitants in 1836. The capital is the city of the same name, a manufacturing place of great activity, containing 7339 inhabitants, who make annually 24,000 pieces of cloth, said to amount in value to 3,840,000 francs. It stands on the river Vire, and in the neighbourhood much cider is made, and some of it distilled to mix with brandy. It was the birth-place of the celebrated naturalist Du Hamel. Lat. 48.50.16. Long. 1.0.0. W.