An´trim, a county of Ireland, province of Ulster, in the north-east of the island; area, 702,654 acres, of which about a third are arable. The eastern and northern districts are comparatively mountainous, with tracts of heath and bog, but no part rises to a great height. The principal rivers are the Lagan and the Bann, which separate Antrim from Down and Londonderry respectively. The general soil of the plains and valleys is strong loam. Flax, oats, and potatoes are the principal agricultural produce. Cattle, sheep, swine, and goats are extensively reared. There are salt-mines and beds of iron-ore, which is worked and exported. A range of basaltic strata stretches along the northern coast, of which the celebrated Giant's Causeway is the most remarkable portion, the vast aggregates of natural rock pillars there being very striking. The interior also contains some scenes of picturesque beauty, particularly the fertile valley of the Lagan, between Belfast and Lisburn. Much of the scenery of the county, however, is dreary and monotonous. Lough Neagh, the largest lake of the United Kingdom, is principally in Antrim. Its waters are carried to the sea by the Bann, which is of no use for navigation, being obstructed by weirs and rocks. The spinning of linen and cotton yarn, and the weaving of linen and cotton, are the staple manufactures, but the cotton manufacture is small compared with that of linen. The principal towns are Belfast, Lisburn, Ballymena, Larne, and Carrickfergus. In 1898 Belfast, the former capital, was constituted into a county borough. About fifty per cent of the inhabitants are Presbyterians, being the descendants of Scottish immigrants of the seventeenth century. The county sends four members to Parliament; Belfast returns nine. Pop. (excluding Belfast) 193,864 (1911).—The town of Antrim, at the north end of Lough Neagh, is a small place with a pop. of 1826.
Ant-thrush, a name given to certain passerine or perching birds having resemblances to the thrushes and supposed to feed largely on ants. They all have longish legs, short wings, and a short tail. The true ant-thrushes of the Old World belong to the genus Pitta. They chiefly inhabit southern and south-eastern Asia and the Eastern Archipelago, but are also found in Africa and Australia, and are birds of brilliant plumage, exhibiting black, white, scarlet, blue, and green in vivid contrast, there being generally no blending of colours by means of intermediate hues. These birds are not now regarded as allied to the thrushes, nor are they allied to the ant-birds, or ant-thrushes of the New World, which live among close foliage and bushes. Some of these are called ant-shrikes and ant-wrens. They belong to several genera.
Ant´werp (Du. and Ger. Antwerpen, Fr. Anvers), the chief port of Belgium, and one of the first on the Continent, the capital of a province of the same name, on the Scheldt, about 50 miles from the open sea. It lies in a fertile plain at an abrupt turn of the river, which is here from 160 to 280 yards wide, and has a depth varying from 25 to 50 feet. It is strongly fortified, being completely surrounded on the land side by a semicircular inner line of fortifications, the defences being completed by an outer line of forts and outworks. Fine quays have been constructed along the river banks. The general appearance of the city is exceedingly picturesque, an effect produced by the numerous churches, convents, and magnificent public buildings, the stately antique houses that line its older thoroughfares, and the profusion of beautiful trees with which it is adorned. The older streets are tortuous and irregular, but those in the newer quarters are wide and regular. Some of the squares are very handsome. The cathedral, with a spire 400 feet high, one of the largest and most beautiful specimens of Gothic architecture in Belgium, contains Rubens' celebrated masterpieces, The Descent from the Cross, The Elevation of the Cross, and The Assumption. The other churches of note are St. James's, St. Andrew's, and St. Paul's, all enriched with paintings by Rubens, Vandyck, and other masters. Among the other buildings of note are the exchange, the town hall, the palace, the theatre, academy of the fine arts, picture and sculpture galleries, &c. The harbour accommodation is extensive and excellent, large new docks and quays having been recently built, and other works being under construction or contemplated. The shipping trade is now very large, Antwerp being a great centre of the world's commerce, and the goods being largely in transit. The entries of vessels in a year aggregate over 13,000,000 tons. Much of the trade is with Britain. There are numerous but not very important industries. Antwerp is mentioned as early as the eighth century, and in the eleventh and twelfth it had attained a high degree of prosperity. In the sixteenth century it is said to have had a pop. of 200,000, and it had then an extensive foreign trade. The wars between the Netherlands and Spain greatly injured its commerce, which was almost ruined by the closing of the navigation of the Scheldt in accordance with the peace of Westphalia (1648). It was only in the nineteenth century that its prosperity revived. In the European War
(1914-8), the Germans, under General von Beseler, entered Antwerp on 7th Oct., 1914, and remained there until Nov., 1918. Pop. (1919), 322,857.—The province consists of a fertile plain 1093 sq. miles in area, and has a pop. of over 1,000,000.
Anu´bis (Anepo on the monuments), one of the deities of the ancient Egyptians, the son of Osiris by Isis. The Egyptian sculptures represent him with the head, or under the form, of a jackal, with long pointed ears. His office was to conduct the souls of the dead from this world to the next, and in the lower world he weighed the actions of the deceased previous to their admission to the presence of Osiris.
Anúpshahr (a-nöp´shär), a town of Hindustan, United Provinces, on the Ganges, 75 miles S.E. of Delhi, a resort of Hindu pilgrims who bathe in the Ganges. Pop. 15,000.
Anu´ra, or Anou´ra (Gr. an, negative, oura, a tail), an ord. of Batrachians which lose the tail when they reach maturity, such as the frogs and toads.
Anuradhapura. See Anarajapura.
A´nus, the opening at the lower or posterior extremity of the alimentary canal through which the excrement or waste products of digestion are expelled.