E´mys, a genus of water-tortoises native to Europe and North America, and belonging to the family Testudinidæ, which includes most reptiles of the tortoise kind.
Enaliosau´rians ('sea-lizards'), a group of gigantic Mesozoic reptiles of which the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus were the chief.
A jewel of blue enamel enclosed in a setting of gold, with the words round it: "Ælfred had me wrought", found at Athelney, Somersetshire, in the seventeenth century.
Enam´el, a vitreous glaze coloured with metallic oxides, and, when first introduced, made to adhere by fusion on metals, &c. The ancient Babylonians enamelled bricks. No finer enamelling on bronze was done than that done in early Britain. The ancient Britons achieved great skill in decorating bronze shields, armlets, chariot pieces, helmets, &c., with red, blue, and white enamels during the Late Celtic (Early Iron Age) period and later. Indeed it is believed that the champlevé process of excavating hollows for enamel on metal in various flowing and artistic designs of symbolic character was developed in pre-Roman Britain. Philostratus, a third-century classical writer, referring to the enamelled trappings of horses, remarks that "the barbarians who reside in Ocean pour these colours on heated bronze, so that they adhere and become hard as stone". Beautiful specimens of enamelled bronze found in England, Scotland, and Ireland, preserved in the British Museum, include the Battersea and Witham shields, bridle-bits from Dumfries, and Rise, near Hull, and an enamelled 'terret' from the Fayum, Egypt, whither, archæologists believed, it was taken by some Roman soldier. Enamelling on bronze and iron was practised in Central Europe and at Koban in the Caucasus at an earlier date than in Italy and Egypt. Byzantine enamels on gold date from the tenth century. M. Salomon Reinach was the first to point out that red enamels were used as substitutes for coral, which, by the way, had a religious value as a 'life giver' and 'protector'. The later blue enamel may have been a substitute for lapis-lazuli, and other enamels, white, violet, green, and yellow, for other sacred stones. The ancient enamels are more or less opaque. Transparent enamels were favoured in the thirteenth century by Italian goldsmiths. A favourite method of applying enamel is known as cloisonné, which means inlaid between partitions. The design is outlined in bent-wire fillets, which are fastened to the plate by means of silver solder or the enamel itself. In champlevé work the plate itself is scooped out into channels for the enamel. The distinction between cloisonné and champlevé work, therefore, is something like the distinction between a breastwork and a trench. Enamelled glass is really deeply coloured glass. Bicycle enamel is made of asphalt or resin dissolved in oil, each coat being hardened by heat. Enamel paint is made by mixing copal varnish, &c., with metallic oxides. A special preparation is applied to leather which is afterwards heated—this is 'patent leather'. Enamel painting dates back to the sixteenth century and is used nowadays chiefly for street signs and advertisements. The term 'enamel' is applied to the hard protective coating of teeth.—Bibliography: E. Molinier, Dictionnaire des émailleurs; H. Cunynghame, Art of Enamelling; A. Fisher, The Art of Enamelling upon Metal; H. M. Chapin, How to Enamel.
Ena´ra, a lake in the north of Finland, about 50 miles long by 30 miles broad. It is studded by innumerable islets, receives several streams, and is connected by the Patsjoki with the Arctic Ocean. At its south-west extremity is a small fishing-town of the same name, with an annual fair.
Enare´a, a region belonging to the country of the Gallas, south of Abyssinia. Sakha is the principal town. Coffee and ivory are the chief exports. The inhabitants are the most civilized of the Gallas.
Encar´pus, in architecture, a sculptured ornament in imitation of a garland of fruits, leaves, or flowers, suspended between two points. The garland is widest in the middle, and diminishes gradually to the points of suspension, from which the ends generally hang down. The encarpus is sometimes composed of an imitation of drapery similarly disposed, and sometimes of an assemblage of musical instruments, implements of war or of the chase.