JANSSENS, ABRAHAM, a celebrated Dutch painter, is supposed to have been b. in Amsterdam :Mont 1569. Of a thoughtless and excitable disposition, lie made himself completely miserable by his marriage with a girl of extravagant tastes, and spent his latest years in extreme want. The year of his death is unknown. Many churches in Flanders possess pictures executed by him; the most famous are the "Burying of Christ" and a "Madonna and Child, in the church of the Carmelites at Antwerp. There are also good specimens of his style in the galleries of Munich, Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin. Janssens displayed great vigor in drawing and desirming; he was an admirable colorist, and he certainly ranks next, among the historical painters of the period—though at a considerable distance—to Rubens,—CouNEms JANSSENS, probably born in Flanders, died in Amsterdam in 1665, acquired a reputation as a very fine painter of portraits and historical subjects.—Another eminent artist of this name was VICTOR 110NORIUS JANSSENS (born at Brussels 1664, died there 1739).
JANTI-IrNA, a genus of gasteropodous mollusks of the order sculibranchiata, and of the same family (lialiotida) with ear-shells. The shell is very similar in form to that of a
common snail, but thin and beantifidly pellucid. These mollusks are remarkable as inhabitants of the open ocean. in which they swim at. the surface of the water by means of a float formed of vesicles containing air, and secreted by the .foot. To the under-su•face of this float, the egg-capsules are attached. The vesicular float has no more anatomical connection with the animal than the shell has. The janthime abound in the seas of warm climates; arc plentiful in the Mediterranean, but rare on the British costs.
JANUARY, the first month of the year. It was; the Romans, held sacred January, the first month of the year. It was; the Romans, held sacred to Janus (q.v.), from whom it dctived its name, and was added to the calendar along with Feb. by Noma. It was not till the 18th c. that January was universally adopted by European nations as the first month of the year, although the Romans considered it as such as far beck as 251 B.C.