ARBUTHNOT, Mmuttur (1711-94). A Brit ish admiral, He became a commander in 1746 and a captain in 1747; was commissioner of the navy at Halifax. N. S.. from 1775 to 1778; became a rear-admiral in 177g, and in 1779 was appointed vice-admiral and placed in command of the North American Station. In conjunction with Sir Henry Clinton he captured Charleston, S. C., after a long siege, in 1780 (May 12), and in March, 1781, fought an indecisive en gagement with a French fleet off Cape Henry. He surrendered his command to Rear-Admiral Graves in July, 1781, returned to England, and though he saw no more actual service, he became by seniority Admiral of the Blue in 1793. As a naval officer he was absurdly in efficient, being ignorant of even the rudiments of naval tactics, and as a mall he seems to have been known to his contemporaries as a coarse and blustering bravo. Consult RaIfe, Naval Biography (London, 1820).
ARBUTUS, 1414i-tits or iir-bil'tfis (Lat., the wild strawberry tree). A genus of plants of the order Ericacece. The species. which number about twenty, are mostly European and North American shrubs and small trees. In many species the leaves are evergreen and shining, the branches usually smooth and red. Such a species
is Arbutus vncdo, the Strawberry Tree, exten sivel• planted as an ornament in parks. It is a native of the south of Europe, and is not hardy in the colder parts of the United States. It is highly valued in California. The flowers, which are white, are produced in great abun dance; the fruit, which resembles a strawberry in size and color, is ripened the second year. In this way flowers and fruits occur together, and, with the bright green leaves, make the tree very attractive. The fruit is edible and often utilized, especially in Spain. where sugar and a spirit are manufactured from it. A second species, Arbutus Men:iesii, is the madrofin of California. It is fairly hardy, and as a tree often attains a height of eighty to one hundred feet. _lrbut as Arizonica, a tree forty to fifty feet. high. has the bark of the trunk white, of the branches red, which, together with the pale-green leaves, make a pleasing contrast. A few fossil forms have been described under the name Ar butites, from the Eocene of Europe.