606 



CUCKOO-FLOWER 



CUD 



jealous, solitary individualism of the adult, in the 

 preponderance of males, in the very note, in the 

 relatively small size of the egg, and in the parasitic 

 habit as the most striking outcrop. 



The folklore of the cuckoo is almost inexhaust- 

 ible in every country of Europe. It has the gift of 

 prophecy as the herald of spring and of long life, 

 the prelude of storms, of prosperity, and of speedy 

 marriage to maidens. Countless superstitions, and 

 those of the most varied character, are connected 

 with its origin, the cause of its cry, its winter trans- 

 formation into a hawk, as well as with the first 

 hearing of its call, the hearer's occupation at the 

 moment, and the direction from which it comes ; 

 while as many proverbs play upon the monotony of 

 its note, its supposed stupidity, and its obvious 

 connection with cuckoldom, from its habit of 

 depositing its offspring with alien parents. It 

 has only been by a strange transference of meaning 

 that the name cocu or cuckold has been transferred 

 from the paramour to the unsuspicious husband, 

 unless cuckold means, as explained by Littre\ one 

 who has been cuckoo-ed or treated after the manner 

 of the cuckoo. The earliest English song extant 

 (13th century) is an expression of the joyousness 

 of the first cuckoo-call. 



For details of Cuckoo folklore, see Mannhardt in the 

 Zeitschrift fiir Deutsche Mythologie, vol. iii. pp. 209- 

 298 ; James Hardy's ' Popular History of the Cuckoo,' in 

 Part II. (1879) of The Folklore Record; and Swainson's 

 Folklore of British Birds (1886). 



Cuckoo-flower. See CRESS. 



Cuckoo-pint. See ARUM. 



Cuckoo Spit. See FROTH-FLY. 



Cucumber (Cu'cumis), a genus of Cucurbit- 

 acese. The Common Cucumber (C. sativus), dis- 

 tinguished by heart-shaped, acuminately pent- 

 angular leaves, which are rough with hairs 



Common Cucumber ( Cucumis sativus) : 

 a, fruit. 



approaching to bristles, and oblong fruit, is a 

 native of the middle and south of Asia, and has 

 been cultivated from the earliest times. Its fruit 

 forms an important article of food in its native 

 regions, the south of Europe, &c. , and an esteemed 

 delicacy in colder countries, where it is produced 

 by the aid of artificial heat. Many varieties are 

 in cultivation, with fruit from 4 inches to 2 feet 

 long, rough, smooth, &c. Young cucumbers are 

 much used for pickling, and are called gherkins; 

 a small fruiting variety is selected for this purpose. 

 The cucumber is cultivated in fields even in the 

 iouth of England, for the supply of the London 



market ; but in all parts of Britain the plants 

 required for the purpose of growing either in the 

 open or under glass must be reared in a hotbed in 

 spring. In the northern parts it can only be suc- 

 cessfully cultivated in frames during summer. A 

 large trade is now done in winter crops of cucum- 

 bers, which are grown in well-heated, specially con- 

 structed glass-houses. In many parts of the United 

 States it will, if planted late enough to escape the 

 frosts, grow well with almost no care. But it 

 requires rich soil, much moisture, and heat. To 

 this genus belong other species valued for their 

 edible or ornamental fruit, but all that are popu- 

 larly named cucumber are not properly Cucumis, 

 but merely species or varieties belonging to 

 allied genera. Dudaim (C. Dudaim) is a highly 

 fragrant, handsome fruit, with insipid flavour 

 and flaccid flesh, often grown in this country by 

 gardeners under the name, Queen Anne's Packet 

 Melon, simply for its attractive appearance, the 

 fruit being about the size of an ordinary orange, 

 and beautifully barred with green and orange or 

 deep orange-red. (Dudaim is the Hebrew name 

 rendered Mandrake in Scripture.) Connemon is 

 the fruit of C. conomon, which is grown every- 

 where in Japan, and preserved and sold as an 

 article of food. C. auguria, a West Indian species, 

 with fruit about the size and shape of a pullet's 

 egg, is esteemed as an ingredient in soups, and is 

 also eaten raw, but considered inferior in that state 

 to the common cucumber. The Snake Cucumber 

 ( C. flexuosus ) has fruit of great length which is 

 eaten either pickled or raw, and has similar qualities 

 to the common cucumber. A number of species of 

 Cucurbitacese are natives of the United States, but 

 they are all of small economic importance. For 

 other representatives of the natural order Cucur- 

 bitacese, see COLOCYNTH, ELATERIUM, MELON, 

 &c. See, too, May's Cucumber Culture (1880). 



CuClirbita'cese, an important order of corolli- 

 floral dicotyledons, of which the 500 species 

 are mostly herbaceous climbers, inhabiting the 

 warmer regions of the globe ; only one, the Com- 

 mon Bryony (q.v. ), reaching the south of England. 

 The young shoots and leaves of many species are 

 used as potherbs, and the persistent rhizomes or 

 roots of others are sometimes esteemed on account 

 of their store of starch. Acridity, however, is a 

 common characteristic of the order ; and Bryony, 

 Elaterium, and especially Colocynth (q.v.), are of 

 old medicinal repute. But the central importance 

 of the order is due to the characteristic fruit, which 

 is technically known as a pepo, but which may be 

 regarded as a large and many-seeded berry, with 

 its more or less succulent pulp protected by a hard- 

 ened wall. The many specific and varietal forms 

 are known as Cucumbers, Melons, Gourds, Pump- 

 kins, Squashes, Vegetable-marrows, Bottle-gourds, 

 &c., and are described under separate articles. 

 The seeds of some species are medicinal, others 

 edible, while the fibro-vascular skeleton of the 

 fruit of an Egyptian species of Luffa (loofah) is 

 a familiar adjunct of the bathroom. 



Cucuta, SAN JOSE DE, a town in the Colom- 

 bian department of Santander, on the Rio Zulia, 35 

 miles S. of Puerto Villamizar by rail. It is the 

 third commercial town of the republic, a centre of 

 coffee and cacao cultivation. It was destroyed by 

 earthquake in 1875, but has been well rebuilt. 

 Pop. 13,000. ROSARIO DE CUCUTA, to the SE., 

 was the seat of the first Colombian congress in 

 1821, and the birthplace of the patriot General 

 Santander ( 1792-1840). It has large plantations of 

 coffee and cacao. Pop. 6000. 



Cud, the sodden bolus of hastily swallowed 

 fodder which ruminants drive from their paunch 

 and honeycomb stomach back again into tha 



