125 



ALLIGATOR. 



ALLIUM. 



128 



I hat" Baron Cuvier has described it as a mere variety of that species. 

 The principal distinction between this and the foregoing species consists 

 in a ridge which rises in front of the orbits, and runs towards the 

 snout, and a small notch in the posterior border of the skull ; the 

 second row of cervical plates is larger than the others, and towards its 



J 



Cervical Plates of the Cayman Cervical Plates of C.Trigonatm. 



(C. palpebrosus.) 



middle are two or three small scales, with irregularly disposed crests ; 

 the large ridges assume the form of scalene triangles, which gives the 

 whole animal a rough and bristly appearance ; there are 16 transverse 

 bands on the back, the number of plates appearing to vary according 

 to the species, and from 19 to 28 on the tail, 9 or 10 before the junction 

 of the lateral ridges, and from 10 to 17 afterwards. Nothing whatever 

 is known of the manners or habits of this species or variety. 



4. The JHCHIV (Crocodilus sclerops, Schneider) appears to be spread 

 over the whole of tropical America, but is more especially numerous 

 in Brazil, where it attains a very large size, and is found in all the rivers 

 and lakes. Its head is more attenuated than 

 in the alligator of North America ; the sides 

 converging towards the snout, so as to form 

 very nearly an isosceles triangle ; the surface 

 of the bones of the skull has a rough scabrous 

 appearance, as if arising from disease ; the 

 orbits of the eyes are surrounded by large 

 prominent rims of bone, and these are con- 

 nected together by an intermediate ridge, 

 giving the whole very much the appearance 

 of a pair of spectacles ; finally, the skull is 

 pierced by two very small holes behind the 

 orbits. The cervical plates are remarkably 

 large ; they are arranged in four transverse 

 bands, of which the first two contain four 

 each, and each of the others two. The 

 transverse bands of the back vary according 

 to age, and it would even seem according to 

 the individual ; they most commonly cmi.-i-t 

 of two rows, with two plates each, four with 

 six, five with eight, two with six, and four 

 with four. The colour of the animal is 

 greenish-brown above, marbled irregularly 

 with diflereut shades of green, and pale Cervical Plates of the Jacare 

 greenish-yellow below. This species grows ' ' c er f'-> 



size of from 14 to 18 feet in length ; the whole length is from 

 eight to eight and a half tunes that of the head. 



The Jacares, according to Azara, are never known to attack men, or 

 even dogs, in passing the rivers, unless it should happen to be near the 

 place where they have deposited their eggs ; and even then, they are 

 never known to prey upon the body, contenting themselves with the 

 fish and water-fowl which they find so plentiful in their own element. 

 During the night they are exceedingly active, and always keep in the 

 water, showing only their heads above the surface, but towards the 

 middle of the day they come ashore to enjoy the heat of the sun ; 

 they then sleep profoundly, but always retreat to the water on being 

 disturbed. The eggs are about the size of those of a goose ; they are 

 white, and much sought after by the free Indians, who also eat the 

 flesh of the Jacare^ itself, though it has a strong musky smell, and 

 scarcely any juice. The female deposits her eggs in the sand in a 

 Kindle layer, and covers them with straw or leaves; few of them, 

 however, escape the quick eye of the vulture, and even many of the 

 ' fall a prey to the full-grown males, which at the period of 

 first appearance, in the hottest part of summer, are particularly 

 fierce and ravenous, the marshes which they inhabit being then dried 

 up, and their food difficult to obtain. This species appears to have 

 pr;tty nearly the same range towards the south of the continent, that 

 the alligator, or pike-headed crocodile, has to the north. According 

 to Azara, it is never found beyond 32 of south latitude. Many 



interesting facts regarding the habits of this species are recorded in 

 the narratives of Prince Maximilian, Spix and Martius, and other 

 Brazilian travellers. 



ALLIUM, a very extensive genus of bulbous Mouocotyledonous 

 plants, belonging to the natural order Liliacece. The species are 

 all remarkable for having, in a greater or less degree, the odour of 

 garlic, and for the agreeable stimulating effects that accompany it. 

 For this reason some of them have been objects of cultivation from 

 the highest antiquity. 



As a genus, Allium is known among other Liliacece, by the 

 flowers growing in round heads or umbels, by the perianth being 

 deeply divided into six spreading lobes, and by having a capsule with 

 three angles, three valves, and three cells, sometimes so deeply lobed, 

 as to have the appearance of six cells. The number of species is very 

 considerable ; they are almost exclusively natives of the northern 

 hemisphere, and are principally found wild in the meadows and groves 

 of Europe, in the north of Asia, and the north of Egypt ; a small 

 proportion only inhabiting corresponding latitudes in North America. 

 Many of them are handsome flowering plants, but as they are more 

 important on account of their useful properties, we shall confine 

 ourselves to some account of the kinds commonly cultivated in the 

 kitchen-garden. 



Ml: a, a C'tpa, the Common Onion, is too well known to require 

 description. It is not certain of what country it is a native, but it 

 has from time immemorial been cultivated in Egypt. Its varieties 

 are not very numerous, considering that it is almost exclusively 

 increased by seed : the most remarkable are the Blood-Red Onion, 

 which is the most pungent ; the Strasburg Onion, which is the 

 hardiest ; the Silver-Skinned Onion, which is the smallest, and the 

 most fitted for pickling ; and the onions of Portugal and Tripoli, 

 which are the largest and the most delicate. In this country 

 the bulbs do not generally arrive at the large size of those imported 

 from Portugal and Spain ; but skilful gardeners have nevertheless 

 succeeded in procuring them fully as fine. Their method has been 

 to take the small onions of a late-sown crop, of the previous year, and 

 to plant them in rows in the beginning of April, laying them on the 

 surface of the soil, each surrounded with about a handful of decayed 

 and nearly dry manure. All the time that is usually lost in seed- 

 sowing is thus avoided, and the moment the bulbs push forth new 

 roots, they find themselves in the midst of an abundant store of 

 food, which continues to supply them with nutrition during the 

 whole of the growing season. As they advance in size, the soil round 

 the bulbs is frequently disturbed by the hoe, for the sake of exposing 

 as much as possible the carbonaceous matter of the manure to the 

 action of the atmosphere. This process is only discontinued when 

 the leaves begin to turn yellow ; the bulbs are then allowed to ripen 

 as usual. 



Attium schcfnopraaurn, the Chive, is a little tufted plant, with 

 slender, cylindrical, taper-pointed, dark -green leaves ; its flowers are 

 arranged in a small compact round head, and are of a purplish or 

 pale violet colour ; the bulbs are small, long, and white, and grow in 

 dense, matted tufts. It is a native of the mountainous regions of 

 Europe, from Lapland to Italy ; and is found here and there in Great 

 Britain. It is more employed by the French for their cookery than 

 in this country. 



Alliuin filulosum, the Welsh Onion, is a native of Siberia, and is 

 supposed to have gained its English name from having been imported 

 originally from Germany, with the name Wiilsch, or foreign, attached 

 to it. It is a perennial, and cultivated chiefly for the purpose of 

 being sold in the markets when very young, at which time its flavour 

 is delicate ; its hardiness enables it when young to brave our spring 

 cold better than the common onion. 



Attitim Ascalunicum, the Shallot, a native of Asia Minor, is in many 

 respects similar to the chive, from which it is known by its larger 

 leaves, its smaller and more deeply-coloured flowers, and by its 

 stamens having alternately three points on the filaments. It more- 

 over produces bulbs of sufficient size to be fit for use, and accordingly, 

 while the leaves only are employed in the chive, the bulbs are the 

 parts sought for in the shallot. These multiply abundantly, so that 

 every year, when the crop is taken up, there is plenty of small bulbs 

 which can be reserved for planting the succeeding season, while the 

 fine fully-formed ones are selected for the kitchen. To obtain the 

 bulbs in the greatest perfection, they should not be buried in the 

 earth, as is the common practice, but merely placed on the surface of 

 the soil. 



Allium safirum, Garlic, has been found wild in Sicily, and some 

 parts of Provence. Its stem is simple, erect, and furnished with flat, 

 narrow, pointed leaves ; the flower-heads have usually a number of 

 little bulbs lying among the flowers, which are white or pinkish ; the 

 bulbs are remarkable for the development of the greater part of the 

 axillary buds of their scales ; these buds grow rapidly, and acquire a 

 bulbous state, and form what are called the cloves of the garlic, which 

 are the parts employed in cooking. 



AUium ophiosi-orodon, Rocambole, or Spanish Shallot, is very 



the south of Europe. 



