AMPHITIIKRIUM. 



AMYCKAI.rs 



, ha* given rise to the popular opinion tint the animal was entirely 

 deprived of night ; an opinion extended with no better reason to the 

 Common Blind-Worm (Anya frayUa). It lire* upon worm* and 

 inrti particularly antu, in the mounds of which it usually conceal* 

 itself. The antipathy which most people entertain against serpents in 

 general ha* given rue to a belief common among traveller*, that thu 

 specie* venomous, but without the slightest foundation in reality, M 

 it in entirely destitute of fangs, and it* teeth in other respect* so small 

 as to be incapable of inflicting a wound. 



2. A. alba, to called from iU colour, which in that (if uniform pale 

 straw without any marks or spots. The head of this species is short 

 and thick, and its mouth small The body usually measures from 

 1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 9 or 10 inches, and is surrounded by 223 rings ; 

 the tail is from 14 to 3 inches in length, and is surrounded by 16 or 

 18 rings. The thickness of the body seldom exceeds that of a man's 

 fore-finger, and is uniform throughout ita whole length ; that of the 

 former species, on the contrary, equals the thickness of the wrist of a 

 child of 1 or 1 2 years old. The A . alba inhabit* the same localities and 

 lives in the same manner as the A. fuliginota, from which indeed it 

 differs only in size, colour, the proportionate length of the tail and 

 body, and in having the mouth provided with a greater number of 

 teeth, all, however, equally small and weak. 



3. A. area, a species mentioned by Baron Cuvier in the second edition 

 of the ' Regne Animal,' but without any detailed description. It 

 inhabits the island of Martinique, and is said to be entirely deprived 

 of sight, at least M, Cuvier was unable to discern any trace of eyes. 

 He supposes it, nevertheless, to be identical with the Amphulnrna 

 rtrmiftilarit of Spix, which that naturalist describes as having eyes 

 scarcely perceptible. 



AMPHITHETUUM (Blainville). This Fossil Mammal, from Stones- 

 field, is now termed Tliylacotkerium by Ow-n. 



AMPHIUMA, a singular genus of Amphibian Reptiles, first noticed 

 by Dr. Garden in 1771, in a letter to Linnaeus. The remarkable and 

 anomalous order Amphibia, to which this genus belongs, is more 

 extensively spread throughout the New World, and exhibits a far greater 

 diversity of organic modification in the western hemisphere, than in 

 all the rest of the earth together. It is here alone that the Menopomtr, 

 the Amphiunur, the Axolotlt, the Mrnobranrhi, and the Siren*, are to 

 be found. These singular animals abound in all the lakes and stagnant 

 waters, and astonish the observer equally by the variety as by the 

 novelty of their fomia, [AMPHIBIA.] 



The external form of the Amptiiuma in very similar to that of the 

 common eel, but the whole anatomy and physiology of the animal 

 approximates it more nearly to the Common Water-Newt (Triton 

 marmorala) than to any other known species. From this creature 

 indeed it differs principally in the extreme length of its body and the 

 diminutive size of its extremities, which rather resemble' small tentaculi 

 than actual leg*. The only two known species inhabit the stagnant 

 pool* and ditches in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and those in 

 Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. They bury themselves in the 

 mud at the bottom of the ditches, particularly nn the approach of 

 winter, and vast numbers of them are sometimes found in draining 

 and clearing ponds, at the depth .if f! or 4 feet from the surface. They 

 are also capable of existing on land, but as their food in all probability 

 exists only in the water, they never voluntarily abandon that element 

 The two known species, A. rliilarit/la and A. tridartyla, differ jirin- 

 ripally in the number of their toes, the one having only two, the other 

 three on each foot. 



AMI'HODKLITF., a mineral allied to firnpnlit,. from which it 

 differs in possessing magnesia instead of lime. It is composed of 

 silica, alumina, and magnesia. [ScAPOLITE.] 



AMPLKXUS (Spwerby), a fossil genus of ifadrrphy'li/ri, remark- 

 able for the simplicity of its structure snd the variability of it* 

 general figure. It occurs in the Mountain Limestone .-m.1 l)r\.,nmn 

 1. ::...-- M 



AMITU.A'RIA, a genus of Fresh-Water Spiral Fnmilve SI,, UK. 

 which arc found in the rivers and ponds of India, Africa, and South 

 America. They are of a globular or rather depressed form, are covered 

 with u thick olive or black periostrmca, and often banded. Their month 

 is ovate, with tin- lips complete all round, and often slightly thickened 

 or reflexed. The animals are somewhat similar to the Common Pond- 

 Snail (Palvdina), but they have the front of the head nicked and 

 furnished with two slight conical horn-like processes ; and they have 

 long slender tentacles, with the eyes placed on small pedicles at tl..-ir 

 outer base : these boms and the tentacles often contract into a spiral 

 form. But the great peculiarity of these animals is, that, unlike all 

 other molluscous animals with comb-like gill", they have a large bag, 

 which opens beneath, placed on the side of the respiratory cavity, 

 which they probably can fill with water; and it is this structure 

 which most likely gives them the power of living for a long tune 

 out of water, specimens having been brought from Kgypt to Paris 

 alive, by only packing them in a little sawdust. TheiV operculiim 

 is formed of concentric rings with the nucleus nearly in the centre ; 

 in the species which come from India, this part is generally shelly. 

 but in those of America and Africa it is always horny. The Indian 

 species lay globular pale-green eggs about the size of small peas, 

 which are placed in clusters on sticks anil other thiiiL'n in the Pitches; 

 the eggs when dry form most beautiful objects. Some of the African 

 species are reversed, or have the whorls of the shell turned fr ' 

 right to the left, and these have been separated into a gcnr.s. mult r 

 the name of Laniita, on this account. It has been generally supposed 

 by the geologist, that all the species of this genus are purely fresh- 

 water, but the large Egyptian species, A. oratn, discovered by Olivier 

 in Kgypt, lives in Lake Mareotis, where the water is salt ; therefore 

 there is no proof that some of the fossil species are not marine. 



AMPYX (Dalman), a genus of Fossil Crustacea (Tnl'Mtt\ four 

 species of which have been described by Colonel Portlock, from 

 Tyrone. 



' A M VODA'LE^ (Drupaeece of Lindleyt, a sub-order of the natural 

 order Rosacrrt [ROSACE.K], among which it is known by its bearing 

 the kind of fruit called a drupe, by the stamens being numerous and 

 arising from the orifice of a tubular calyx, and by the leaves and 

 other parts of the plant yielding hydrocyanic acid. Owing to the 

 last circumstance, the species are all more or less poisonous, especially 

 in those parts where the pnissic acid is concentrated, as the leaves 

 of the common laurel, the skin of the kernel of the almond, &c. ( in 

 the other hand, those parts in which the pnissic acid exists either in 

 very minute quantity, or not at all, as the succulent fruit, and some- 

 times the kernel, are harmless, and are often valuable articles of food. 

 It is on this account that, while the general character of the foliage 

 is either unwholesome or suspicious, the fruit of many of them is 

 much cultivated. The peach, the nectarine, the plum, the cherry, the 

 almond, the apricot, prune, damson, and bullace are produced by 

 different species of this order. 



1 . An expanded flower. 

 S. The name cut through. 

 6. Stone. 



2. The mine with the corolla removed. 

 4. Anthers 5. Drupe. 



7. Embryo. 



The bark of Amygdalta yields a gum which is similar in it* 

 properties to gum arable; and an astringent substance which gives 

 some of the species so much efficacy in fevers, that their bark has been 

 compared for utility to Peruvian Bark. 



AMYGDALOID, the name of a variety of the Trap-Rocks, when 

 in a uniform base there are imbedded round or almond-shaped bodies, 

 consulting of agate, calcareous spar, or zeolites, like almonds in a 

 cake : the term is derived from the Greek Aju/ySoAonS))!, resembling an 



AMV';liAI.rs, a genus of plants, the type of the sul 

 Amygdal'", comprehending the alm-nnl, ami the peach and nectarine, 

 besides a few bushes, the chief interest of which arises from their gay 

 appearance. 



A. romvHtnu, the Common Almond, is a native of Barbary, whence 

 it had not been transferred into Italy in the time of C.-ito; it has, 

 however, been so long cultivated all over the south of Kuroj- 

 the temperate parts of Asia as to have become, as it were, naturalised 

 in the whole of the Old World from Madrid to Cuit..n. In this 

 country, it is only grown for the sake of its beautiful vernal flower* ; 

 but in the countries that have a long and hot summer, it is the fruit 



