AKAf< AKITKS. 



AUDKA. 



: - 



tiibi trw -xUt in the collcctionii of this country. (iif-.riiiiinU>ly it 

 will not live in the open air in the winter, and ite growth a n rapid 

 a to render it very soon too l.-ir > for the lofticut greenhouse*. A 



Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria cxcelta). 



supposed species, called the Horeton Bay Pine (Araucaria Cunning- 

 kanii), is scarcely distinguishable from this. It is a highly interesting 

 fact, that a plant very nearly the same an this Araucaria excclta 

 certainly once grew in Great Britain. Remains of it have been found 

 in the Lias of Dorsetshire, and have been figured in the Fossil Flora, 

 under the name of A raucaria prinuna. 



Araucaria Dombfyi, or, as it is more commonly called, .d. imbricata, 

 u a noble species, inhabiting the mountains of the Araucanian Indians 

 in South America, whence the name of the genus derives its origin. 

 This species has its branches closely covered with broad, lance-shaped, 

 very rigid and pungent dark-green leaves ; it produces its branches in 

 circles around its erect stem ; and when old it acquires an appearance 

 not very unlike that of the Norfolk Island Pine, only it is much low 

 graceful. Its wood is said to be durable, and it yields a great quantity 

 at resin. Many specimens are now growing in England, and seem to 

 bear our winters well. 



Araucaria Branlirnni is extremely like the last, but the leaves are 

 longer, weaker, and less densely imbricated; and it is much more 

 impatient of cold. It is found wild in the southern provinces of 

 Brazil 



ARAUCARITES (Presl), a genus of Fossil Plants found in the Lias 



!' I.;. :; I:- I . 



A KBUTUS, a genus of evergreen shrubs, belonging to the natural 

 order Ericacetr. It is characterised by ite fruit being a berry, 

 containing many seeds. The most remarkable species is the Arhutut 

 of Virgil, now called A. Untdo, or the Strawberry-Tree, from the 

 resemblance borne by ite berries to that well-known fruit. It is a 

 native of the couth of Europe and the Levant. In our gardens it 

 prove* a hardy evergreen-tree, sometimes as much as 18 or 20 feet 

 high, bearing iU greenish-yellow blossoms in October and November, 

 and ite bright yellow and red berries, which are studded with little 

 projections, in November and the succeeding months. The most 

 interesting specimens in this country are at the lake of Killarney, 

 where they form groves of great beauty. The plant can scarcely 

 however be Considered indigenous to Ireland on this account Its 

 berries are hardly eatable : taken in too great quantities they are 

 apt to produce stupefaction ; nevertheless a wine, said to be pleasant 

 enough, is prepared from them in Cornea. 



A. Andrachnt, the Oriental Arbutus, is superior to the last in beauty 

 both of leaves and flowers, but it is much more tender, and does not 



War fruit in Great Britain. It is readily known by its broader and 

 less serrated leaves, and by iU bark peeling off so as to leave the stem 

 always smooth and of a clear bright cinnamon-brown. It is a native 

 of the Levant 



A. hybrida. Mule Arbutus, is apparently a hybrid between the last 

 two, agreeing with A. I'tudo in the general aspect of its foliage, which 

 is however larger and more handsome, and with A. Atidrackne in 

 flowers and in the deciduous bark. It is hardy, anil wry ornamental, 

 but it does not bear berries in Great Britain. 



A. procera, a native of California, exists in the gardens of this 

 country. A. mucronata, from the Straits of Magalhaens, is a hardy 

 evergreen bush, with small, very dark, pointed and narrated 

 leaves, among which hang numbers of solitary white blossom*. 



\i; KM am i "- 



ARCHER FISH (Toxota, Cuvier), a genus of AcanthopU-rygions 

 Fishes, belonging to the family Kpuimipmittr, or those which are 

 distinguished by having not only the soft parts, but <if. 

 spines of the dorsal and anal fins covered with scales like the rest of 

 the body, and not always very easily distinguishable from it. '1 

 the single species upon which this genus ia founded had bevi 

 known to naturalists, and described under the various names of 

 Kcariu Sdtlotteri, Sciana jaeulatrir, Labnu tagUtariui, and C'uitu 

 chatarcut, by the different writers on Ichthyology, yet it was left f..r 

 Baron Cuvier to point out ite appropriate genenc characters, and to 

 distinguish it definitely from the different groups with which it had 

 been previously confounded. These characters are found in tin- slmrt 

 and compressed form of the body ; in the dorsal fin being .- 

 very far back, provided with very strong spines, anil like the anal, 

 which is placed very nearly opposite to it, covered on ite soft parte 

 with large tough scales ; in the short depressed shape of the muzzle ; 

 and in the length of the under jaw, which considerably surpassed the 

 upper, and entails upon the animal the singular habit from which it 

 has derived the name of the Archer. The gills have six branchiostegous 

 rays ; the teeth are small, sharp, and dispersed over the jaws, tongue, 

 and palate ; the stomach is short and broad, the air-bladder large, and 

 the pylorus provided with twelve coccal appendices. The only known 

 species is 



The Toxota jaculator of Cuvier, which is found in Java and 

 Sumatra, and haa been long celebrated for the singular instinct which 

 it displays in catching flies and other insects which are ite prey. 

 Comparatively speaking, there ore very few species, among the 

 numerous class of fishes, distinguished by superiority of instinct or 

 address ; but the very rarity of their occurrence makes the partial 

 instances which are occasionally met with still more remarkable, and 

 among these the means which the Archer and a species of Chtrtodon 

 (C. rottratut) employ for procuring food are entitled to especial 

 notice. The tubular form of the mouth in these animals permits 

 them to squirt or project small quantities of water to some distance, 

 and with considerable force. When, therefore, the Archer perceives a 

 fly or other insect resting on the leaves of the aquatic plants which 

 overhang or swim on the surface of the stream, it projects, or ax it 

 were shoots a single drop, not directly towards the insect, but 

 obliquely upwards, in such a manner as to strike it in falling, thus 

 preventing it from perceiving its danger and escaping in time. With 

 such accuracy is the aim taken, that though frequently projected to 

 the height of four or five feet, the drop seldom fails to hit the mark 

 and precipitate the insect into the water, where it U, of course, within 

 roach of the Archer. The fish itself is of a yellowish colour, marked 

 on the back with five brown spots. 



ARCTIC FOX, in Zoology, a small species of Fox (Canit lagoptu), 

 celebrated for the beauty and fineness of ite fur, which has long been 

 considered a valuable article of commerce. The colour of the fur, as 

 is the case with all animals which inhabit very high latitudes, varies 

 according to the season, being slaty blue in summer, and pure white 

 in whiter. It is in the latter state that the fur is most esteemed, not 

 only on account of its colour, but likewise because it is of a closer 

 and finer quality than at any other time. The soles of the feet also 

 are at all seasons covered with a thick coat of fur, like those of the 

 common hare, which defends them from the severity of the Know, 

 and ia a character likewise common to most other northern animals. 

 [Fox.] 



ARCTOSTA'PHYLOS, or Bear-Berry, is a genus of plants till lately 

 considered the same as Arbuitu, from which it is essentially dis- 

 tinguished by ite berries containing only from one to five, instead 

 of a great many seeds. The common Boar-Berry (.1. I'm t'rri), is 

 found wild in the mountainous parts of England and S.'.,tl..nd. and 

 generally over the whole of the north of Europe. It is a trailing 

 shrubby plant, with leathery dark-green entire leaves, which are 

 broadest at their upper end. The flowers are white, tinged with pink. 

 small, and in clusters. The berries are small and red, like those of 

 the hawthorn The whole plant ia so astringent that it has been 

 employed by the tanner with success, and also in dyeing a grayish 

 black colour ; it is no doubt the same projierty which him made it 

 celebrated for ite efficacy in gravel complaints, and in diseases of the 

 urinary organs. When cultivated it requires to be grown in peat 

 earth. 



AKDEA (Vicillot), the Heron, a genus of birds under which I.iniM'n- 

 comprehended the Cranes and several other divisions now formed 



