757 



CAXIS. 



CANNABIS. 



75S 



The dental formula of this species is that of the Dog. The pupil j 

 of the eye is round like those of the dog and wolf. Yellowish-gray 

 above, whitish below ; thighs and legs yellow ; ears ruddy ; muzzle 

 very pointed ; tail reaching hardly to the heel (properly so called). 

 The colours sometimes vary, and the back and sides are described by 

 Mr. Bennett as of mixed gray and black, and as abruptly and strikingly 

 distinguished from the deep and uniform tawny of the shoulders, 

 haunches, and legs. The head nearly of the same mixed shade with 

 the upper surface of the body. 



It is an inhabitant of India, other parts of Asia, and Africa. Cuvier 

 gays that Jackals are met with from India and the environs of the 

 Caspian Sea to Guinea, but that it is not certain that they are all of 

 the same species. 



The habits of the Jackal are gregarious, hunting in packs, and the 

 pests of the countries where they are found, and where they burrow 

 in the earth. In their huntings the Jackals will frequently attack 

 the larger quadrupeds, but the smaller animals and the poultry are 

 their most frequent prey. Their cry is very peculiar and piercing. 

 Captain Beechey notices it as having something rather appalling when 

 heard for the first time at night ; and he remarks, that as they usually 

 come in packs, the first shriek which is uttered is always the signal 

 for a general chorus. " We hardly know," continues the Captain, " a 

 sound which partakes less of harmony than that which is at present 

 in question ; and indeed the sudden burst of the answering long- 

 protracted scream, succeeding immediately to the opening note, is 

 scarcely less impressive than the roll of the thunder-clap immediately 

 after a flash of lightning. The effect of this music is very much 

 increased when the first note is heard in the distance (a circumstance 

 which often occurs), and the answering yell bursts out from several 

 points at once, within a few yards or feet of the place where the 

 auditors are sleeping." These animals are said to devour the dead on 

 the battle-field, and to scratch away the earth from the shallow graves 

 in order to feed on the corpses. 



John Hunter (' Phil. Trans.') has recorded the case of a female 

 Jackal which whelped in this country. The period of gestation was 

 about the same as that of the dog, and the whelps were blind at 

 first. 



The story of the Jackal being the lion's provider may have arisen 

 from the notion that the yell of the pack gives notice to the lion that 

 prey is on foot, or from the Jackal's being seen to feed on the rem- 

 nants of the lion's quarry. 



Cuvier observes that it is not certain that all the Jackals are similar 

 ('of the same species'); those of Senegal, for example the Dieb, 

 (Canit anthut, F. Cuvier), he remarks, stand higher on the legs, and 

 appear to have the muzzle sharper and the tail rather longer. 



The offensive odour of the Jackal has been given as one of the 

 reasons against reducing it to a state of domestication. We do not 

 see what advantage is to be derived from such a process, but if it 

 were desirable that objection it seems would not hold. Colonel Sykes, 

 who notices it as the Kholah of the Mahrattas and as being numerous 

 in Utikhun (Deccan), had in his possession at the same time a very 

 large wild male and a domesticated female. The odour of the wild 

 animal was almost unljearable ; that of the domesticated Jackal was 

 scarcely perceptible. 



Jackal (Cam* (ittrcw). 



Some are of opinion that the 300 foxes between whose tails Samson 

 is said to have put firebrands in order that they might set fire to the 

 of the Philistines (Judges, xv. 4, 5) were jackals. Many of the 

 modern oriental names for the last-mentioned animals Chical of the 

 Turks, Sciagal, Sciugal, Sciachal, or Shacal of the Persians come 

 very near to the Hebrew word ' Shual.' Hasselquist, speaking of 

 " Cnnit aurevt, the Jackcall, Chical of the Turks," gays : " There arc 

 greater numbers of this species of fox to be met with than the former 

 (Cnnit Vulptf), particularly near Jaffa, about Gaza, and in Galilee. 

 I leave others to determine which of these is the fox of Samson." 



Fossil Canidce. 



The remains of the Dog and Wolf have been found in Great Britain. 

 If there were no historical records to prove that the wolf was once an 

 inhabitant of these islands, its abundant remains would testify to the 

 fact. They were not present in any considerable number in the Bone- 

 Caves of Kirkdale which were so diligently examined by Dr. Buck- 

 land, but they have been found at Paviland in Glamorganshire and 

 at Overton near Plymouth. After alluding to the difficulty which 

 was more particularly expressed by Cuvier of distinguishing between 

 the Wolf and the Dog, Professor Owen- referring to some specimens 

 from Kent's Hole says : " The more important points of concord- 

 ance between the skull from Kent's Hole and those of the existing 

 wolf leave no reasonable ground for doubting their specific identity ; 

 and the naturalist who does not admit that the dog and the wolf 

 are of the same species, and who might be disposed to question the 

 reference of the British Fossils described in the present section to the 

 wolf must in that case resort to the hypothesis that there formerly 

 existed in England a wild variety of dog having the low and con- 

 tracted forehead of the wolf, and which had become extinct before 

 the records of the human race. The conclusion however to which my 

 comparison of the fossil and recent bones of the large Canidce have 

 led me is, that the wolves which our ancestors extirpated were of the 

 same species as those which, at a much more remote period, left their 

 bones in the limestone caverns by the side of the extinct bears and 

 hyaenas." 



Recognisable remains of the Dog have however been obtained from 

 Bone-Caves. Dr. Schmerling has described and figured an almost 

 entire skull, two right rami of lower jaws, a humerus, ulna, radius, and 

 some smaller bones, indicating two varieties of the domestic dog, from 

 some Bone-Caves near Li6ge. 



CANNA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Maran- 

 tacea. It has spathaceous flowers, simple anthers attached to the 

 edge of a petal-like filament, an inferior ovary, thick club-shaped erect 

 free style, a linear obtuse stigma. There are several species of this 

 genus, all of which are known by the name of Indian Shot. They are 

 inhabitants of South America and of the East Indies. 



C. Indica, has the inner limb of the corolla trifid, the segments 

 lanceolate, acuminate, straight. This species, with C. patens and 

 C. coccinca, are common plants within the tropics on all the conti- 

 nents. In America and Brazil they are known by the common name 

 of Wild Plantains. Their leaves are large and tough, and are mostly 

 chosen for forming envelopes for articles of commerce. Hence the 

 French call these plants Balisiers. The seeds of most of the species 

 are round, black, shining, hard, heavy, and about the sixteenth of an 

 inch in diameter, resembling shot, for which they are sometimes used 

 as a substitute. They are roasted and employed in infusion in the 

 same manner as coffee. They yield also a purple dye. 



C. cdulit has smooth leaves and stems coloured at the base, the 

 roots tuberous and large, the middle segment of the corolla very short. 

 This is one of the species of the order the rootstock of which is used 

 for making arrowroot. Nearly all the species contain starch in the 

 rootstock, which renders them fit to be used as food after being 

 cooked. The starch is separated by tearing the rootstock in pieces 

 and submitting it to the action of water. The water with the starch 

 suspended is poured off from the ligneous portion of the rootstocjt, 

 and the starch is afterwards allowed to subside. Clusius says that 

 the C. lutea grows in the open air in Spain and Portugal, and that the 

 inhabitants of those countries use the seeds for making rosaries. 



Many of the species will bear the open air in the summer in this 

 country. They require a light rich soil, and may be increased by 

 dividing the roots or by sowing the seed. They should be planted 

 out in a warm border early in the summer. 



(London, Encyclopedia of Plants.) 



CANNABINACE^E, llemjncortt, the Hemp Tribe, a natural order 

 of Exogenous Plants. This little order which has been separated 

 from Urticacea embraces two well-known plants, the Hop (Humulus 

 f.ii/iiilng) and the Hemp (Cannaba tativa). They are distinguished 

 from the Nettle Tribe by having a solitary suspended ovule, and a 

 hooked ex-albuminous embryo, with a superior radicle. [HUMULUS ; 

 CANNABI8.] 



CA'NNABIS (in Greek Kdj/i/o0is, and in Latin also Cannabit), a 

 genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cannabinacece. 



Cannabu tativa, the Common Hemp, is a plant nearly allied 

 botanically to the nettle, with which it even agrees iif its general 

 appearance. It is an annual dioecious plant, with erect nearly-simple 

 stems from 4 to 6 feet high, and covered with rigid hairs. The 

 leaves are either alternate or opposite, digitate, and stalked ; the 

 leaflets are five in number, narrow, lanceolate, sharp-pointed, serrated, 

 rough, pale-green on the under side ; the uppermost leaves have 

 only three leaflets. The male flowers grow in little bunches at the 

 axils of the upper leaves ; they are pendulous from short stalks, and 

 have a calyx of five spreading narrow lanceolate sepals, containing 

 five stamens. The female flowers appear in close leafy clusters at the 

 axils of the upper leaves, and consist of a roundish calyx, split half- 

 way down into two parts, and containing a simple 1-celled ovary 

 terminated by a couple of awl-shaped stigmas. The fruit is a lenticular 

 body, looking like and commonly called a seed. 



This is the only species known ; it is said to be a native of Persia, 



