77 



HERB-PARIS. 



HERPESTES. 



subsequent examination very much. All bad, doubtful, injured, or 

 imperfect specimens should be rejected. 



In collecting plants a trowel will be found useful, and when gathered 

 they should be placed in a tin box or vasculum till they are trans- 

 ferred to paper. Some plants require drying or pressure immediately. 

 Under these circumstances, Dr. Balfour recommends a field-book, 

 consisting of some bibulous paper strapped between two pieces of 

 board, into which the plants needing drying may be thrust at 

 once. 



The paper employed may be ordinary blotting-paper, but the paper- 

 roakers have made a paper for botanical use which may be more 

 advantageously employed. In London, Bentall's drying-paper is used ; 

 there is also another paper used in Scotland, called the ' Edinburgh 

 botanical drying-paper.* It is made in sheets 3 8 inches long and 

 11 inches broad. This paper is included between boards. These 

 hhould be exactly the size of the drying-paper. Several sets of boards 

 of varying thicknesses should be employed, and pressure may be 

 applied by means of a weight or straps. The latter is the most easy 

 process whilst travelling. In order that the plants may dry freely, 

 various suggestions have been made for making holes in the boards 

 or forming them of a kind of framework, by which the air would 

 pass through. 



In putting down the plants the following plan should be pursued : 

 " A parcel of not less than four sheets of paper is put on one of the 

 outside boards, then one or more specimens are laid on this sheet 

 according to their size. The specimens should be spread out care- 

 fully, their natural habit being preserved as far as possible. When 

 plants require to be folded, the slips of paper already mentioned are 

 passed over the bent portions so as to retain them in their position. 

 Having placed one specimen or set of specimens on the sheet, another 

 parcel of not less than four sheets is laid over them ; and in doing 

 this the leaves and other parts are arranged with the hand or the 

 forceps. The same process is repeated until a dozen or more such 

 parcels have been arranged one over the other. Then a thin board is 

 inserted, and other parcels of paper and specimens are arranged above 

 it, until they are exhausted, or until the bundle is of sufficient size. 

 Another such board is then laid on the top, and the whole is subjected 

 to pressure. The paper is changed after twelve hours' pressure, the 

 plants being lifted by means of the forceps and placed in dry parcels 

 of paper, while that which is moist is hung up to dry. The intervals 

 between the changing of the paper may be increased or diminished 

 according to circumstances." Very succulent and wet plants require 

 frequent changing and mueh drying. Most specimens will dry in 

 eight or ten days. Succulent plants need to be killed first by iminer- 

 .-!"it in boiling water. Aquatic plants and wet plants should be placed 

 in a napkin and pressed before they are put into the paper. The 

 moist paper will dry in ten or twelve hours. Along with the plant a 

 label should be inserted, with all particulars known about the speci- 

 men, as where gathered, what elevation, &c. 



When the specimens are thoroughly dry a selection is made for the 

 herbarium. These should be fastened by means of thin fine glue on 

 thick wide paper, 17 inches long and 10J inches broad. The name of 

 the plant, its locality, or any other particulars, may be then written 

 on the paper. In order to preserve the specimens from the attacks 

 of insects, &c., they should be touched with a strong solution of 

 corrosive sublimate in camphorated spirit, or in a solution of naphtha 

 (half a drachm to the ounce). The sheets may then be arranged in a 

 case, according to their genera or natural orders. 



Fruit*, specimens of wood and bark, large roots, lichens and algae 

 on rocks and .-tunes, may be arranged in drawers, glazed cases, or glass 

 j.ir*. Succulent fruits and roots are best preserved in a strong solution 

 nf salt and water, or in pyroligncous acid, diluted with 35 parts of 

 water, or in alcohol. In some instances a solution of 4 ounces of bay 

 salt, 2 ounces of burnt alum, and 5 grains of corrosive sublimate, in 

 rts of boiling water, has been used with advantage. These 

 jars are best covered with a stout piece of caoutchouc tied round 

 the neck. 



For the preparation of specimens for the microscope, see MICROSCOPE 

 in AKTS AMI S. . Div.] 



HKKIM'AIUS. [PARIS.] 



HKKOJNITK. [SPINEL.] 



HKKDKKITE, a Mineral, which occurs in crystals embedded in 

 fluur at Klin nfriedersdorf in Saxony. Primary form a right rhombic 

 prism. Cleavage parallel to the lateral planes, and hi the long diagonal 

 nf the prism. Fracture small, coucboidal. Hardness 6. Colour 

 grayish and yellowish-white. Streak white. Lustre vitreo-resinous ; 

 , transparent. Specific gravity, 2'985. 



HEBI'ADES, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects of the section 



ffra, (Latreille) and family Apida. Distinguishing characters : 



llody elongated, slender, almost cylindrical, that of the males with a 



small cavity beneath near the apex; mandibles triangular ; maxillary 



i 'J-jointed. 



The little bees belonging to this genus, we are informed by Latreille, 

 make their nest* in holes in old trees ; we presume that, as in the 

 genus dutlottoma, the holes are made by the bees themselves. 



// '",'i'inularum, a species very common in various parts of Eng- 

 land, is about a quarter of an inch in length, of a black colour, and 

 nsjly covered with grayish hairs. This little bee is by far the 



smallest British spec-its known of the family to which it belongs ; it 

 is common during the summer and autumnal months in the flowers 

 of the various species of Campanula, and apparently is never foundi n 

 the flowers of any other genus of plants. " The males are often taken 

 asleep in these flowers ; their abdomen is then doubled, so that the 

 tubercle with which its base is armed fits into the cavity near the 

 anus." 



(Kirby, Monographia Apvm Anglia 1 ; Latreille, Genera Criistaccorwn 

 et Intectwum.) 



HERM^-EA. [NUDIBRANCHIATA.] 



HERMAPHRODITE. [MONSTER.] 



HERMASIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Paronychiacece. It has 5 sepals ; 5 filiform petals inserted with the 

 5 stamens on a perigynous ring; 2 stigmas nearly sessile; fruit 1- 

 seeded, indehiscent, membranaceous ; leaves opposite. The species 

 are insignificant plants. Three have been recorded as natives of 

 Great Britain. One, II. hirsuta, is a doubtful native; the other two 

 are very rare. 



H. ylabra has a prostrate herbaceous stem, with clusters of sessile 

 flowers coalescing on the lateral branches into a slightly leafy spike. 

 It has been found in Suffolk and Lincolnshire in England, and in West 

 Kerry, Ireland. 



H. ciliata. .The sepals are tipped with a large bristle ; the clusters 

 of flowers are distinct, sessile, and axillary. It has been found at 

 Lizard Point, Cornwall. 



HERMINIUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Orckidaceai and the tribe Oplirydinece. The perianth is bell-shaped, 

 segments all erect ; lip 3-lobed, tumid beneath at the base, without a 

 spur ; glands of the stalks of the pollen-masses exserted, naked. 

 H. monorchit, the Musk-Orchis, is a British species. The stem is 

 about six inches high, and the spike of flowers is dense and slender ; 

 the sepals are ovate and greenish, (Babingtou, Manual.) 



HERMIT-CRAB, the common English name for the well-known 

 crustaceans that occupy the empty turbinated shells of testaceous 

 mollusks. [PAGURUS.] 



HERNANDIA. [HERNANDIACE.K] 



HERNANDIA'CEvE, a natural order of incomplete Exogenous 

 Plants. It has monoecious or hermaphrodite flowers, with an iuvolu- 

 cellum in the pistiliferous and hermaphrodite flowers ; a petaloid calyx, 

 tubular, 4-8-parted, deciduous; definite stamens inserted into the 

 calyx iu two rows, of which the outer is often sterile, with the anthers 

 bursting longitudinally ; the ovary superior, 6-celled, with a pendulous 

 ovule and peltate stigma ; a drupaceous fruit with one seed, which is 

 pendulous ; the embryo is inverted, without albumen ; the cotyledons 

 somewhat lobed, shrivelled, and oily. The species are trees with 

 alternate entire leaves, and flowers arranged iu axillary or terminal 

 spikes or corymbs. 



This order has be?n constituted by Blume. It contains only two 

 genera, Hernandia and Inocarpui. These were sometimes referred 

 to Myristicaceif, from which they differ in the absence of albumen 

 from their seeds. Their longitudinal anthers distinguish them from 

 the Laurace<e, in which order they have also been placed. Their 

 affinity is undoubtedly with Thymeleacea, from' which they differ only 

 in their drupaceous fruit, lobed cotyledons, and the involiicel to some 

 of the flowers. 



Hernandia, the typical genus of this order, was named after Her- 

 nandez, a naturalist sent out to Mexico by Philip II. of Spain ; and 

 it is said to have been given to these plants, which have large leaves 

 and little flowers, in allusion to the great opportunities afforded to 

 this naturalist and the little use he made of them. The characters 

 of this genus are the same as the order. 



If. sonora is a toll erect tree, with cordate peltate leaves, yellowish 

 panicled flowers, a large inflated succulent calyx, with a small roundish 

 entire mouth. It is a native of the various parts of the East and 

 West Indies, and has obtained its name ' sonora ' from the noise made 

 by the wind in whistling through its persistent involucels. The bark, 

 the seed, and the young leaves of this tree are slightly cathartic. 

 Rumphius says that the fibrous roots chewed and applied to wounds 

 infected with the Macassar poiaon, act as an effectual cure. The juice 

 of the leaves is employed as a depilatory. It destroys the hair wherever 

 it is applied, and this without producing pain. The wood of this species 

 is very light, and Aublet says that the wood of II. Guiancnsis takes 

 fire readily from a flint and steel, and may be used as tinder. Several 

 species of Hernandia are mildly purgative. 



(Lindley, Natural System; Liudley, Flora Medica ; Burnett, 

 Outlines of Botany.) 



HERNSHAW, or HERONSHAW, a name for the Common Heron. 

 [ABDEA.] 



HERON. [A'RDEA.] 



HERON'S-BILL. [ERODIUM.] 



HERPESTES (Illiger), a genus of Digitigrade Carnivorous Mam- 

 malia allied to the Civets. It is the Ichneumon of Lacdpede, Geoffrey, 

 and others ; the Manguila of Olivier and others ; and the Mangouste 

 of the French. 



It has the following characters : Feet short, with 5 deini-palmated 

 toes, armed with claws which are slightly retractile ; tongue furnished 

 with horny papilla) ; ears small ; a voluminous simple pouch, which 

 does not contain odoriferous matter, and at tho bottom of which, the 



